What Everyone Needs To Know About (Second) Life “On The Cloud”
Last week, Blue Mars announced they were becoming a “cloud based service” featuring server side rendering. This led many people, including New World Notes’ Wagner James Au, to ask, could Second Life do the same? To settle the matter, Au posed the question to Linden Lab. Joe Miller (aka Joe Linden) the company’s VP of Platform and Technology Development offered a VERY interesting answer, stating:
“Rather than using the ‘cloud service’ metaphor here, it sounds like what you’re talking about is better termed ‘server-side rendering’ and streaming that content down to machines that would otherwise be unable to run a full 3D client. That is technically possible with Second Life, and we’ve actively demonstrated it internally, with a full Second Life client and all graphics settings set to maximum, while maintaining an impressive framerate. However, we’re not announcing any future plans for new ways to deliver Second Life today. While using the ‘cloud’ metaphor is a bit of a misnomer for the above, standing up a Second Life grid in the cloud is something that we already do; we have customers running instances of Second Life Enterprise in the cloud, and no dedicated hardware is required to stand up a private grid.”
Au then interpreted this as, “So if you pay for a private, firewalled version of Second Life, you can get the cloud option. For regular grid users, expect to access SL with a high-end computer for the foreseeable future.”
This is not entirely true, because the “cloud option” that some Second Life Enterprise customers are apparently using most likely does not provide server side rendering. A platform can operate “in a cloud” without providing server side rendering. Therefore, those paying for the private, firewalled version (Second Life Enterprise customers) and using the “cloud” option would still need high-end computers that meet the Second Life requirements, just like the rest of us. Joe Miller was simply using these particular SLE clients as an example of how they can and are running SL “on the a cloud.”
As for server side rendering (what most people are really interested in) Joe Miller said that they have “actively demonstrated it internally,” but they are “not announcing any feature plans today.” This is VERY interesting! I couldn’t believe how many people missed this important sentence! In fact, Joe Miller came back TWICE to comment and re-iterate it saying,
“I didn’t say there were no plans to offer server-side rendering. I said we had no plans to announce anything in that regard today. There is a big difference.”
“The facts are we can (and have) run the SL client on machines that render in the “cloud” and interactively stream that experience to laptops, netbooks, low-end computers, and mobile devices that otherwise aren’t capable of rendering rich 3D content on their own. That was the question that Hamlet asked.
It’s also true that we’re just not ready to make any announcements about how we might deploy such technology in the future. There are many factors involved in moving to such a model.”
While nobody can say for sure what this means, I think we can all read between the lines here and interpret this to mean that Linden Lab is looking at and considering options such as these and may even be working on something along these lines. Very exciting stuff!
Since the difference between “cloud computing” and server side rendering was very confusing for many of us, but obviously an important topic, as one of Second Life’s biggest limitations is it’s hardware requirements… I’ve asked Sand Castle Studios’ own Reed Steamroller to further explain what these terms mean and more importantly how do they affect Second Life and us. His synopsis is what follows.
Cloud Computing and How it Applies to Second Life
What is a “cloud”, and just what is it computing?
Wikipedia has this to say on the matter:
“Cloud computing is Internet-based computing, whereby shared resources, software and information are provided to computers and other devices on-demand, like a public utility”
For example, Amazon.com offers a prominent web hosting service knows as EC2. EC2 allows paying clients to rent hosting on Amazon’s “cloud.” The software EC2 is hosting for its clients isn’t being run on any one computer in particular. Instead, whatever is being hosted by EC2 (a website, or what have you) is run on a virtual machine, backed by bucket loads of server computers being maintained by Amazon.
I know, now you’re asking “What the heck is a virtual machine?” A virtual machine is basically a software program meant to mimic a full-blown computer. So, interaction with EC2 would be a simulation of working with a single computer. You would even be able to think of this virtual machine interface as the one computer at Amazon that is personally hosting all of your files. But this is a mirage, and behind the scenes everything is made up of a virtual sea of computation.
