Tag: Server Updates

SL project updates 16 14/1: server, viewer

Posted on by Inara Pey

Noire'leans; Inara Pey, April 2016, on Flickr Noire’leans – blog post

Server Deployments Week #14

There was no scheduled deployment to the Main (SLS) channel this week. All three RC channels received the same server maintenance package, comprising a fix for (non-public) BUG-11163 llHTTPRequest returns 400 from some sims and not others, and some minor improvements. Assuming nothing goes sideways with this update, it should be promoted to the Main channel in week #15 (commencing Monday, April 11th).

It is currently not clear if there will be a further update to the TC channel in week #15; this will apparently be determined on work being carried out over the next few days.

SL Viewer

Current Release Version – HTTP / Vivox Updates

The HTTP  / Vivox RC viewer was promoted to the de facto release viewer at the end of week #13. Version 4.0.3.312816 (dated March 23rd) presents a complete replacement of the under the hood HTTP infrastructure, replacing the self deleting responders with coroutine implementations for improved performance and stability, and to provide finer grained concurrency allowing the Viewer greater control over the numbers and types of HTTP requests that can be simultaneously outstanding.

The HTTP changes affect all areas of the viewer that use Sim Capabilities. These include, but are not limited to:

  • Asset upload (Images, Meshes, Animations)
  • AISv3 inventory manipulation
  • Viewer Managed Marketplace
  • Simhost event polling
  • LSL script compilation
  • Experience management (blocking, allowing, creating)

Alongside of this work, undertaken by Rider Linden to extend Monty Linden’s previous work on HTTP, this viewer sees the removal of  a considerable amount of deprecated and unused code, and a range of Voice fixes and improvements.

Remaining Viewer Channels

The promotion of the HTTP / Vivox viewer leaves the remaining viewer channels as follows:

  • Release candidate cohorts:
    • Quick Graphics RC viewer, version 4.0.2.312297, dated March 11th – awaiting update to bring it to parity with the release viewer
  • Project Viewers:
    • Oculus Rift project viewer updated to version 3.7.18.295296 on October 13, 2015 – Oculus Rift DK2 support (download and release notes)
  • Obsolete platform viewer, version 3.7.28.300847, dated May 8th, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7 – expect this viewer to potentially vanish once TLS 1.2 is implemented.

 

SL project updates 16 12/1: server, viewer, Aditi inventory

Posted on by Inara Pey

The Trace; Inara Pey, March 2016, on Flickr The Trace – blog post

Server Deployments

On Tuesday, March 22nd, the Main (SLS) channel was updated with the improved server maintenance project previously deployed to the three RC channels. This comprises server script fixes (not LSL changes) and internal improvements.

There are no planned deployments for the RC channels for week #1. However, there will be a new RC deployment in week #13 (week commencing Monday, March 28th). the Slow-down in updates remains due to ongoing infrastructure and OS updates occurring across the servers.

SL Viewer

Current Release Viewer

As noted in my last update, the most recent Maintenance RC was promoted to the de facto release viewer on Thursday, March 17th. What I didn’t mention then, and should have done, is that this viewer, version 4.0.2.312269, includes the Lab’s fix for issues of Calling Card duplication.

This means that anyone using as version of the official from this version forward should no longer have issues with calling cards being duplicated, although an initial deletion of cards may be required to clear away any current duplicates with the Calling Cards inventory folder (and any sub-folders within it).

There have been no further updates to the official viewers so far this week, leaving the list of RC cohorts and project viewers as:

  • Current RC cohorts:
    • HTTP updates and Vivox RC viewer, version 4.0.3.312684, dated March 18th
    • Quick Graphics RC viewer, version 4.0.2.312297, dated March 11th, providing the new Avatar Complexity options and graphics preset capabilities
  • Current project viewers:
    • Project Bento (avatar skeleton extensions) viewer, version 5.0.0.311861, dated March 2nd
    • Oculus Rift project viewer, version 3.7.18.295296, dated October 13, 2015
  • Obsolete platform viewer version 3.7.28.300847 dated May 8, 2015.

Aditi Inventory Syncing

The new process for syncing inventories between Agni (the main grid) and Aditi (the Beta grid) is now live.

This means that, going forward, a user’s Aditi inventory will no longer be overwritten when they change their password and log-in to Aditi, nor will a password change be required to trigger an Aditi inventory sync.

Instead, anyone logging-in to Aditi will automatically have their inventory copied from Agni to Aditi a part of a new process (run at about 06:00 SLT each day). This will happen each time a persona logs in to Aditi, unless their inventory is already flagged for copying, and instead of overwriting a person’s existing Aditi inventory, the incoming Agni inventory will be merged with their existing Aditi inventory, with checks to avoid unnecessary duplication of items each time this occurs and to ensure thing like Trash contents and COF aren’t copied as well.

