Automatic Reboot or Available Now Reboot

[Elochai]

I know the Managed VDS Reboot button was taken away as it was never ment for public viewing, just staff as it can cause issues for say with things like rebooting during a backup. But I'd like to see the option for a VDS reboot as no matter how you look at it, RAM does hold things in memory when un-needed at times. This causes RAM to be used up even if it is little by little everyday, it adds up.

So what I think could be a great idea for the furture and also allows you to keep your systems running smooth without delay to others or the backup system is:

An auto reboot option for the VDS much like the one for game servers that will run once a month but not on days that backups or updates are being done. It should also be able to check to make sure none of the game servers on the VDS have players at the time.

or

When the system wont be affected by a VDS reboot the reboot button should become available on the control panel.

So what do you think and could this be an option in the near furture ?


For me I would give up my VDS backup for the reboot option as I do my own backups anyway.

Scott,

[Edge100x]

We're serious when we say that reboots don't improve performance. You are right that game servers often have memory leaks, which is why we do restart those daily, but the OS itself does not, and nothing else runs on our end that would. They really are not required except to apply OS security updates.

You can watch the free memory graph on the "Server usage" page for confirmation of this, if you'd like.

[Elochai]

I have and I have seen memory after a few days get eaten up. I know when I got the server; the amount of memory showing for my 3GB VDS was 1.7 GB with no servers on it at all.

I installed a few servers and it went to 1.2 GB. I asked for a reboot. When the VDS rebooted it allowed the server to be in a more acceptable range of 2.3 - 2.6 GB. A clear sign that the server had held system updates from the install within memory. After 5 days the memory has dropped down alot.

Oh and I forgot to ask, am I on Windows 2003 or 2008. I ask because I am not sure. I worked with 2003 alot but nothing with 2008 and I don't know if 2008 is like Windows 7 which is a memory hog when it comes to GUI's compared to XP which is more incommon with 2003.

[Edge100x]

I suspect that it's either not displaying it correctly or your game servers are taking more RAM than you think. If you open a support request, I can go over this with you.

If your "Server control" page says your OS is Windows 2003, it is Win2k3. Otherwise, it's Win2k8 R2.

No Windows server OS since at least Win2k has required even occasional reboots -- we've tested the gamut extensively. Again, though, applications themselves do sometimes need to be restarted, including game servers.

[Elochai]

Don't get me wrong or anything Edge, NFO is by far the best GSP I have found and I been with a few in my years.

I'll open up a ticket for you so we can troubleshoot to make sure everything ok. But I still think some control of rebooting the VDS would be a plus when done right. But I also understand that it would be more work to create and put in place to make sure that a reboot can't be done unless the time is right.

[kraze]

Don't get me wrong or anything Edge, NFO is by far the best GSP I have found and I been with a few in my years.

I'll open up a ticket for you so we can troubleshoot to make sure everything ok. But I still think some control of rebooting the VDS would be a plus when done right. But I also understand that it would be more work to create and put in place to make sure that a reboot can't be done unless the time is right.

Adding on to what John is saying. There is really no reason to restart. As John said that machines do not really need to be rebooted at all. The servers on them do, of course.

It would be far to much work to code and script that option in to the control panel and even more of a feat to make it only work at certain times. That would not only involve placing everything on a time scale but making it in to a database.

It kind of goes back to the saying if it is not broke..don't fix it. A reboot really wont help that much if all.

[Edge100x]

I could look into adding this option to the control panel if it's necessary, after I've done some other items on my long pile of work. I just haven't yet seen a case where it's improved performance to reboot Windows, so it doesn't seem like a good use of time.

[sylar]

hey john, i was using reboot button every two days and performance was actually better. i did it for few weeks till it was removed.

i would very much appreciate if u reconsider putting back restart option again.

[Edge100x]

I appreciate the input.

You should be able to also restore any performance loss by restarting the game servers on the machine.

[AciDPuke]

hey john, i was using reboot button every two days and performance was actually better. i did it for few weeks till it was removed.

i would very much appreciate if u reconsider putting back restart option again.

The windows versions NFO uses for the managed VDS are designed by Microsoft for long uptimes, they really don't need to be rebooted as John has stated, in a Server environment reboots are not favorable and really the only time the server should be rebooted is with windows updates, hardware changes or in this case if Xen has failed or corrupted.

[sylar]

idk

to some point i put my 100% trust in john's words. but i guess it could be psychological. the feeling of restarting whole machine just satisfies that ur servers are running at peak.