So there you have it, the cloud, a metaphorical method of providing different services over the Internet. When people say a web service is “on the cloud”, what they really mean is there is a group of servers on the Internet, running whatever software solution that service is providing. There is no one cloud, there are many. The semantic distinction here isn’t really being made over where these computers/servers are located, who owns them or what they’re doing, in as far as how they’re configured and being utilized.
To some people, the Second Life main grid sounds like it could be a cloud, but, personally, I wouldn’t consider it that way. The main reason being that each SIM is dedicated to a specific server core, with a specific allotment of RAM (etc…), and that’s it. The grid’s severs can’t say to themselves “Oh, well, there is less traffic on these SIMs over in this region, so let’s throw some of their resources at these other, crowded SIMs over here. A SIM’s resources are static, and the main grid isn’t just a blob of computing power ready to mold itself to different computing situations. Thus answers the age old question: If a tree falls in Second Life, and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound? The answer: a big ol’ YES. It would be fantastic if this weren’t the case, but I’m no expert on the ins and outs of the main grid’s design, and I’m sure there are a number of reasons why things are the way they are.
Second Life Enterprise, however, is a different situation. Recently, Joe Linden was quoted saying: “…standing up a Second Life grid in the cloud is something that we already do; we have customers running instances of Second Life Enterprise in the cloud, and no dedicated hardware is required to stand up a private grid.”
Normally, Second Life Enterprise is meant to be a sort of mini-grid, out of the box, for companies to utilize within their own, local communications network. A corporation would be provided the necessary hardware and software needed to integrate a Second Life Enterprise solution within their existing IT network. It would then work alongside the standard office network offerings, such as email or intra-net FTP, all behind the company’s Internet firewall.
What I think Joe Linden was referring to was the doings of a few Second Life Enterprise clients. Some companies don’t have a basement full of equipment dedicated to IT, or the resources to justify upgrading their office’s internal IT infrastructure to handle the hardware elements of Second Life Enterprise. I mean, in this day and age, a smaller business’ IT setup could feasibly consist of a broadband connection and a wireless router. So, in some cases, it may be more cost effective to have the server side elements of Second Life Enterprise hosted on rented server space (the “cloud”). I didn’t know Linden Lab was allowing that, but hey, sounds pretty cool to me.
What is “rendering”, and what’s so special about it being “server side?”
Something I’ve realized more and more is that anything you do on a computer is just an abstraction of some finer, more detailed process. Example, everything you see on your screen really just an abstraction of a bunch of ones and zeros being processed by your computer. And, all those ones and zeros are just an abstraction of a bunch of electrons, and volts and what have you, being tossed around your computer’s hardware. Rendering is just the generation of a level of abstraction.
The data being sent to your SL client by the grid is in the form of, like I said, ones and zeros. This data makes up things like the environment your avatar is in, the makeup of all the other avatars around yours and that of your own. Some of this information makes up visual aspects of Second Life, like textures, prims, etc. Some of it is other sorts of information, like sounds and animations, etc. Instinctively, your computer sends the visual information to your video card, which then processes it and turns it into the virtual world you see on your computer’s screen. That process is rendering, and how well your computer handles this task depends on its hardware.
Does anyone remember the dark days when Second Life upgraded the client’s rendering software to “Windlight”, and the flame storm that followed? Suddenly a large number of residents, struggling with older computer hardware, couldn’t use Second Life anymore. So, when new features are again added to the Second Life client’s rendering software, you can expect that at least a few residents won’t be able to experience them. As time goes on, computer hardware becomes obsolete. This is just a fact of life, and I like it about as much as everyone else does.
In comes “server side” rendering. Imagine all the rendering computations needed to display the virtual world of Second Life on your computer’s screen being handled by somebody else’s, much more powerful computer. The virtual world would then be streamed to your computer; with graphics settings at the max, much like streaming video is when you watch a movie or TV show on a website. No longer would you need to upgrade your computer’s hardware to match the new requirements of whatever new rendering feature Linden Lab decides to incorporate into Second Life. That is now the job of server-side rendering guys.