There does appear to be a possible issue with the syncing, however, with some reports that textures and snapshots unique to Aditi inventories may be getting deleted as a part of a merge between the two. Further investigation is being carried out to see if this is actually the case.

SL project updates 16 11/1: server / viewer

Posted on by Inara Pey

Suomi - Finland; Inara Pey, March 2016, on FlickrSuomi – Finland – blog post

Server Deployments

There is no planned Main (SLS) channel deployment / restart planned for the week. On Wednesday, March 16th, the three RC channels should be updated with an improved server maintenance project comprising script fixes and internal improvements.

The lack of recent deployments remains down to ongoing infrastructure updates occurring across the Lab’s simulator servers.

SL Viewer

It is anticipated that an RC viewer – mostly likely either the current Maintenance RC or the HTTP / Vivox RC will be promoted to the de facto viewer this week. However, at the time of writing, the list of official viewers still stood at:

  • Current Release version: 4.0.1.310054, dated January 15th – formerly the Maintenance RC viewer
  • Release channel cohorts:
    • Quick Graphics RC viewer, version 4.0.2.312297, dated March 11th
    • Maintenance RC viewer, version 4.0.2.312269, dated March 10th
    • HTTP updates and Vivox RC viewer, version 4.0.2.312094, dated March 9th
  • Project viewers:
  • Obsolete platforms viewer, version 3.7.28.300847, dated May 8, 2015

 

SL project updates 16 9/1: server deployments; SL viewer, misc news

Posted on by Inara Pey
Casabalanca: Rick's Café Américain - "Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine."
Casablanca: Rick’s Café Américain – “Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine.” – blog post

Server Deployments

The Main (SLS) channel was updated on Tuesday, March 1st, with the server maintenance package deployed to the three RC channel is week #8. This comprises a server crash fix and “minor internal improvements.”

The server deployment thread lists any RC deployments for the week as “TBD”. however, speaking at the Simulator User Group meeting on Tuesday, March 1st, Simon Linden indicated it is unlikely there will be any RC deployment until week #10 (week commencing Monday, March 7th 2016). These will apparently have an update that addresses a means by which a simulator can be intentionally crashed.

SL Viewer

Currently, the official viewer from LL remain unchanged from the end of last week:

  • Current Release version: 4.0.1.310054, January 15 – formerly the Maintenance RC viewer download page, release notes
  • Release candidate viewers:
    • Maintenance RC viewer version 4.0.2.311655, dated February 26th
    • HTTP updates and Vivox RC viewer version 4.0.2.311302, dated February 22nd
    • Quick Graphics RC viewer version 4.0.2.311103, dated February 17th
  • Project viewers:
    • Project Bento (avatar skeleton extensions) version 5.0.0.310099, dated January 20th
    • Oculus Rift project viewer version 3.7.18.295296, dated October 13th, 2015
  • Obsolete platform viewer version 3.7.28.300847 dated May 8th, 2015.

OpenSSL Update

As noted in my last TPVD meeting notes, the Lab were awaiting an update to OpenSSL. This has now been released and there is minimal impact for SL. This therefore should require any fast-tracked update to the viewer.

Grid-wide Experiences

The simulator user group meeting saw a general discussion about allowing broader access to the Experience Keys database (the KVP) without land owners necessarily having to grant permission to specific Experiences.

The idea here is that there are applications which rely on persistent data or utilise grid-wide data exchange (e.g. a teleport network, a vending system network, etc.), and applications which require script settings survive the script reset. Currently, the way to achieve this is to use external data stores (see BUG-11499 for one example).

Some feel that if there were a way to dissociate the KVP database from things like avatar influences, then it could be used for such applications, removing the need for external data stores and the rick of those data stores vanishing / not being available. However, this is not something the Lab is particularly keen on, for a number of reasons. For example, it could result in their servers storing a lot of data and carrying a lot of database quires and updates, something that might not scale terribly well with volumes and associated storage space cost. Nor would it necessarily safeguard the data any better (if the Experience owner downgrades to Basic or ceases paying their Premium subscription, the data will be lost).

During the discussion Oz indicated that the Lab has no plans to make grid wide experiences available any time soon, due to concerns about how “certain internal features” would scale.

SL project updates 16 8/1: server deployments; SL viewer

Posted on by Inara Pey

The Yorkshire Moors; Inara Pey, February 2016, on Flickr The Yorkshire Moors – blog post

Server Deployments

There was no scheduled Main (SLS) deployment on Tuesday, February 23rd. On Wednesday, February 24th, all three RC channel should all receive the same new server maintenance package, comprising a server crash fix and “minor internal improvements.”

It is likely the server deployments will remain at a slower pace over the next few weeks as the Lab focuses on internal infrastructure changes.

