Running a Dedicated Server

Syli · November 2011

Hi there,

i have an unused root server, and i'm thinking about to start a dedicated server on it.
Whish Hardware requirements needs my server to run NS2 smoothly, in the current build?

I didn't find anything about this in the forums, or i just search wrong.

If someone can give me some peeks with, e.g.
"with my Server XYZ (CPU, RAM, WIN(XYZ)), i can run XY player on it without major lag spikes"
or something like that.

thanks
Syli

BJHBnade_spammer · November 2011

look up in the stickies lol yea probably searched wrong
<a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/index.php?showtopic=110351" target="_blank">http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/in...howtopic=110351</a>

ScardyBob · November 2011

I don't run a server, but my understanding of the current best performing servers in NS2 right now are basically overpowered desktop gaming computers (i.e. OC i5 2500k/i7 2600k in the 4.0+GHz range with 8+GB of ram). Not sure of the OS, but I suspect that they are either XP or W7. This setup can generally handle 14-16 players with fairly constant performance (i.e. server tick rate in the 25-30 range under heavy load).

Basically, its a non-traditional server setup. The one benefit is that you can run one instance of NS2 per core (so a quad-core can host up to 4 NS2 beta servers in theory, though I think I've only seen a max of 3 in practice).

Although, you might want to try hosting an NS2 server to learn the process, there are already many more servers than players that can fill them at the moment. You might want to hold off until near the v1 release when the hardware requirements are more reasonable and more players available.

Syli · November 2011

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>look up in the stickies lol yea probably searched wrong</div>

i read some sites of this thread already, truely not all of them, thats a thread for how to set up a server, that discussion thread is all about the software side of a server, not the Hardware side!

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Basically, its a non-traditional server setup. The one benefit is that you can run one instance of NS2 per core (so a quad-core can host up to 4 NS2 beta servers in theory, though I think I've only seen a max of 3 in practice).

Although, you might want to try hosting an NS2 server to learn the process, there are already many more servers than players that can fill them at the moment. You might want to hold off until near the v1 release when the hardware requirements are more reasonable and more players available.</div>

NS2 didn't benefit from multi prozessoring??

I will host that server, at the moment, just for private perps, to get ready if the v1 comes out. Aswell i will play with some settings.
I dont want have a full server at this time ;)

ScardyBob · November 2011

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Syli @ Nov 9 2011, 04:59 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1884500"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'>NS2 didn't benefit from multi prozessoring??

I will host that server, at the moment, just for private perps, to get ready if the v1 comes out. Aswell i will play with some settings.
I dont want have a full server at this time ;)</div>
My understanding is that there is only a little multithreading between CPUs such that most of NS2 effectively runs on one core at the moment. That will likely change (it is a beta), but you wanted info on the current build.

snooops · November 2011

You dont need high CPU's i just run my dedicated on as a vm guest, and it is working fine with 2gb ram for 12 players.

ScardyBob · November 2011

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (snooops @ Nov 10 2011, 04:47 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1884540"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'>You dont need high CPU's i just run my dedicated on as a vm guest, and it is working fine with 2gb ram for 12 players.</div>
He asked for specs of servers that run smoothly. I would be highly surprised if that setup ran smooth (and I define smooth as >25 server rate at full player count over the entire course of a round).

Syli · November 2011

that is a beta build, because of the software itself it can't run perfeckt like Half-Life or Quake 3, thats i think normal, but i was just wondering how much resources NS2 needs.
Because if the server runs good and "smooth" at this build it will in the release too. I feel at the moment the server needs a very high single core (3,5ghz+) and as much ram as possible (4GB on 32bit and even more at 64bit).

I tested it set just one Core for the NS2 Server and all other applications get the other cores, its okay, but not nearly as perfect as i hoped for. I will test some other settings too.

acid_rain · November 2011

Most of the systems I see running the servers the best are on core i7's. Oddly enough, some of the co-located servers I've seen perform much, much worse than they do. I'd go with a core i7 CPU if you're renting if possible. This could change dramatically once the game is completely finished up, as the requirements may become a little easier to manage. Don't expect perfect performance right now, as there's still tons of engine work and tweaks going into the game. If you do expect such, you may be disappointed until closer to final release.

Running a Dedicated Server

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