itch.io Community » itch.io » Questions & Support

How does Itch.io backend work?

A topic by SupremeStudio created 28 days ago Views: 190 Replies: 5

Viewing posts 1 to 3

So itch.io was down yesterday and i want to know more about how it work and i did some research to find out this wasn't the first time. Just to be clear this post is not meant again/offend anyone i just want to know how things work.

My questions are

1-itch.io was down yesterday and the itch.io staff couldn't do anything about it why?

2-Can't itch.io or other platforms(Steam as an example) to host their own website instead of dealing with a Could hosting provider?

3-Unlike other platform itch.io get taken down many times more than others any particular reason other than maintenance?

thanks for your answers

Like Reply

redonihunter28 days ago

My opinion on the matter.

1. What would you imagine they could do? Beyond calling tech support.

2. They do host their own website. But if you have more traffic than a very small company, "hosting" yourself would equate to having a cloud service. Next you ask, if they can't have their own power plants, instead of dealing with the power companies.

And yes, bigger companies actually do just create their own cloud - and promptly rent it out to others. Find out, what aws stands for. And with solar roofing and such, many companies do create partially their own power, but I am not aware, if a company created their own power company.

3. Steam and Google have a lot more redundancy and backup systems.

Like Reply

SupremeStudio28 days ago

1-Don't they have a backup? Usually there will be a backup in case something happen to the primary one they start the Backup intel the Primary is fixed. Can't they do that?

2-With the technology we have yeah why not. This might depend on their budget if they can afford the hardware.

3- I suppose they have backup at least for their DataBase.

Like Reply

hechelion28 days ago

What level of knowledge do you have about how the Internet works?

1.-Itch contracts the server service to another company. If the other company fails, the Itch staff cannot kick into said company's data servers, point a gun at the technicians and force them to repair the server.
If your internet operator fails one day. What can you do? Do you open the junction boxes on the street and try to repair them yourself or wait for the company you pay to send a technician who can check and repair the problem? It is similar.

2-Of course they can, but in the years since the Internet has existed, it is much more expensive and complex to build and maintain your own data-center VS hiring the services of a specialized company. And I anticipate your question. Normally this model causes your services to be down for longer than when you hire the services of a specialized company.

3-I wouldn't know what to tell you, I haven't seen Itch be down longer than other companies of similar size. It is true that Itch hosts more than a million independent games, but only about 25,000 paid games, so as a billing they must be far, far below monsters like Google, Apple, etc. If you have the income of Google, you can pay for more redundancy than a small company.

Like Reply

SupremeStudio28 days ago

I can't say I'm an expert but i have a "Not bad information's" about it.

1-if one Service fall i start using the Other Example:I have 2 Internet subscription to my home and if one fall and lost connection i start Using the Other(not the same ISP) they are in contract with one Server Service can't they contract another(it might be expensive or legally they can't I don't know what are the contract terms or Itch.io budget).

2-WIth the technology we have isn't easer than before the internet and Computer World are evolving by time and the market offer many things hardware/Software with different prices as for maintain their own Data-center they can hire an IT that specialized in those stuff.

3-well i compared it to GameJolt witch should be an equal competitor i use both itch and gamejolt daily and i didn't notice gamejolt getting down there are sometime that you feel that the Website no responsive or slow but not down while itch it can suddenly be down for 1+ hour.

Like Reply

hechelion28 days ago

This is called redundancy, normally the same provider can offer it to you, since they usually have several data centers around the world, but it is more expensive and it can always happen that something fails.

Having everything replicated in 2 companies is obviously twice as expensive.

Maybe for you, having and paying monthly for 2 ISPs is not significant, but deep down, you are burning money, because a single ISP usually works over 99% of the time, so only 1% costs you 50% of your internet account.

Paying an additional 50 dollars a month is not the same as practically doubling the costs of a company in an area ;)

2-The best thing is the experience, create your own data center and sell the service to Itch, if you can do it better and cheaper than what they currently have, we will all thank you.

3-

Maybe they pay for more redundancy or you haven't noticed their downfalls. I personally don't find Itch to have been down long enough to be annoying or worrying.

Like Reply