So, when we switched MultiInv to SQL, xert and I noticed right out of the gate that it took a few seconds to switch between worlds. At first we did not think much of it. Just that it took an amount of time certainly longer than before. We figured that it was a reasonable sacrifice for having the server not crash from too many files open.

Sadly, our previous assumptions are not the full story. As I'm sure we have all found out, we have had lag spikes on the server lately. I have pinpointed the problem upon looking at timings for different plugins. You can view them here:

From the information collected, I have concluded that multiinv is the cause. I can conclude this because if you notice how many total seconds the event listeners have used, multiinv is the highest with over 3000s. My current hypothesis is follows:

Bukkit recommends that SQL requests to be in async threads. The obvious problem with this is that people would spawn in the new world with their old stuff until the new inventory info info was fetched. Another thing I observed was that the CPU usage goes down to 0 during these lag spikes. This suggests that the main server thread is waiting for something to be done. If the CPU was pinned at 100%, this would suggest that there is heavy processing that is taking place. However, since we observed the former, This suggests that the SQL query is taking more than a few seconds therefore forcing the entire server to wait for a reply. This would not be a problem if it was contacting a database on a local hard drive, this suggests that they have offsite SQL hosting.

The solution:

The current solution is being thought up as we speak. This is in no way a permanent solution. It may be modified at any time.

The remedy to this problem is to revert back to the file method. This utilizes the SSD space we pay for to do what it does it best. The only problem with this method, and the reason we switched in the first place, was that miltiinv was loading waaaayyyy to many files. So, to prevent this, we will add exempt permissions for all worlds except PvP and builder survival. We have decided this because in all other worlds, users can easily select their items without too much trouble. Although, this may mean the items might rollover to different worlds. In that case, we will find a different solution.

Hopefully we will be able to remedy this problem without too much trouble, and hopefully restore the lag-free server that we pay for. Any feedback is welcomed.

Thanks,
pirson7410

So I thought I would post a small update about the server since I have not done so in a while...

Xert and I have been working to restore bpermissions to its working order. Somehow, everything got messed up. We were getting disk full errors and other assorted problems. For this reason, we got rid of all of the maps except builder ones as well as pvp and spawn(with backups, don't worry..). Towny also broke during this time.. not sure how that is coming. Hopefully xert will post saying what he has done then we will have the full story.

As of now, we still don't have bpermissions working and we need to wait for a new bug-fix release to solve that. In the mean time, have fun in apoc.

Maybe we can get DuelMe working soon so you can all have fun with that..

I have rendered all of the apoc maps and they would be here:
i'm too lazy to make a web page. if someone wants to make images for each map, for users to click on, i could get it up and running. Thanks!

-pirson7410

I'm currently debugging and making sure DuelMe is ready for release. Although, this may be hard as not many builders are willing to stress test this game. Chubby has taken the lead to create and setup the arenas while I attempt to make it all work. The faster I can get feedback the faster we can open it up.

On another note, we may not be updating the server to the next minecraft release as fast as many of our other upgrades. I fear that more things will break. For this reason im going to start the server on my own computer with all of the plugins, update everything, and make sure it is stable before applying said changes to the server.

Thanks,
pirson7410

PvP overviewer needs an update, and we need an overview for Eldaria (Besides chubby's map).

Though I agree with you about the overviewer, I think it would be a bit unfair. On the other hand, you shouldn't build on the surface if you don't want to be found.

The overviewer idea was originally rehtims' idea. I just keep it updated. XD