Another boon to server-side rendering would be the virtual impossibility of content theft. As it stands now, everything you come in contact with in Second Life is sent to your computer (and everyone else’s), so that it may be rendered. If the rendering is done someplace else, that content is no longer being distributed to residents, let alone anyone who would want to steal it.
There are a couple of examples of server-side rendering services being put into action. OnLive is one, selling itself as a small console that can be plugged into your computer or television, allowing you to play the newest games from these platforms, regardless of the hardware qualifications. OTOY is another service in the same grain of OnLive, allowing unsurpassed video games graphics on anything from an iPhone to an old Pentium 4 PC. A similar service (of special interest to me) is mental image’s RealityServer platform, allowing raytraced rendering and indirect lighting effects far more advanced than any game technology on the market. However, this is because RealityServer isn’t game technology, and doesn’t provide frame rates anywhere near needed to be considered “interactive.” One last note, all three of these services are run within the cloud computing paradigm.
The Downside
Implementing a Second Life server-side rendering solution would be expensive. I have no idea what the finances are like at Linden Lab, but the costs would be substantial, and switching to server-side rendering (in part or in full) would be a major company decision. They would have to cut a deal with one of the major server-side rendering providers, or build their own “rendering cloud” from the ground up. Joe Linden stated that they had done internal testing for proof of concept, but that was the extent of what they’re willing to release to the public. However, he didn’t deny that server-side rendering could be part of Second Life’s future, which is interesting to say the least.
The downside to the residents of server-side rendering would be bandwidth consumption. I think the current services offering server-side rendering recommend connection speeds of 1.5 MB/sec or more. I’m just guessing, but I don’t think the majority of Second Life users would fall into that category, and, if they didn’t, they would experience a new definition to the word “lag.” You know when you watch something on Hulu or YouTube and the client will tell you that it is “buffering” the video. That can NOT happen in an interactive environment, or else you risk losing the interactivity of said environment.
Lastly, at this time, Linden Lab has not publically announced plans to move the Second Life grid specifically to any cloud based computing platform. That is an entirely different subject. Like I said it would be nice, but that would be another giant, super humongous headache, on top of all the other headaches Linden Lab is dealing with right now. Again, I have no idea how Linden Lab runs the grid, and I won’t pretend to, but moving it to a “cloud” could feasibly affect grid stability negatively, that being the direct opposite effect of its intention. Do the benefits of cloud computing in Second Life outweigh the possible risks taken during the transition? Are these risks that everyone is willing to take?
This would be great if it solved the problem of needing high-end computers for most Second Life effects. I’m not sure I understand completely, it would be streamed in like video? Then it would be impossible to create and build in real time? I’m not willing to give that up for more impressive graphics.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by WPstudios, Kimberly Winnington, Anthony Hocken, W. Reed Seal Foss, topsy_top20k and others. topsy_top20k said: What Everyone Needs To Know About (Second) Life “On The Cloud” – http://bit.ly/bcHOE3 [...]
Yes, in the case of server side rendering, everything would be streamed to your computer in the way video can be. The difference is that it would be interactive. So you could still walk around, build and interact with the virtual world in the same manner that you do today.
Interesting. First of all well done to Joe Miller for actually commenting! Secondly fab explanation of cloud computing, it is so often one of those bandied about terms that people use and don’t expand on.
The expenditure for LL to roll this out would be big, if it didn’t impact on my ability to use SL, I’d certainly be interested to see how much of a premium it would add to premium account to use it. The option to either connect to the cloud or to LL’s own traditional servers would also be nice.
It would also be interesting to interact with those using a cloud service and those not to see how viable it was. you could get a ghetto of those using the normal servers vs the cloud, the SL equivalent of “See this page in text only mode”.
