The server which hosts the STCC servers, as well as the licence database and look-up functions, will be offline for a period of time today. We're upgrading to a nice new AMD640 4200 dual-core, to alleviate some of the burden of handling the STCC and UKCT functions.

The simtouringcarcup.com websites and forums, and the STCC videos will still be available for download. The only components that will suffer downtime are the public server and licence look-up features (including userbars).

I am advising Victor of the iminent downtime, and I think he may choose to turn STCC userbars off for tomorrow until the upgrade is complete. If you can't see your userbar, don't panic.. it will be back

Thanks.. AND apologies in advance. We can't swap a processor without shutting down the server

Net effect of hardware upgrade: Everyone stopped racing and filed reports...

@Sam: Was I starting to eat too much CPU? You never said, I thought it was trundling along on near 0% - that's why I kept adding stuff

LOL I was under the same impression that the STCC side of things was tidly winks compaired to the Uberness of you servers =)

Heck, our server's been perpetually on the verge of China Syndrome for months! LOL!

The most important element of the upgrade is the dual-core. This way, we can allocate specific processes to processors. This will reduce, if not eliminate, the occasional mass disco's we have suffered when the one current processor, even for a moment, is asked to do more than it can do without stopping doing everything else. Most of the time, the existing processor hovers between 8 and 16% usage.. too high for a gameserver/MySQL/FTP/email/webserver with WinRAR installed

Quote from SamH :

too high for a gameserver/MySQL/FTP/email/webserver with WinRAR installed

What? No autogk

No wotty? LOL

AutoGordianKnot, much like older GordianKnot but made for idiots and thus all the useful got features removed, or buried into "hidden" displays. Interface design was not that guys strong point. A shame, the program is so bloody useful.

Quote from Bob Smith :

AutoGordianKnot, much like older GordianKnot but made for idiots and thus all the useful got features removed, or buried into "hidden" displays. Interface design was not that guys strong point. A shame, the program is so bloody useful.

I'd argue it's more useful to click and go, especially when things are being bulk done over RDP

Whooooooosh! Straight over my head, matey!

Sam, maybe it would be better to have a seperate server running the STCC(/UKTC) instances and the DBMS? Not sure if its a possibility, but that give the LFS server all the resources possible and minimize hiccups. I'd guess the STCC software and DBMS take up next to no resources most of the time, and several instances could run since its not as realtime sensitive as the LFS server.

It costs around £100/month to rent a server, £30-40 or so a month to put your own into a datacentre. I was going to do this until I ran into problems with my work and now I cannot afford to. I have the server here all ready to go. From what I can tell the server is not under heavy load.

Ah, I wasn't figuring in the cost of web hosting. That does get expensive.

Not sure this is the place to talk about it, but are all the servers privately owned by you? I had kind of guessed that that would be overly expensive and that they were probably owned by other people, sort of like a franchise.

These days, UKCT leases their hardware server. We used to put our own in datacentres, but frankly it's cheaper for us to lease the latest dual-core machine every year or so than it is for us to buy it once, and upgrade it annually. The TCO works out less if we lease

[edit] The hardware now ticks over at around 1% with 17 LFS servers running, including all the MySQL hits they generate

Talking of servers...is there still the plan to add single seater servers, or has that all gone out of the window now? I fully understand if it has.

It's not ruled out, it's ruled in.

Not only that, either.. we've no plans to just tread water.. some things wicked, this way come

Quote from SamH :

It's not ruled out, it's ruled in.

Not only that, either.. we've no plans to just tread water.. some things wicked, this way come

Most intriguing Mr H .
Sounds like the end of any chance of me getting my life back then