Hi All,

I'm interested in Webhosting, but I wish to build a Private Game server to use between myself and some friends hosting games such as L4D, L4D2, CS, etc

I'm not sure about O/S licensing, can I just put on a version of Windows Server 2003/2008, or do I have to use SPLA licenses?

I may need some help with CPU choice aswell as I read a post that someone made stating Hyperthreading messes up game servers when used. No idea if it's true or not.

Thanks,
Andrew

All the ones you mentioned have native Linux servers available - there's no point in buying a Windows license (or bothering with pirating/activation crap) when CentOS/Debian et al. are free and widely installed as standard.

I wouldn't worry about hyperthreading unless you're looking at running a heavily used 20+ slot server per core...

All the ones you mentioned have native Linux servers available - there's no point in buying a Windows license (or bothering with pirating/activation crap) when CentOS/Debian et al. are free and widely installed as standard.

I wouldn't worry about hyperthreading unless you're looking at running a heavily used 20+ slot server per core...

I will be using Windows, because I have no experience of using Linux. I wouldn't know where to start. I know people say it's easy enough to learn due to the vast information, but I'd prefer sticking with an O/S I'm familar with.

I'll be buying a Windows Legit copy, my query is if I would need an SPLA license, or if I could buy a retail version of Standard etc.

Re: Hyperthreading - I know it's only used when the server is heavily utilised or when only 1 cpu core is needed, however is it known for causing problems for games if a CPU has HT enabled?

It makes no difference whether you purchase a license yourself, or use an SPLA license provided by your hosting provider.

There are no special Windows licensing requirements to run SRCDS/HLDS.

If you are renting the server then get the license from the datacenter. If you are buying a server and colocating it just get the license with the server when you buy it. As you are not running any commercial activity just hosting a server for friends you don't need spla for a purchased server.

If you are renting the server then get the license from the datacenter. If you are buying a server and colocating it just get the license with the server when you buy it. As you are not running any commercial activity just hosting a server for friends you don't need spla for a purchased server.

TY Raul,

you seem to have understood the point I was getting at

It's only going to be a personal server (for the moment anyway) when (or IF) I eventually move into commercial GSP I'll rebuild it with SPLA licenses.

It's only going to be a server for some fun anyway so I'm thinking of installing all the different types of dedicated games and just launching them as and when we want to play them :D

I think datacenter edition works on several servers

Windows 2008 Web seems to be the cheapest, and worked fine for game hosting for me.