[MUD-Dev] Multilevel server concept

[Draymoor]

I was just doing some design brainstorming and came upon an idea for a
multilayer server system.
I don't know how viable this is, or if it's already used, comments
suggestions please?

Anyway, the idea is such:

There are two types of servers for a mud. One is the primary server. This
world server basicly has all the game logic, player data, etc. This is like
most standard muds. There is also another type of server called the router
server. This server can reside anywhere and is what players connect to.
These servers basicly bounce messages between the world server and the
players.

The perpose of this is three-fold.
A: It allows a person to choose a server at a location where the lag is more
suitable for them (if there are multiple router servers available for the
mud).
B: It contains it's own game loop in which it can keep players if the world
server is down for reboot or crashes. This keeps the player's connections
alive and gives them somewhere to talk to each other.
C: It acts as a security point. If someone disables a server, you can always
move to the other servers, with all your data still saved. A person can't
actually hack the world server's data unless they know where the router
servers send your bounce. This could only happen by monitering the
destinations of the packets sent by the router servers (I don't know if this
is possible), or by getting a copy of one of the servers' code

The immediate problem I see is that this might cause more lag due to the
double send/recieve and longer path, but I don't know how bad that would be.

Any input is welcome, thanks.

Philip Loguinov




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