[Opensim-dev] Region Scalability (was: Re: Hi All)

[Morgaine]

Hi Umar.

Attempting to increase region scalability by region subdivision is broken by
design.

We examined many different scaling models over two years in the Architecture
Working Group in SL, and region subdivision is the worst proposal by far.  I
wrote up a fairly detailed analysis of this very bad idea here:

ANALYSIS: Region Subdivision as a scaling
method<https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/ANALYSIS:_Region_Subdivision_as_a_scaling_method>

It summarizes as:  "Don't go there, that direction is littered with
descaling problems and limits."

More promising directions include:


   - Farming out simulation workload dynamically, *not* by geographic
   subdivision.
   - Virtualizing the concept of "region" to break the static resource
   assignment.
   - Grouping workload by actor interaction sets to keep workloads bounded.
   - Assigning computing resources per agent rather than to virtual land.
   - Removing all proxy duties from simulators, leaving only reference
   orchestration:  assets and objects are stored and updated elsewhere.


It's worth noting that the biggest constraint on Opensim region scalability
is the SL viewer, because it is hardwired to SL's non-scalable region
model.  Opensim cannot currently make any improvements unless they are
compatible with the SL viewer.  The best start towards shedding those legacy
limitations would be to adopt and support a new client with a flexible
architecture that isn't chained to LL's design.

Some attempts have been made at creating one -- Idealist, for example, but
it is not currently viewed as central to enabling Opensim evolution, so
progress has been slow.  Perhaps realXtend's Naali holds the future as a
generic Opensim viewer that can adapt to Opensim's future needs, who knows.

The Opensim project does need a flexible viewer of its own as a reference,
to support its progress as its viewer-services model evolves, otherwise it
will be locked to and restricted by the SL client's model, which would be
very unfortunate in my view.


Morgaine.






=================================

On Mon, Jan 25, 2010 at 12:43 PM, <U.Farooq at uea.ac.uk> wrote:

> Dear All,
>
> I am a research student at UEA Norwich UK and new to this group. I am
> working on the scalability and consistency issues for virtual worlds with
> an emphasis on developing a new infrastructure that splits a region into
> subregions more than 2.  I have executed both modes of OpenSimulator and
> seems really interesting for the implementation of my ideas. I might
> require help of you all if possible to understand and extend the existing
> OpenSimulator for my work.
>
> Best wishes and hope to hear from anyone who might be interested! Thanks
> in advance!!
>
> Umar
> Virtual Humans Group,
> University of East Anglia,
> Norwich NR4 7TJ,
> United Kingdom.
>
> _______________________________________________
> Opensim-dev mailing list
> Opensim-dev at lists.berlios.de
> https://lists.berlios.de/mailman/listinfo/opensim-dev
>
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