The Advantages of Running OpenSim on the Cloud

Crista Lopes, the UC Irvine professor who innovated the OpenSim hypergrid, has a very interesting post on running OpenSim with a cloud service (as opposed to doing it from a server in your home.) Among the top advantages is a huge savings in cost:

You get a high bandwidth / high reliability data center for your virtual world, with a lot of flexibility regarding the cost... Amazon Web Services (AWS) is flirt for any geek, because the prices, at face value, are so low. Look at AWS pricing, and you rarely see anything above $1. It’s all pennies! 1 server? $0.085/hour. 1GB of data? $0.10/month. Storage I/O? $0.10/million requests. Traffic in? $0.10/GB. Traffic out? $0.15/GB after a first free GB. Dirt cheap... If you want your server to be always on, the cost of the server alone is ~$60/month. Add to that the I/O and network traffic, and this number can easily go well above $100/month if your world has a lot of action.

While Professor Lopes doesn't mention it, $100 a month is still considerably less than owning a single sim in Second Life. At the same time, Christa also acknowledges the additional difficulties of getting OpenSim to run in the cloud. Then again, there's another advantage for the cloud: It's a greener solution, since service is only provided on demand (as opposed to Second Life's always-on grid.)

Hat tip: Ener Hax.

Comments

[Tom Boellstorff]

Go Crista! Yay for a fellow Anteater (UC Irvine faculty; not "Irving" lol). Now if we only didn't have such busy lives and could see each other on campus more...

[Pattaya Blog]

it amzes me just how far hosting costs have fallen from ten years ago.

[Ener Hax]

thanks on the hat tip =)

cloud-based everything may be in the near future for everything. i find the term "cloud" sometimes make this concept a bit daunting to many, but it simply (well, looks simple) means on-demand server usage which makes sense and will be a must as far as energy use goes

this will be more applicable to most of us if OpenSim ever becomes a very simple install (on the order of like a WordPress installation)

the cost is great and compared to an "always on" dedicated server comes out to about $60 less a month (for 16 "strong" regions we pay around $160 a month)

[Hamlet Au]

Wow, Tom, can't believe I wrote "UC Irving"! Suggests a very nebbishy university. Fixed now.

[Arcadia Codesmith]

"Server on demand" has been gathering steam in the MMO space in the form of dynamic instancing -- instead of having x number of static servers, you have regions that get cloned as usage increases.

There are issues with the approach in terms of community building and the ability of players to have any lasting impact on the game world, but it's undeniably a more efficient use of resources.

There are innovative variations that, for example, allow dynamically instanced audience spaces to share a single stage space for performances, dramatically expanding the number of people that can attend a concert or play.

I think the parallel trend in social worlds spells trouble for the tier-based revenue stream of SL and similar worlds. I would not be surprised to see new virtual worlds in the next decade giving land away for free and supporting themselves through microtransactions (and taking a chunk of player-to-player transactions).

[Johnny alt]

Pity Linden Lab continue to undermine the whole concept of virtual worlds by sticking to their resident killing price model of high tier costs.

No wonder the main Secondlife grid is shrinking and concurrency and user hours are weak and falling with these incrdible high tier costs.

Wise words from Arcadia Codesmith

I think the parallel trend in social worlds spells trouble for the tier-based revenue stream of SL and similar worlds. I would not be surprised to see new virtual worlds in the next decade giving land away for free and supporting themselves through microtransactions (and taking a chunk of player-to-player transactions).

[Johnny alt]

@Pattaya Blog

It amazes me that Linden Lab continue to kill and churn over their own core residents community with 300USD per month tier costs.

And no price reduction in tier after years and years. Quite amazing biz model. What ARE they thinking.