24 hour maintenance for select servers on Tuesday
by Robin Torres 
Jul 19th 2010 at 1:00PM
Blizzard has released the next list of servers that will be unplayable for 24 hours. Starting at midnight PDT (3 a.m. EDT) tonight and ending around midnight PDT tomorrow, a large number of realms will be down for extended maintenance.
Included on that list is Zangarmarsh, the home server for WoW.com's guild <It came from the Blog>, which means we'll be hosting our downtime party elsewhere. I'm thinking a Refugee Party (RP) on Shadow Council may be in order.Stay tuned for details coming later today. Click on the link for details.
The full list of realms is after the break.
Included on that list is Zangarmarsh, the home server for WoW.com's guild <It came from the Blog>, which means we'll be hosting our downtime party elsewhere. I'm thinking a Refugee Party (RP) on Shadow Council may be in order.
The full list of realms is after the break.
We will be performing an extended maintenance for the following realms on Tuesday, July 20th. Maintenance will begin at 0:00 AM PST/PDT and conclude at approximately 0:00 AM PST/PDT Wednesday, July 21st. This is expected to last no longer than 24 hours. The following realms will be down for the duration:
Aerie Peak
Altar of Storms
Alterac Mountains
Andorhal
Anetheron
Anvilmar
Archimonde
Area 52
Arygos
Auchindoun
Azuremyst
Black Dragonflight
Blackwing Lair
Blade's Edge
Blood Furnace
Coilfang
Dalaran
Dalvengyr
Dawnbringer
Deathwing
Demon Soul
Dentarg
Doomhammer
Duskwood
Executus
Exodar
Fizzcrank
Galakrond
Ghostlands
Gnomergan
Grizzly Hills
Haomarush
Icecrown
Jaedenar
Kel'Thuzad
Khadgar
Lethon
Mal'Ganis
Norgannon
Onyxia
Scilla
Sentinels
Shattered Halls
Steamwheedle Cartel
Tanaris
Terokkar
The Scryers
The Underbog
The Venture Co
Thrall
Turalyon
Uldaman
Undermine
Velen
Ysera
Ysondre
Zangarmarsh
Zuluhed
Thank you for your patience during this time.
Ghoroum
Blizzard Entertainment
Aerie Peak
Altar of Storms
Alterac Mountains
Andorhal
Anetheron
Anvilmar
Archimonde
Area 52
Arygos
Auchindoun
Azuremyst
Black Dragonflight
Blackwing Lair
Blade's Edge
Blood Furnace
Coilfang
Dalaran
Dalvengyr
Dawnbringer
Deathwing
Demon Soul
Dentarg
Doomhammer
Duskwood
Executus
Exodar
Fizzcrank
Galakrond
Ghostlands
Gnomergan
Grizzly Hills
Haomarush
Icecrown
Jaedenar
Kel'Thuzad
Khadgar
Lethon
Mal'Ganis
Norgannon
Onyxia
Scilla
Sentinels
Shattered Halls
Steamwheedle Cartel
Tanaris
Terokkar
The Scryers
The Underbog
The Venture Co
Thrall
Turalyon
Uldaman
Undermine
Velen
Ysera
Ysondre
Zangarmarsh
Zuluhed
Thank you for your patience during this time.
Ghoroum
Blizzard Entertainment
Filed under: Realm Status, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Ilikecake Jul 19th 2010 1:05PM
i wonder when my server will be down for maintenance
BigBadGooz Jul 19th 2010 3:23PM
When your guild let's you take your alt warrior since your main is fully geared
Task Jul 19th 2010 1:05PM
Awww.... Well I kind of expected it to happen.... I can survive 24 hours of downtime away from Dawnbringer and Zangarmarsh...
I guess its a good thing I didn't xfer my druid back yet...
Back to levelling the mage on Bloodhoof.
feniks9174 Jul 19th 2010 1:06PM
/cry
Oh well, I have a couple movies I've been meaning to watch and I should pick up FFXIII again.
Warren Jul 19th 2010 1:44PM
is it sad that i use Tuesday as a day to catch up on my movie downloads?
