Technology gloves of running urgently.
A bold ride for many this past week and back. While you could say I been wasting my time I will promptly craft an argument to convince you (and me) that I haven't.
Those that follow Valve's magnificently crafted online hat simulator, Team Fortress 2, know that it has been a busy week. For those that prefer to entertain themselves with Jersey Shore and Paris Hilton, this last week has been as unremarkable and empty as it always has been in their lives but I'll briefly try to explain what is all this so that there may be hope yet for these lost souls. Again I rip off wikipedia and:
For a while (years) the idea of having our own TF2 server was dragged along as mere wishful thinking but as humans as we can be, we needed a life altering situation to change our destiny. We knew this was our call and mobilized. Our group (but really it was just me) fully erected a dispenserver so we could selfishly (and generously let the people of the land) play.
Why is this important? So what I installed a TF2 server and now you're supposed to be impressed? Yes maggot. Servers are no laughing matter. Behind all this there is important technology that needed to be learned and executed so that fun can be had. For example, my virtual private server that houses mostly source code was largely underutilized. It consisted of a Linux CentOS installation with all the toys needed for a respectable server (Apache, MySQL, Postfix, Subversion). So having finally a need and a motive I dove in a world of Wikis and shell scripts. Of all the things I learned, I think the most important was, working with IP tables. Once a mystery to me, now I can fully wield the power of the Linux firewall so that our Fortress of Gentle Mennes is secure. You see, anyone that is currently interested in developing a game, will have to learn this technology. At some point in development you WILL NEED a server. It be for multiplayer, scores, saves, updates for your game you will need some kind of cloud solution that your mobile or static clients can connect to push and get data. And this data needs to be secure. If your server is spread eagle wide with all its ports open, you are vulnerable to remote execution attacks and the like, that if successful, could wreak havoc on all your hard work. I am being simplistic because I don't want to get in the dirty, dirty, dirty details of how it all works but what I'm trying to get at is that nothing is wasted when learning new technology.
Also doing house keeping on the server like having to install the latest kernel and required libraries for 32bit code execution on a 64 bit installation are also things that added value to the experience. The source engine and game server technology is also a great tool for anyone that is into game development and wants to harness the utility of this engine for their games. Over all I come out as a much better, handsomer and competent sysadmin.
For now. All that matters is that the world is now a little better, because we have gotten better at what we do. Also there is fun, love and cakes to be had in our server sandbox so join in the fray.
Those that follow Valve's magnificently crafted online hat simulator, Team Fortress 2, know that it has been a busy week. For those that prefer to entertain themselves with Jersey Shore and Paris Hilton, this last week has been as unremarkable and empty as it always has been in their lives but I'll briefly try to explain what is all this so that there may be hope yet for these lost souls. Again I rip off wikipedia and:
Team Fortress 2 (commonly abbreviated as TF2) is a free-to-play team-based first-person shooter (FPS) multiplayer video game developed by Valve Corporation.Valve, in their continued effort to sell you many hats and keys, has released a new game mode called Mann Vs. Machine. Ususaly these things go smoothly but for some reason the availability of servers that people could play this new mode was lacking. This caused widespread mobilization by the community of TF2 players who quickly made available servers with anything they could find like old computers, their own gaming towers, abandoned servers and toasters. The hungry masses were appeased and prosperity once again blessed the land. In this wave of solidarity our ragtag bunch of misfits have come together to also take part in the relief efforts so that Mann can triumph over Machine.
For a while (years) the idea of having our own TF2 server was dragged along as mere wishful thinking but as humans as we can be, we needed a life altering situation to change our destiny. We knew this was our call and mobilized. Our group (but really it was just me) fully erected a dispenserver so we could selfishly (and generously let the people of the land) play.
Why is this important? So what I installed a TF2 server and now you're supposed to be impressed? Yes maggot. Servers are no laughing matter. Behind all this there is important technology that needed to be learned and executed so that fun can be had. For example, my virtual private server that houses mostly source code was largely underutilized. It consisted of a Linux CentOS installation with all the toys needed for a respectable server (Apache, MySQL, Postfix, Subversion). So having finally a need and a motive I dove in a world of Wikis and shell scripts. Of all the things I learned, I think the most important was, working with IP tables. Once a mystery to me, now I can fully wield the power of the Linux firewall so that our Fortress of Gentle Mennes is secure. You see, anyone that is currently interested in developing a game, will have to learn this technology. At some point in development you WILL NEED a server. It be for multiplayer, scores, saves, updates for your game you will need some kind of cloud solution that your mobile or static clients can connect to push and get data. And this data needs to be secure. If your server is spread eagle wide with all its ports open, you are vulnerable to remote execution attacks and the like, that if successful, could wreak havoc on all your hard work. I am being simplistic because I don't want to get in the dirty, dirty, dirty details of how it all works but what I'm trying to get at is that nothing is wasted when learning new technology.
Also doing house keeping on the server like having to install the latest kernel and required libraries for 32bit code execution on a 64 bit installation are also things that added value to the experience. The source engine and game server technology is also a great tool for anyone that is into game development and wants to harness the utility of this engine for their games. Over all I come out as a much better, handsomer and competent sysadmin.
For now. All that matters is that the world is now a little better, because we have gotten better at what we do. Also there is fun, love and cakes to be had in our server sandbox so join in the fray.
Comments
Post a Comment