Colwyn
10-30-2006, 09:11 AM
Why SQL sucks for MMORPGs on JZigishness (http://www.jzig.com/blog/development/sql_sucks.html)
SQL database latency problems are felt by end users. If you were playing WoW about a year ago and waited 5 seconds to pick up loot, that was SQL lag in action. The problem is that SQL databases are designed for high throughput, not low latency. When you reach a certain number of transactions per second, performance break down. There are two basic solutions to this problem: buy ridiculously expensive hardware, or implement a caching layer. Eve Online helped their performance problems by buying $100,000 solid-state disk drives. That's not always an option, so caching can be used instead. Basically, this works by doing all of the actual transactions in a caching layer between the database and your game. When doing it this way, the SQL database is used as a glorified hard disk, and you lose most of the safety and reliability of SQL in the process. Even worse, eventually you'll hit the same performance problems as before. Basically, you want reliable, fast, and easy. With SQL you get to pick one.
via VirginWorlds (http://www.virginworlds.com/news.php)
SQL database latency problems are felt by end users. If you were playing WoW about a year ago and waited 5 seconds to pick up loot, that was SQL lag in action. The problem is that SQL databases are designed for high throughput, not low latency. When you reach a certain number of transactions per second, performance break down. There are two basic solutions to this problem: buy ridiculously expensive hardware, or implement a caching layer. Eve Online helped their performance problems by buying $100,000 solid-state disk drives. That's not always an option, so caching can be used instead. Basically, this works by doing all of the actual transactions in a caching layer between the database and your game. When doing it this way, the SQL database is used as a glorified hard disk, and you lose most of the safety and reliability of SQL in the process. Even worse, eventually you'll hit the same performance problems as before. Basically, you want reliable, fast, and easy. With SQL you get to pick one.
via VirginWorlds (http://www.virginworlds.com/news.php)