Net message pending

[[HUD]Dorph]

On my dedi servers .rpt file i have a lot of folliwing lines:

2010/08/04, 22:41:58 Server: Network message 5f7fd59 is pending
2010/08/04, 22:41:58 Server: Network message 5f7fd5a is pending
2010/08/04, 22:41:58 Server: Network message 5f7fd5a is pending
2010/08/04, 22:41:58 Server: Network message 5f7fd5b is pending
2010/08/04, 22:41:58 Server: Network message 5f7fd5b is pending
2010/08/04, 22:41:58 Server: Network message 5f7fd5c is pending

Maybe 70% of the server.rpt are lines like that.
Is it something i should worry about ?

[whisper]

If it means what I think it means, then it's not a really good sign, it would mean the server is buffering some network messages (inbound or outbound I don't know), probably because it is busy and cannot handle the message right now, or because the settings of the server do not permit the message to be put in a net packet immediately and will need to be put in the next packet.
Does the server often shows desync with clients?

[[HUD]Dorph]

hmm not really desync seems to be a problem - we get a red/yellow chain maybe 1 time evry hour but after 30-40secs all is cool again(woth 30players on). But scripts seems to stop working, playing Doomi the ai-recruiting wil stop work also jet-service / wreckpad / choperservice seems to halt some times - sometimes it maintarget wont report done when all has been taken.
The arma2.cfg is:
MinBandwidth=15000000;
MaxBandwidth=100000000;
MaxMsgSend = 1024;
MaxSizeGuaranteed = 1024;
MaxSizeNonguaranteed = 64;
MaxCustomFileSize=0;

[Cross]

reduce your maxmsgsend to 512 then check again.... you can try 256 as well .

[[HUD]Dorph]

Thx advice tried with no change - guess next move will be hardware upgrade for the server.

[CHB68]

New Hardware ? You really think this is a hardware issue ? What will you replace ?

We also have lots of "net message pending" (also min. 70%) and unfortunately no clue what it means, not to mention "If it means what I think it means, then it's not a really good sign"

@Cross

MaxMsgSend=512;
MaxSizeGuaranteed=1024;
MaxSizeNonguaranteed=384;
MinBandwidth=41943040;
MaxBandwidth=100000000;
MinErrorToSend=0.0049999999;
MaxCustomFilesize=0;

Reducing maxmsgsend to 256 has no considerable effect.

Any more suggestions ?

[[HUD]Dorph]

New hardware - may not be a problem fixer for the "pending network" message, but the server also have a problem keeping up/spreading the load over the 4 cores. 1 core running 100% other 3cores has not much to do. Maybe the overloaded core are the cause of the msg - dont know. Anyway a processor with more power per core would be good im sure, so thinking of buying a core i7 860. Seems a waste of money to buy a 6core as the arma2oaserver.exe does such a bad job on spreading load. (unless u want to run several arma2oaserver's)
The thing i dont understand is that pre OA my server never had any issues running Doomi - ok 1core was used more than other3 but it never was used more than 70-80%. The first thing to be noticed when server have troubles is that scripts seems to stop beeing done, repairpad,chopperservice,jetservice stops working, and sometimes main targets are not reporting done when all objectives are done. Only thing to do is restart server/mission.

[Tankbuster]

1 core running 100% other 3cores has not much to do. Maybe the overloaded core are the cause of the msg - dont know.

What you're seeing there is the core that is running the AI going flat out and the cores that do the other stuff are waiting around while the AI core catches up. This is not uncommon in Domination when there's lots of enemy about.

A more powerful server will help. Meantime, is it possible to overclock the one you have?

[CHB68]

@[HUD]Dorph

We heat our 100mbit dedicated server with an I7 920 (not oc) and 8 GB of RAM. It works 24/7 in a brandnew professional data center with a total connection of 92 Gigabit. So what else to run a single ArmA2 OA dedicated server ?

As for the cores and CPU load spread; I wasted hours to read all concerning threads in this board and searching the internet as we, and many others face the same problem. Actually running BETA 72291 we specify -cpucount=4 and -exthreads=1. Playing a Warfare one core is heavily streched (abt. 95%), the other 3 cores feel bored around 10-20 % as Tankbuster already explained above.

As already mentioned I read a lot about multicore support, start parameters, disabling HT and CPU affinity settings. Setting the affinity to core 0-2-4-7 we noted a slightly better CPU load spread.

This kills the peaks of CPU0, makes the gameplay subjectively a little bit more smooth but it is no solution for the "network message pending" error swamping the .rpt. Even if the CPU load is simply horrifying for a dedicated server......

And as always we can only guess. No informations, explanations or even comments from BIS.

[Tankbuster]

If you see the server FPS dropping when a lone core is flat out, you'll know that's holding back the other cores.