It’s a shame that we had to learn that this is possible only for corp clients at the moment. Whilst as a scaling experiment I can see how it would be useful to run on smaller grids, it irks me a bit that the main grid is a bit of a poor second cousin.
Something I think I should have pinned on a bit more is that server-side rendering isn’t available for ANYONE at the moment, in regards to Second Life. However, Second Life Enterprise clients are, apparently, able to host their mini-corporate-grid on the cloud.
Thank you for this. Too many people seem to think that server-side rendering would be “the answer” to a perfect SL but it’s not, there are downsides to any tech choice. Most importantly, as you mention, the bandwidth issue. People don’t realize how often they (already!) are suffering from lag due to low bandwidth, which is not LL’s fault but gets plenty of ire from residents who don’t understand. They may not be using another bandwidth-intensive program so they don’t see the problem as theirs, only SL acts up so it must be LL’s fault. Especially for folks not physically located near servers. And that adds another cost, adding more servers around the world in order to provide as fast as possible delivery.
And what if it really does take off in a big way? Add to all that the overall increase of everyone using more bandwidth and we run into network congestion issues.
Another issue is that with the user-as-creator model of SL, we have a lot of un-optimized textures and builds that would put further strain on the server side rendering pipeline, and make for some widely variable rendering scenarios. The system would need to work within specific params in order to be financially feasible, but with the wildly different variables (worst case: imagine a unique 1024 texture and/or unique sculpt map for each and every prim in a sim) it makes it a nightmare to try to guarantee a seamless experience, because it’s silly to think that every rendering server should be at “maxed” specs, and even if it was, that still may not guarantee a seamless experience. So in order to go this route, LL may have to put even more sim/prim/sculpt/texture limitations in place.
I think server-side rendering is a very interesting move forward in the virtual worlds tech-scape, but people need to understand it is far from a magic fix-all solution.
If you’re not ready to spend $55,000 for Second Life Enterprise, you can try out OpenSim in a cloud, to get a similar environment. Sim-On-Demand is one service for this: http://simondemand.ec29.com/index.html
Another is Dirk Krause’s OpenSim-in-a-Box: http://web3dblog.wordpress.com/
If you have the technical skills to run an Amazon EC2 instance, the price for a region is about $0.10 per hour, or about $72 for a full month if you run it 24/7.
The big advantages of cloud-based regions is that you can activate a whole bunch at once if you need them, then sleep them when you don’t.
– Maria
I don’t understand why everyone thinks it would be this massive problem. Why can all these other games and platforms move to being rendered on the cloud and streamed but not Second Life. Joe just said SL can. And if all of them can run on the iPad then you can certainly run them at home on your bandwidth there. And yes, LL like OpenSim may charge a fee, but it I don’t think it will be overly high. The larger population who would then be interested in SL once they can run it, all would now be paying the fee too. It would be worth it! (Sounds like it is coming whether you want it or not, but my guess is they aren’t going to tell you until its already done, and so you won’t ever even know about the bugs.)
The problem w/ server-side rendering isn’t whether or not it can be done. I can be. The problem is if there are enough Second Life residents with enough bandwidth in order to justify the move to server-side rendering.
I had thought that LL had tried the cloud during it’s introduction period and found that it didn’t serve their purpose because nobody knew when to sleep or put a region up. traffic could be crowded one minute and empty the next.
Thanks for this deep approach. A few month ago, I went to a presentation of Second Life Enterprise and server was on an amazon “cloud”, it was clear, fast and clean, but nothing really special for me at least.. As mentionned by QueenKellee and Tish, it is not the question of being in the cloud which really changes the cards, but mostly the end user graphic card, processor, and the bandwidth. What I understand thru Jo’s words, is that there is a potential product here for Linden Lab to market, but that they have other concerns for now… which seems to be growing the world & the network, getting SL more popular to reinforce the eco-system…
It has come to my attention that *some* residents are concerned that implementing any sort of server-side rendering would leave all their content and communications open to whoever was providing the server-side rendering service. This service provider could potentially be a third party, a company other than Second Life.
