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Some Technical Questions



Since starting VUW MOO, an academic MOO, a few months ago, 
I have gained a lot of experience with the Lambda core and server, but I 
must admit that I am still only partially familiar with the UNIX server 
on which VUW runs.  Because I am not the sysadmin of the server, I don't 
get to experiment much with figuring things out, so I have a few 
important questions hanging around my head that I'd really like to get 
answers to.  I hope someone will be able to help me out with these...

1) The server occassionally crashes (1-3 times a month).  Is this normal 
for LambdaMOO-1.7.8p4?  Any ideas why it crashes?
I have checked the logfile for answers, but it is always silent (that it, 
it makes no mention whatsoever of crashing).  ./restarting the MOO always 
works fine too.  I asked the sysadmin if anything on the host machine 
would bring the MOO down, and he said it *may* have run into a memory 
limit which shut it down (but he doubts it because he thinks it is quite 
high, and figures it would happen all the time if this were the case).

Which leads me to question 2:
2) How does the sysadmin check how much memory the MOO is using?  What 
are the kinds of memory he can check? (I assume he knows, but I'd like to 
know too.)  Can I check them or must the root check?  I'm running the MOO 
on a UNIX DEC ALPHA model 2100 running OSF/1 ver. 3.2a

3) What from within the MOO is the greatest concern for keeping lag time 
down?  (should there be, or is there, a "Everything you want to know 
about minimizing MOO lag" FAQ?)

4) How does the amount of MOO users affect lag and memory usage?  
(perhaps there's a general estimation formula, like 1 user= x seconds 
lag, y KB ram etc?) Dont worry about db disk space...I have plenty.

I appreciate all of your input, especially those of you running academic
MOOs who will hopefully empathize with my situation.  Currently, there are
only ever about 5 users on the MOO, but in two weeks, it opens to the
students taking the course for which the MOO was constructed, at which
time I expect an average of 25-50 users.  (which is why question 4
concerns me...I don't want the sysadmin to undergo a shock at a massive
increase of memory usage, nor do i want the MOO to wallow in 10 seconds of
lag)

If I receive enough info., I may compile a short FAQ on memory usage and 
LAG for newbie arch-wizzes.

As ever, thank you for your support, without which I'm sure I wouldnt be 
where I am now...

Colin Moock
camoock@watarts
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada




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