3.4 Administrator Tool: Runtime zone management.

From SmartFoxServer version 1.1.0 it is possible to manage your server zones dynamically while the server is running.
This feature is particularly useful when you need to update your zone settings, add new zones or disable one of them without the need to restart the server.

Here's a list of what can be done:

» Activate or deactivate a zone on the fly.
» Add a new zone.
» Change the zone settings (uCount, buddyList, max users, max rooms etc...)
» Add, modify, delete moderators

All these operations can be done without the need of restarting the server.

» The Zone Manager:

By selecting one Zone node from the Zone tree you will be presented a screen showing all current settings for that zone. Also you will find three buttons:

» Toggle Status: by clicking this button you can instantly activate / deactivate a Zone. By default all the zones loaded by SmartFoxServer are immediately activated in order to allow clients connections. By deactivating a zone you will automatically disconnect all currently connected clients and shut down the application. All attempts to connect to a disabled zone will be refused.

» Refresh: request an update of the current view.

» Send Message: sends an administrator message to all clients in the currently selected zone. It is reccomendable to send an alert to all users before deactivating a zone.

» Reloading Zones and Settings:

The RELOAD ZONES button below the zone tree will reload the entire <Zone> definition from the config.xml file.

This process is made up of two phases:

1) Create and activate the new zones found in the config file.
2) Apply the config changes to the currently running Zones.

In the first phase the config file is analyzed and all new zones definition are activated, while in the second phase all changes done to the zone settings are applied and made available.

This way you can add new applications on the fly, add and remove moderators, modify the capacity of each zone etc...

» Removing zones?

Now that you've seen how to add new zones and modify their current settings you may be wondering if there's a way to dynamically remove zones as well.
Actually this can be done in a couple of steps:

1) Deactivate the zone: all clients will be disconnected and new connections attempts will fail.
2) Remove the zone definition from your config file and save it.

Now the zone is hidden and ready to be destroyed. Next time you will restart the server it will be completely removed.


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