YAWOWT: So what sort of servers does WOW run on?

[statik213]

Curious to know what sort of servers they run on....
is each realm run only on one server or do they have clusters of servers for each realm?
would be cool to know what sort of hardware goes into keeping WOW running....

 

[Schadenfroh]

Pentium Pro 200mhz
256mb ram
Windows ME
BellSouth DSL connection with 256k up and 1mb down

at least that is what it seems like after all their little problems earlier tonight.

 

[Argo]

Definitely a cluster for each realm. I'd go one step further and guess that those are fairly large clusters, plus the backend database is partitioned as well. As for the rest, your guess is as good as mine.

 

[statik213]

anybody here work for blizzard?

 

[CKent]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
Pentium Pro 200mhz
256mb ram
Windows ME
BellSouth DSL connection with 256k up and 1mb down

at least that is what it seems like after all their little problems earlier tonight.

n00b. They're obviously 486 dx2s. On the other hand, here's a pic of EQ2's dev team so the choice if yours, my friend Hopefully MMORPGs will be worth playing again when Vanguard is released.

 

[TallBill]

I dunno, but I bet they aint cheap.

 

[Sunner]

Originally posted by: statik213
anybody here work for blizzard?

Doubt it.
But running on anything but clusters of relatively lightweight machines wouldn't make much sense.

I do know what Battle.net runs on, since it's hosted at the same colocation provider we use for one of our sites at work.
Actually, they occupy 3-4 racks right beside us
All are Compaq ProLiant DL360's(1U 2-way capable boxes), and they seem to be running some homebrewn OS, most likely a Linux distro tailored to their needs.
And no I haven't/couldn't looked at any prompts to see this, but they do leave their installation discs plainly visible

The WoW realms are probably some similar setup, a custom installation disc that adds whatever software they use for their realms to a very basic clustered Linux system.
How many boxes make up a realm is anyone's guess, but probably quite a few.

 

[statik213]

Originally posted by: Sunner

Originally posted by: statik213
anybody here work for blizzard?

..... How many boxes make up a realm is anyone's guess, but probably quite a few.

are we talking 100s, 10s or < 10?

 

[Zugzwang152]

Originally posted by: statik213

Originally posted by: Sunner

Originally posted by: statik213
anybody here work for blizzard?

..... How many boxes make up a realm is anyone's guess, but probably quite a few.

are we talking 100s, 10s or < 10?

Judging from load on each server, I would wager anywhere between 10 and 100, but not more than 100.

 

[Sunner]

Originally posted by: statik213

Originally posted by: Sunner

Originally posted by: statik213
anybody here work for blizzard?

..... How many boxes make up a realm is anyone's guess, but probably quite a few.

are we talking 100s, 10s or < 10?

Hell if I know, I said I don't work at Blizzard
Like Zugzwang152 said, more than likely more than 10 servers but less than 100.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: RBachman

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
Pentium Pro 200mhz
256mb ram
Windows ME
BellSouth DSL connection with 256k up and 1mb down

at least that is what it seems like after all their little problems earlier tonight.

On the other hand, here's a pic of EQ2's dev team

After looking at the release notes of the last couple of live updates, i would have to agree.