Setting up a server: which Linux distro?

[Joost]

I'm thinking about setting up my own colocated gameserver. I want to host a few clanservers and a few public servers (MOH:AA, but maybe also MOH:SH an BF1942). As many as possible, but it must stay lagfree ;). So I have a few questions:
1. What's the best OS to run a gameserver? I'm thinking of Linux myself, but what OS are the big gameproviders running (like GameProvider.com and GameServers.net)
2. What hardwareconfiguration should do the job? It may be a heavy configuration, but not too expensive. I was thinking about a dual Athlon or P4 +/- 2GHz system, with 1GB RAM. Is that a good configuration, and how many gameservers (public/clan) can you run on such a config at the time?
3. Maybe the most important question for me: how many bandwith does it cost? How many bandwidth is a clanserver using and how many is a public server using a month, approximately? And how many bandwith is a very busy server using? I really need to know that, so I can look how many it will cost me a month, because bandwidth is the most expensive thing.

I hope you're able to answer my questions :D!

Thanks in advance,
Joost

[zelathor]

Because of stability issues, most gameservers run their machines in Linux. But I have my own machine with W2k Server, and I can´t complaint.


Consider a multi-procs machine, if u are going to run lots of servers. AMD, or double XEON at 2GHZ minimum recommended. 512Mb minimum too. Each ded mohaa server eats up 53 Mb......... On a 1.8Ghz Celeron, a ded spearhead server with 25 players almost hits the max CPU load.......



I have my machine at www.dedicated-servers.co.uk. They offer 10Gb traffic as standard. Burstable, wich means that speed will reach your max network card speed (100Mbit). If u see that your traffic will exceed, consider paying a little extra for 10 more Gigs. In order for u to better control your clients traffic, u can limit their traffic, say 4 Gb each. If they want more they must pay extra, or server will shut down. This way u can control your costs in a much better way.



-Zelathor

[Joost]

Thanks for your answer! :D

I already thought about a dual-procs machine, so that's no problem. But you can only run one SH-sever on a Celeron 1,8GHz? And is that with Linux or Windows? How many gameservers do you think I could run on a Dual Athlon 2,5 GHz with 1GB RAM (for example), with Linux as OS?
I thought the Spearhead linux-server is still a beta, so are you sure most gameservers run on Linux? And if Breakthrough will release this Fall, will there be a BreakThrough Linux-server quickly?

And about the traffic, you talk about 4GB/10GB traffic. But while reading other topics on this forum, I saw numbers of 200GB and more, and I thought only pings from Gamespy already make about 1 GB a month.. multi

[zelathor]

CPU load depends of how many players are playing on server and CPU model and speed. 25 players on my 1.8 Celeron represents 90%, but on a Pentium 4 at 2.4, may represent 30% load. The amount of CPU load depends of players on servers, and CPU speed as well. My machine is a W2K Server. Regarding your question about how many servers u can run, well.... Each ded server instance eats up 53 Mb (aproximately) Ram. It all depends of the memory u have. As I said before, depending of the number of players u have, your CPU load can vary.


I don´t think it´s beta, and for OS stability issues, most Gameservers use Linux boxes. I am sorry but I don´t know what Breaktrhough is...


Most ISP´s offer lots of traffic. 200 and 350 Gb limit, but it´s all NON-BURSTABLE bandwith (you are limited to 2 or 4 Mbits/s). I have full burstable bandwith, wich means I only have 10Gb per month limit, but I can serve at 100Mbit/s speed.

Regarding to the pings... My server is public just like the others and I have 25Mb traffic per day on GETSTATUS pings (running one server only).



-Zelathor

[Joost]

CPU load depends of how many players are playing on server and CPU model and speed. 25 players on my 1.8 Celeron represents 90%, but on a Pentium 4 at 2.4, may represent 30% load. The amount of CPU load depends of players on servers, and CPU speed as well. My machine is a W2K Server. Regarding your question about how many servers u can run, well.... Each ded server instance eats up 53 Mb (aproximately) Ram. It all depends of the memory u have. As I said before, depending of the number of players u have, your CPU load can vary.


I don´t think it´s beta, and for OS stability issues, most Gameservers use Linux boxes. I am sorry but I don´t know what Breaktrhough is...


Most ISP´s offer lots of traffic. 200 and 350 Gb limit, but it´s all NON-BURSTABLE bandwith (you are limited to 2 or 4 Mbits/s). I have full burstable bandwith, wich means I only have 10Gb per month limit, but I can serve at 100Mbit/s speed.

Regarding to the pings... My server is public just like the others and I have 25Mb traffic per day on GETSTATUS pings (running one server only).



-Zelathor
Thank you again! :D
And BreakThrough is de next addon for MOHAA, and it will be released this fall ;).
Your explanation about burstable bandwidth is very useful for me!

[Joost]

Next question: ;)

When I use one server to run multiple gameservers, I want every single gameserver to have a unique IP-address. I know it's possible, but how? As far as I know, one NIC can only hold one IP.. So do you need multiple NIC's (I don't think so ;)) or do you need a switch or router or something that redirects every IP to a port on the server?

[zelathor]

It is possible to run multiple servers on the same ip, and it is possible to have more tnah one ip.... Confused?

I will explain!


To run multiple servers on the same ip, u just have to set the server to run on a different port. Standard port is 12203 for mohaa, but u can change your port in the server.cfg config. The variable is net_port xxx. xxx in the port number. Of course, players that want to connect directly to the server (because can´t join thru gamespy, or server is not public), will have to insert port number too. Ex.: 217.199.169.8:12205 (If server was running on standard port, the ip would have been enough.)




But if u want to run servers on the same port, u can use multiple ip´s. All servers running on the same port but different ip´s. U can even use server´s DNS to play with domain names, like: Mohaaserver1.joostgameservers.com , Mohaaserver2.joostgameservers.com, etc....

Now how do u manage ip´s? Simple. Ip rules are defined by your Gateway/Router. In this case, ISP´s Gateway. If u want more ip´s, check ISP´s ip policies, and how much they charge for additional ones. My ISP provides me with 2 ip´s as standard. Just configured the other one today..... On Windows 2000, go to your control panel and open Network connections. Select your connection icon, and click with the right mouse button and select properties. Select internet protocol (tcp/ip) and click on properties. Click on Advanced, below the ip´s windows, click the Add button. Insert your new ip (ISP will provide u with an IP range for this), subnet mask is already defined for 255.255.255.0, wich is correct. Don´t mess with this one. And that is it. Just don´t forget that now, instead of the net_port variable, u will have to set server with the net_ip variable, in order to bind server to the ip u want it to run from.

Of course, I don´t know how to do this on a linux box.......




Good luck!!

-Zelathor

[zelathor]

http://www.mohadmin.com/nuke/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=10344#10344


Sorry! Guess there are things that we only know for real when we try them......


-Zelathor

[Joost]

http://www.mohadmin.com/nuke/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=10344#10344


Sorry! Guess there are things that we only know for real when we try them......


-Zelathor
So it really isn't possible?? :(

[zelathor]

Yes, it is possible! Applications must fully support multiple ip´s. In this case, Mohaa must me patched to v1.11 and set as dedicated 2. One nic, multiple ip´s running on the same port.

Ex.:217.199.169.8:12203 Spearhead with Hollywood Realism

217.199.169.128:12203 Mohaa with CKR


Gestapo Klan Servers




-Zelathor

[Joost]

Thanks again.. I guess they didn't found out yet in the thread from which you gave me the link ;)

[Joost]

And now a question for a linux expert:
Which linux distribution is good to use as server? I use Mandrake myself, but I don't know if that is good for serverusage.