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Date:
Monday , October 30, 2006Category:
Xbox 360Manufacturers:
MicrosoftAuthor:
Steve LynchEditor:
Kyle Bennett
Inside The Xbox Live Operations Center
[H] Console takes an exclusive behind the scenes look at the Xbox Live
Command Center with Jason Coon, Operations Program Manager for Xbox
Live.
continued...
Live is down twice a year? When and why?
As I mentioned, we perform semi-annual service updates. These are
scheduled updates that add new and enhanced features. We typically do
these in the Spring and the Fall, thus the names "Spring Update"
and "Fall Update." Our spring update was in May this year, and our
Fall update is not far off. The way these work is in three steps.
First, we take the service down for typically 24 hours so that we can
update every server in the datacenter. Second, we spend several weeks
testing the updates with selected consoles (all employees). Third, we
make the update available to world, and once that happens everyone
connected to Xbox Live will be prompted to download the update the next
time they logon to Xbox Live.
Does MOM still track activity while Live is down and how is this done?
Yes, even during downtime we have MOM running, mostly because MOM also
requires reconfiguring when we update our servers, and it's a good
way for the folks in the XOC to monitor that services are being
restored as expected when we complete the maintenance and start testing
before opening the doors to the public again.
Spring and Fall flashes are practiced, how is this done and why?
We practice by deploying the updated code to all of our test
environments. Each test environment deployment is like a dress
rehearsal for Production. Even very skilled systems engineers get tired
during a long deployment, so having done it a number of times, and
scripting it out so that each person knows what they are doing and when
helps to ensure that it all goes smoothly, and helps us to identify any
problems with the process before we get to Production. Just like in
sports, you practice, practice, practice so that on game day, there are
no doubts and everyone knows exactly what to do.
Other than custom Xbox 360s, what are some of the other perks of
working for the Xbox Live team?
We do get an occasional retail game for free (we all got Halo2
collector's editions), lots of t-shirts, hats, game posters and such
(I even got a Conker shot glass once ), and all of the Xbox Live Arcade
games and MSN Games are free for us. We also get early access to many
items such as peripherals and games that are often months away from
release and we get the opportunity beta test a lot of this at home. Of
course all of that stuff is very cool and fun, but by far I think the
biggest perk is really being able to work with cutting edge technology.
When you spend your day surrounded by multi-proc (and multi-core)
servers, packed with GBs of RAM, sporting multi-chassis U360 SCSI RAID
arrays, connected via multi-GB/s links, all running custom code that
your team developed, interfacing with custom hardware that your team
developed, serving up the premier online gaming experience for more
than 4 million people around the world, it almost causes you to lose
perspective as to what a "normal" job might be like.
Major Nelson is a Nintendo DS owner, what does Jason game on when he
has the chance?
Major Nelson is a gadget freak. Seriously, his office looks like what
you might see if a Best Buy delivery truck happened to tip over and
spill its contents. I was a diehard PC gamer before joining the Xbox
Live team. I was a regular LAN party attendee and organizer, and I was
constantly upgrading my PC and tweaking my game configuration files for
maximum performance. Now, I game almost exclusively on my Xbox 360. My
HD TV offers me higher resolution than my PC (1920x1080 on my TV vs.
1680x1050 on my PC), 5.1 surround sound (I only have 2.1 on my PC), and
a far more comfortable place to sit, my couch. I'm not knocking PC
gaming, I still prefer a keyboard and mouse for FPS games, but I've
really become a console convert.
Some people like to leave their work at the office, do you take yours
home with you? Are you a big gamer?
Yes, and yes. The great thing about the Internet is that I can do 99%
of what I do in the office from home. Of course the bad thing about the
Internet is that I can do 99% of what I do in the office from home,
meaning that I'm rarely unavailable to work. The same is true for
many of us. Just when I think I'm the only guy on email at 1:30am on
a Saturday, I'll see two other people I work with respond to an email
thread.
Just about everyone at Xbox Live is a big gamer, which is part of why
we put in so many hours, because we really care about the service.
We've walked in gamers' shoes, we know what it's like when all
you want to do is fire up a game and frag some of your friends, but
then something gets in the way and prevents that. We know how
frustrating that is, so we all put in far more hours than is asked of
us to ensure that the service does run smoothly, and gamers never have
to worry about whether or not they'll be able to get online to play,
it just works, every time.
Lately I've been playing Lego Star Wars II, after having spent a
month playing nothing but Dead Rising (46 out of 50 achievements, those
5 and 7 day survival ones are killing me).
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