Samutz Jul 19th 2010 1:06PM
Already sent my two 80 alliance characters to Shadow Council in prediction of 24 hour Zangramarsh downtime.
Although this also means I have to wait an extra day to get my Argent Pony Bridle, unless I get extremely lucky with the Champion's Purses.
Ironthread Jul 19th 2010 1:28PM
Wow, you really spent $50 just to avoid having a single day of downtime? Wish I had disposable income like that :D
Robin Torres Jul 19th 2010 1:38PM
It's to participate in our other guild on Shadow Council.
Samutz Jul 19th 2010 1:46PM
Yep, they were going there one way or another. I was originally gonna wait until 3.0.9 (or whenever we get the Echo Isles/Gnomeregan events). I just got it done sooner than I expected.
lovedatrollmon Jul 19th 2010 5:29PM
What is the other guild on Shadow Council?
Robin Torres Jul 19th 2010 6:48PM
B L O G
http://www.wow.com/tag/for-gnomeregan/
Blacksen Jul 19th 2010 1:10PM
I was in the last wave of servers, and we've actually been really happy with the results. The server "upgrades" have two parts: first, they're upgrading the actual hardware itself. Second, they're moving the servers to fiber-optics data centers.
Zul'jin has been fantastic: absolutely nothing wrong with the server. Lag is incredibly rare, and the server runs really smooth.
I know the 24 hours sucks, but we thought it was worth it.
ThatUsefulHunter Jul 19th 2010 1:19PM
Wait, what? they are actually fixing Kel'thuzad's server problems finally with this downtime? What am i suppose to blame my lag on now? The fact that i play on dial-up?
egburr Jul 19th 2010 1:53PM
I just don't understand this. Most places replacing hardware would just install on the new hardware and get it ready, then bring the old server down and bring the new one up. Minutes of downtime at most. What's so different about Blizzard that they can't start getting the new hardware ready until after they take down the old server?
Drakkenfyre Jul 19th 2010 1:59PM
I don't know if it's the upgrade. or some add-on like GearScore (constantly pinging people, I don't use it) that caused it, but on my server, my ping went to 60 average to around 220.
Drakkenfyre Jul 19th 2010 1:59PM
egburr, do you have any idea how many servers they have?
People who have seen them say they rival the CIA in amount of server hardware. Each database for the characters are TB's in size. This isn't a simple "stop and swap" with the hardware.
niko Jul 19th 2010 2:05PM
Please do not try and push the case that dramatically oversimplifies the situation. Especially when you have no idea how it's set up.
I mean, sure, in the grossest generalization, it sure does seem like an easy thing to do. But there are not many things in this world that play out this way.
SamLowry Jul 19th 2010 3:02PM
So no more spit-and-duct-tape fixes will be needed for the Thrall server? You mean it might actually operate for more than thirty-six hours at a stretch without an unexpected shutdown?
Yay! And the hamster gets a full day off.
Scooter Jul 19th 2010 3:23PM
Egburr Isn't entirely off track here. He's just underestimating the number of servers and forgetting that there may be more work than hardware replacement. Assuming it only took 5 minutes to do exactly what Egburr said lets do some math below
5 minutes x 200 servers = 1000 minutes
1000 Minutes / 60 Minutes = 16.6667 hours
So the best case oversimplified scenario still takes over 2/3rds of the day just for the hardware.
Lets take the above equation and give it some ballpark numbers. For this you would factor the number of servers, hardware replacement time, boot time/software testing, available manpower within the facility, and some extra leeway for the thousands of little issues. This is assuming the truck is sitting outside with all of the properly labeled, servers with all the data and software preloaded.
60 Minutes x 800 servers = 48000 Minutes
48000 Minutes / 60 minutes = 800 hours
800 Hours / 50 people = 16 hours
Again this takes 2/3rd's of the day. You would still leave that 8 hour leeway in case something goes wrong.
Artificial Jul 19th 2010 3:34PM
"This is assuming the truck is sitting outside with all of the properly labeled, servers with all the data and software preloaded."
All the data can't be preloaded unless you're willing to toss any changes to the data that occurred between when you loaded that data and when you brought the old servers down. I assume part of the time required here is the migration of the data off the old servers *after* they've been taken out of play.