The OS Upgrade: How Much Longer?

[WolfBaginski Bearsfoot]

The OS upgrade process is leaving me feeling akin to a mushroom.

Every day, we get a few mentions in Status about how another bunch of servers are going down for the upgrade, and then restarting.

I've not seen anything to tell me how long this is expected to continue for. I saw one mention, from another Resident, of the whole thing taking three weeks, but where did that figure come from? Have I any reason to trust it?

And I have no way of knowing if any particular region is "safe", either already on an upgraded server box, or not due to be upgraded today.

Even just having a percentage-completed figure would be a reassurance.

Oskar and Maestro do give us some info on the upgrades to the actual server software. While the main channel roll-outs are awkwardly large, we can plan for them.

The Viewer team could certainly do better, but nobody has to use the Linden viewer. Many don't. It's no fun burrowing through the JIRA database to discover whether or not bugs have been fixed. And eventually a new Viewer version appears, without any notice.

What's happening now is apparently the responsibility of a bunch of people who act as though they don't care about the customers. And we can't avoid their work.

 

[Six Igaly]

You have to be online 24/7 if you want to 'see' it happen.

On this page you can see the schedule.

http://status.secondlifegrid.net/

If you want to know if your region is done yet then go to the help menu in the viewer and then go to About Second Life to see the current server. If it says 11 then the roll is completed as far as i know.

[Void Singer]

wrong upgrade six. this isn't about the server software, but rather the OS software.

@Wolf
this seems to be much ado about nothing, either a region gets one extra restart or it doesn't.... if you are seeing multiple restarts beyond release + 1, then it's likely to be some other problem and should be reported.

as to where Nalates got her info... dunno, ask her. May have been a user group meeting, or it may be guesswork or the rumor mill.

 

[Six Igaly]

Oops, my bad. Was to eager to answer i suppose LOL

[Nalates Urriah]

Void guessed correctly... user group meetings and directly from the Lindens.

But, even they are unsure of the time needed. If things go well they may finish this week. If there are problems it could take 2 weeks or longer.

You probably would not have noticed any extra restarts if you are in the USA. Most of the extra restarts are between 5AM and 7AM SLT/PDT. I'm not sure if they do some in the evening. I do know Andrew Linden... may be Maestro, siad there is a no change period during peak hours, no restarts or upgrades.

If you are in a Homestead region, you may have seen several restarts as the Homestead regions were redistributed through the release and main channel. They had been collected into Magnum for a scripting test. But, that was a one time thing.

I have yet to get caught in a restart...

Shameless plug... you could get rid of the mushroom feeling by reading my blog... :matte-motes-sunglasses-1:

[Ayesha Askham]

@Nalates,Wolf and anybody else

My sim is a Homestead, and it hasn't been in the Magnum RC channel for several weeks now.  As for The OS restarts being confined to "Off-peak" times, that is only partly true if you reead the Grid Status page.

It's tough if you happen to live outside the USA then.

This is a big job when you consider how many servers have to be upgraded (8000+ I understand) and it can't be handled like a simple (sic) server software update.

This process is throwing up more than its fair share of issues, with some servers not seeming to want to restart after the upgrade, and some odd and very unwelcome changes in script function.  I said we were in for a bumpy ride last week, and I think I was right.  I don't hear the fat lady singing yet.

[WolfBaginski Bearsfoot]

According to Grid Status, they did two sessions on Monday, each three to four hours long.

For me, the sign of bad communication is that we don't know where we are in the overall process, and we are given no idea of the scale of a session. We don't know where we are in the process--have we reached half-way yet--and we have no way of knowing whether our activities will be interrupted. I suspect my Home region might have been through the upgrade, but I'm also told that there is no guarantee it is running on the same hardware/OS server after a server code rollout.

Frankly, guys, I don't think the people in charge of this job would notice a customer if he walked up and kicked them in the bollocks. OK, they shouldn't often need to deal with customers, they're not working at that level, but this is one of the exceptions. There has to be a plan somewhere, and it's beginning to look very cunning.

 

[WolfBaginski Bearsfoot]

No prob.

This is one of those situations when "server" gets confusing.

<cunning plan>Shall we refer to the hardware and OS as "turnips"?</cunning plan> 

[Ayesha Askham]

@Everyone on this thread

After 9 days of restarts I would have thought Linden Lab would be able to give some estimate of how much longer these OS upgrades were going on for.  It is cetainly true that on the whole we residents have seen little or no actual disruption.  My sim has only had one slightly extended outage, and I think I count myself fortunate.

LL have been assiduous in announcing tranches of restarts when they are occurring, and that, I guess, is all we will get, if past performance is anything to go on.

I still think a progress report on the status page would calm any rising doubts, which I hear, but see no evedence of in the forums.

Has anyone seen the Fat Lady backstage yet?:smileywink:

 

Edit: this is not specifically aimed at you, Nalates, the thread decided my post's target, not me!

 

PS and Update: 

Seems to me like the folk at LL are trying to put out as much info as they can via the Status page, it's just that it looks a little forbidding today, and I know a lot of my European and East Coast friends are going to run and hide until this is all over. 

Far from being backstage, I'm wondering if the Fat Lady has even been booked yet!

[Hitomi Tiponi]

It is expected to continue next week.

"String - length of - unknown".

[WolfBaginski Bearsfoot]

My eyes are fully open to this awful situation.

I shall go at once to Linden Lab with musical oration. 

I shall use the rhyme and meter to express my vivid pensées

Though my language gets quite hairy, well D--m the consequences!

Now I do not want my day despoiled by sim crashes and the lag, or

Restarts for a upgrade plan that's filled with lurch and stagger.

And a word or two of clear reply my vanity would flatter,

But I doubt the Lindens listen so it really doesn't matter!

 

So it really doesn't matter,
matter, matter, matter, matter, 
So it really doesn't matter,
matter, matter, matter, matter, 

 

[Hitomi Tiponi]

Oh dear - it seems to be getting to poor Wolf.:smileysurprised:

[Ayesha Askham]

@Wolf

Egad, we have discovered the Bard of the Restart!:smileyvery-happy:

@ Hitomi

I only wish I could meet these restarts with as much good humour and wit that Wolf did!:matte-motes-bashful-cute-2:

One unfortunate consequence of the Grid Wide Roll was that our Homestead got bumped off a really smooth server to a really rather tired old thing.  <sigh>

Fat Lady?  I think I'm at the wrong theatre!

[JoyofRLC Acker]

Ayesha - you made a comment about how this is different form normal server upgrades as if you know what it is that they are in fact doing. As Ive said elsewhere, "OS upgrade" is really quite vague. Can you elaborate? I see also mention of sims being redistributed to different servers. Im probably venturing where I shouldnt as Im not technical; but if that is part of whats happening surely that should have been announced in the status notes. That would be likely to have significant impact (good or bad) on performance for the affected sims.