Services and Service Connectors Configuration

Starting in r9562 OpenSim has a set of new configuration variables that specify how services and service connectors are set up. The purpose of these new configuration variables is to move away from the brittle "grid vs. standalone" paradigm, as that was a very limiting model. OpenSim is moving into a service-oriented model where simulators can easily connect to services, independent of where they execute. This service-oriented model features a very flexible service connector mechanism, enabling diversity in service implementations without having to change the simulator code.

The new architecture brings changes in configuration variables of the simulators (OpenSim.ini), and also changes in the way the servers are configured. What follows explains the new configuration variables in OpenSim.ini, using the asset service as an example.

[ServiceConnectors]
    ; Choose one 
    AssetServices = "LocalAssetServicesConnector"
    ;AssetServices = "RemoteAssetServicesConnector"
    ;AssetServices = "HGAssetBroker"

    ; If you don't want asset caching in the regions, comment this
    AssetCaching = "CoreAssetCache"
   ...

This section above specifies which service connector your simulator uses.

• If you are running a standalone grid (i.e. one process grid-in-a-box), and/or if you want to store your simulator's assets locally, you want to set it to the default LocalAssetServicesConnector.
• If your simulator is connected to grid and/or if it uses a remote server to store its assets, you want to set it to RemoteAssetServicesConnector.
• If you want to use the HyperGrid architecture that supports assets exchanges with other grids, you want to set it to HGAssetBroker, independent of whether your grid is standalone or external.

[AssetService]
    ; Parameters for local assets, formerly known as "standalone"
    LocalServiceModule = "OpenSim.Services.AssetService.dll:AssetService"
    StorageProvider = "OpenSim.Data.SQLite.dll"
    ;StorageProvider = "OpenSim.Data.MySQL.dll"
    ;ConnectionString = "Data Source=localhost;Database=opensim;User ID=opensim;Password=opensim;"
    DefaultAssetLoader = "OpenSim.Framework.AssetLoader.Filesystem.dll"
    AssetLoaderArgs = "assets/AssetSets.xml"

    ; Parameters for remote assets, formerly known as "grid"
    ;AssetServerURI = "http://localhost:8003/"

    ; Paremeters for the Hypergrid connector
    
    ;; Parameters for the HG Broker
    ; Use this one if you have a standalone grid
    LocalGridAssetService = "OpenSim.Services.AssetService.dll:AssetService"
    ; Use this one if this sim is connected to a grid-wide asset server
    ;LocalGridAssetService = "OpenSim.Servers.Connectors.dll:AssetServiceConnector"
    HypergridAssetService = "OpenSim.Services.AssetService.dll:HGAssetService"

[AssetCache]

   ; Number of buckets for assets
   ;CacheBuckets = 32768