SL Viewer

On Monday, February 22nd the HTTP / Vivox RC viewer updated to version 4.0.2.311302. The see the additions of the following fixes:

  • MAINT-5295 Extra setopt in PUT case for llcore::http forces PUT to POST
  • MAINT-5625 [Project Azumarill] Selected Objects Show Land Impact of 0
  • MAINT-5628 [Project Azumarill] When posting to Flickr, Upload button does not grey out when upload is in progress, clicking Upload more than once results in all images failing to post
  • MAINT-5629 Viewer Makes Request for SRV Records on Login
  • MAINT-5676 Azumarill repeatedly requests weight of selected objects in edit mode
  • MAINT-5978 Convert the Vivox state machine over to a coroutine implementation
  • MAINT-6071 Reference to a UUID used after iterator is lost.
  • MAINT-6086 Crash when removing non added Vivox session.

The remaining RC and project viewers remain unchanged from week #7:

  • Quick Graphics RC viewer, version 4.0.2.311103 dated February 17th Avatar Complexity options and the new graphics preset capabilities
  • Maintenance RC viewer,  4.0.2.310545 dated February 2nd – 38 updates. fixes and tweaks
  • Project Bento (avatar skeleton extensions), version 5.0.0.310099 dated 20th
  • Oculus Rift project viewer, version 3.7.18.295296 dated October 13th, 2015
  • Obsolete platform viewer version 3.7.28.300847, dated May 8, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7.

This all leaves the release viewer unchanged: version 4.0.1.310054, dated January 15th.

SL project updates 16 7/2: Unscheduled server deployments; SL viewer

Posted on by Inara Pey

Goatswood; Inara Pey, June 2015, on Flickr Recalling  Goatswood) – blog post

Unscheduled Server Deployments

Update, February 19th, 22:40 GMT: the SLS channel restarts have been completed and the Lab has issued a blog post on why they were required, which I’ve also blogged about. 

Update, February 19th: the deployment of the update referred to below will commence at 15:00 SLT. 

On Thursday, February 18th, there was an unscheduled server deployment to all three RC channels, which at the time of deployment was described as an, “Update on the simhosts. Nothing is changing Second Life functionality wise.”

Speaking at the Server Beta User Group meeting following the deployment, Steven Linden had this to say:

We had an unscheduled RC deploy earlier today. It’s for a security vulnerability that was released, and we discovered that Second Life regions were vulnerable. A full public post-mortem will be coming after we deploy to the rest of the main grid. I can’t say until it goes out to the rest of Agni; I can say that it was related to region availability only…. I honestly can’t say a great deal, other than we have a fix, and that it’s coming very soon to the rest of Agni.

All Steven could say about the issue was that a) it was related to region availability; b) it could only be exploited from within Second Life; c) there has been no evidence the issue  is being actively exploited on Agni.

However, given the apparent urgency of the situation, it is likely that the update deployed to the RC channels will be also be rolled to the Main (SLS) channel well ahead of Tuesday, the normal day for Main channel deployments and restarts.

I’ll have more on this following the post-mortem release from the Lab.

Scheduled Updates

Details are scant at the moment, but Wednesday, February 24th should see a new server maintenance package which includes some code clean up around the area of parcel bans. There’s no new functionality being added, and the changes shouldn’t break anything. More details when the update notes are published.

SL Viewer

The Quick Graphics RC viewer updated on Wednesday, February 17th to version 4.0.2.311103. This sees the addition of the following resolved issues:

  • MAINT-1945: Outgoing packets logging always says 0 bytes
  • MAINT-5613:  Complexity readings vary greatly for each avatar using the QuickGraphics viewer
  • MAINT-5620: Clicking on Graphics Preset title triggers favourite
  • MAINT-5681: Particles still render when complexity threshold is reached
  • MAINT-5682: Some avatars are invisible
  • MAINT-5685: Light still renders when complexity threshold is reached
  • MAINT-5690: Viewer crash when zooming out
  • MAINT-6070: Add detailed logging for how Avatar Rendering Complexity is computed.

The updates also sees the removal of SL-217: Document Avatar Complexity, from the list of resolved issues, presumably because the documentation is still a work-in-progress.

Other Items

Aditi Intellectual Property Tutorial

As mesh content creators are aware, in order to be able to upload mesh content to Second Life, you must a) have payment information on file, and b) complete the Intellectual Property Tutorial.  The same is also true for Aditi; however, a problem with the Aditi services has meant that some people have been unable to complete the tutorial there (accessed when you log-in to your Aditi dashboard), due to the test page failing to load / failing to display all the questions.

If you wish to use Aditi to upload test models of your mesh content, but have encountered issues in trying to complete the tutorial, the interim workaround is to try refreshing the page to force it to load, as there appears to be a load balancing issue in the Aditi back-end services. However, the issue is expected to be resolved for next week.