First. Server-side rendering is an idea, not a reality. Linden Lab did an in house test with it, thats it.
Second. The above concern assumes that Linden Lab themselves wouldn’t build the necessary infrastructure to provide server-side rendering themselves, which they very well could.
Third. Whoever provided this service would be open to legal action for breach of privacy. Class action lawsuits are a pretty scary thing to corporate entities.
Fourth. Linden Lab is able to bring up IM conversations you’ve had from months ago at the touch of a button, right now. I don’t see how residents could continue to encrypt their IM’s if the grid went to server-side rendering, and some residents do actually do this. Obviously though, if you don’t want Linden Lab to see that you’re transmitting the arming codes to the nuclear device on Air Force One to other Al queda operatives via in-world IM, maybe you shouldn’t be using Second Life to do so.
Fifth. Already, every voice conversation you’ve ever had has been routed through Vivox’s voice-servers. Vivox is a third party. Is anybody screaming from the hill tops about *that*? If they are, I don’t hear them.
Personally:
If the choice is between every in-world resident with a copy bot or whatever having direct access to my content, or only Linden Lab (along with any possible third party service provider) having direct access to my content, I’ll go with Linden Lab. Because, if I really really had to, I could sue Linden Lab, or just stop using Second Life. I can’t really sue Second Life resident JoeBob Salamander (especially if he lives in another country, other than mine), and if I even could he probably doesn’t have much of anything worth suing him for.
P.S. Apologies to any Second Life resident actually named “JoeBob Salamander.” I was trying to think of something random, and I figured this name wasn’t taken. So if you really are JoeBob Salamander, no, I’m not planning on suing you.
This is JoeBob here. You might not be a suing me, but, I’m a gonna be suing you there for using my name in that there kind of fashion. Don’t you think I don’t know what that defamatory means cuz I sure do. You’ll see there, Reed Steamroller.
Awwww…. please don’t be like that JoeBob! I said I was sorry
There will be many security concerns when and if this ever actually happens, but what you are missing is the security concerns that already exists now, before this even happens.
There are so many issues like not having the ability to appear offline. Even if you “go invisible” to people or choose certain settings there are many ways around that. Or like the notifications sent when you deny a friend request or remove a friend from your list. Avatars who cloak themselves. Multitudes of listening devices. More
The biggest threats being the huge privacy holes in third-party viewers and the new shared media which completely eliminate any privacy all together.
Linden Lab doesn’t care.
Neither do you since you agreed to the TOS and continue to use SL.
Irony at its finest.
@ ATF Westland
Your behavior is proof enough of serious security issues in 3rd party viewers like Emerald, and such issues affects non-emerald users the most – the majority of “residents”.
“Of course there are legitimate privacy concerns with so much user information stored on several virtual servers. Current privacy laws require implementation of varied security measures depending on the nature of the information. For example medical information, social security numbers, and tax information require a higher degree of security protection to prevent breaches. Considering the recent Twitter breach of information stored on Google Apps, there is concern about whether information stored on the “Cloud” can be adequately protected. If companies that utilize Cloud Computing do not put adequate security measures in place, their are exposing themselves to significant liability. Cloud Computing Service Providers should make it a standard practice to implement the same type of security measures in place as required for private networks.”
You use services that operate on the cloud all day and don’t even know it! Unless you are going to complain about all of them then stop whining about SL just because you have nothing else to do.
Ah, somebody with some common sense! I couldn’t have said it better myself.
I agree, if you use the internet then privacy is just an illusion really. It’s sad that some many Second Lifers feel the need to make issues out of everything and complain all the time. Then they wonder why it has a bad name. IT’S NOT BECAUSE OF THE BUGS, OR THE VIEWER OR PRIVACY ISSUES, IT’S BECAUSE OF SAD PEOPLE THAT ARE NEVER HAPPY.
Thank you soooo much Reed for illuminating this!!! As a virtual filmmaker (i.e. a dude who says “action” and “cut” and not much else) these technical things always give me a huge headache. Thanks to you I am saving money for Ibuprofen!!!!
