Re: The new PBW
If SE:V remains about the same popularity as SE:IV, and the load on the PBW server remains the same, I would agree that simply spawning a new process would work. But, we all know that SE:IV -- even after more than 5 years -- is getting more new people coming in. I think it would be safe to say that eventually, PBW will get too big to be handled by a single box in Geo's basement. It really wouldn't be too much programming-wise to add support for multiple machines behind PBW. A really simple way to do it is have one box as the gateway, which has the website and front-end controls, email, etc., and behind that, 1+ machines on a switch connected to the gateway (no connection to the 'net). The gateway computer keeps track of which turns are being processed where, and can farm out turn processing to the other machines by simple socket connections to turn processing controllers on the satellite boxes. When a turn is ready or scheduled to be processed, just pick a machine based on some criteria, send a message with the location of the turn files (probably best to keep everything on one big central RAID'ed drive), the satellite machine processes, and sends a message back when it's done so the gateway can send out the emails and update the website.
While it likely will not be immediately necessary, it would still be a good idea to design the capability in from the start. That way, when it is needed, it's just a matter of getting a donation drive started for equipment, and configuring the machines to network.
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