@ Nic Swords:
Obnoxious little trolls like yourself are the ones ruining the Internet (and Second Life for that matter) for everyone. It’s indeed sad that people like yourself are willing to lie in-bed with Linden whenever you can and cheer them on as they toy around with their loyal customers and make them go bankrupt.
1) Lets try to keep things pleasant. No more insults please.
2) Context would help. Please give us an example of what you’re talking about, or your statements are simply baseless.
Just a reminder on my Comment Guidelines (eventhough this was a guest post by Reed Steamroller, please continue to follow the guidelines.)
“I generally moderate reader comments as fairly as possible. As long as a comment is civil I will allow it. Disagreeing points of view are encouraged, but please be considerate of others. Personal attacks, general flaming, and potentially libelous comments will not be approved.”
I do have to say the constant complaining about LL decisions (be it sculpties, voice or now viewer 2.o) is really tiresome….in most cases the criticism is hardly constructive but very childish. Reminds me of this awesome satiric look at the response to the new FB layout http://current.com/shows/infomania/89921155_f-ck-my-facebook.htm
So many of us have seen or been victims of content theft. I myself, have had it happen to me and my work. It’s one of the biggest and most discussed and complained about issues in Second Life. Server side rendering and cloud computing would 100% completely solve this issue!!
Many of you, mentioned a *possible* loss of privacy. We don’t even know how this might be handled, and I think just like our IMs have been safe with the Lab, and our voice convos safe with Vivox, our privacy will continue to be protected. Like someone mentioned above, many, many, companies like Amazon.com, Sun, IBM, etc are already using cloud computing. Most applications like Google Apps, Google Docs, Dropbox, QuickBooks Online, Highrise, Basecamp, and Zoho operate “on the cloud”. Almost all APIs like those offered by Google Maps, ADP payroll processing, the U.S. Postal Service, Bloomberg, and even conventional credit card processing services, function “on the cloud”. But the kicker for most of you will be examples like Grand Central (now Google Voice) and Skype which also operate “on the cloud.” I can almost guarantee you, that some service or application you used on the internet today, and daily, “operated on the cloud.”
So to answer Reed’s questions (sorry to disagree with you in your own post Reed) YES! I think it is worth the wait and all the risk considering we encounter cloud computer every day already and it would obliterate content theft!
Oh I wasn’t really voicing an opinion to disagree with… more like just informing and asking a question was all…
If the virtual world does move to the cloud.
You can expect a number of Canadians to drop out entirely from Second Life.
The reason being is that vast tracks of our broadband infrastructure is solely under the control of a duopoly (Bell Canada for DSL and Rogers for cable).
The monopolies that have been afforded to these companies has enabled them to abuse their customers in ways that would never be acceptable within the US or elsewhere. In fact, Canadians pay more for their Internet access with the exception, I believe, of Brazil while having an infrastructure base equal to that of some third world countries.
Further still, both the cableco and teleco conglomerates utilize aggressive bandwidth management practices in the form of throttling and bandwidth capping – yes, our common carriers are also ISPs. Bandwidth caps are especially crippling as most packages range from only 20GB to 60GB of data per month. Going over this limit can incur additional charges or result in account suspensions. It is very rare to find an ISP that offers an unlimited account.
As is, I can already saturate my bandwidth allotment easily in crowded sims even without streaming music and video.
It is for these reasons and more that services such as OnLive will never extend their operations into Canada.
Well, that sounds like it definitely does suck. We have some of the same problems here in the states.
[...] past weekend, Reed Steamroller wrote a guest blog about cloud computing and server side rendering in regards to Second Life and it stirred up a [...]
With this server side rendering thing, will this enable PCs with lower specs to access Blue Mars since everything now is going to be rendered server side?
Yes, it will.
Awesome! Gonna check out Blue Mars again. Thanks Reed.
[...] OTOY and server side rendering [...]