any links of info would be greatly apreciated :D

Bandwidth Provider!
No one will buy your game servers if they get realy high pings.
Go with some one with Verio, Uunet, Internap, stay away from Cogent ONLY providers.

Server Power!
Your servers Need to Be Beafy! Dont over sell, nothing is worse than a good ping on a server, and when 3 or more games change maps, people start getting kicked.
Do with a cpu that has a good amount of OBC (on board cache)
P3's with 512obc are realy good
So are AMD XP1800+ and up.
Dont forget about memory! 512mb and UP!


Here are some Benchmarks i go buy.
Counter Strike Server..
20 player- around 65gig per month is full round the clock.
I can fit 2 20player counter strike servers on a Celron 1.3 with 512mem. But dont count on running alot of plugins on those Games.

If i where building a Server to run Game Server I would go.
Dual P3 1gig and up with 512obc
Ultra ATA 133 or Ultra Wide 160 scsi
I would put 1gig or more of pc133 memory in it.

If you got any more questions for me, pm me or hit me back on aim btk biker02.


Thanks
Chris

Great info! Thanks :)

Any special software needed?
Whats the maximum ping needed?
How much players can play at same time?
How much traffic per user per minute (average)

Anyone who can asnwer these questions?

Well, if ur only serving game servers, you dont need apache, or realy any control panel.

Linux...FTP (for upload of maps and things)...SHH (to install and config your servers)

You might want to have apache on there, if your going to provide wed stats.

Most people on cable like to see 80 or lower, People on 56k see anywhere from 100+.

A CS server , you fig, If you have your sv_maxrate set at 10000
you get-
20 players @ 10k each = 200kbps

200kbps ~ 62.5 GB per month.

Here is a good chart-
64Kbps (20GB/mo)
128Kbps (40GB/mo)
192Kbps (60GB/mo)
256Kbps (80GB/mo)
320Kbps (100GB/mo)
384Kbps (120GB/mo)
448Kbps (140GB/mo)
512Kbps (160GB/mo)
576Kbps (180GB/mo)
640Kbps (200GB/mo)
704Kbps (220GB/mo)
768Kbps (240GB/mo)
832Kbps (260GB/mo)
896Kbps (280GB/mo)
960Kbps (300GB/mo)
1024Kbps (320GB/mo)
1088Kbps (340GB/mo)
1152Kbps (360GB/mo)
1216Kbps (380GB/mo)
1280Kbps (400GB/mo)

Keep in mind, some games use alot more per second than others, while others like the DigitalPaintball Mod for Half Life use alot less.


Any thing els i can help you out with?


THanks
Chris

Chris just wondering....

Do you own a game server rental business?

Web hosting/Game hosting are in the works :)


Chris

Fazel, why do you ask?


Chris

Not real reason, just you seemed very knowledgable, and such server admins that know a bit about specific niche markets are hard to find ;)

Well, it helps when I get into somthing, I read, and ask ALOT of questions.

And yes, it is hard to find people that will help with ALL aspects of admining (is that a word?) a certain typ of server.

And i have alot of information, so i thought that i would help out..you know...make things easy for people.


Chris

thanks for the info man :D

No prob..always glad to help out.



Chris

The math doesnt really work out like that. In practice the numbers are much higher (for a fully loaded 24/7 server). I have a CS server that pulls down 6-8 gigs a Day. So that works out to be in the hundreds of Gigs of BW per month.

Maxrate = 10000 for those interested, have tried 8000 but I'm not in love the results

Later

but how many servers are loaded 24/7?

btw another question...If i buy 2-3 alienware servers with 3gb ram and dual processors how many games(Battlefield 1942) could i run on them. Also what connection would i need?

Funny, my friend was trying to find a good dedicated server company, to start a game server rental business too. What network is the best for RackShack prices? I'm leaning towards AtWebHost.com because of their pricing, but I'll have to see about their new network coming Monday.

- Matt

i have a couple 32 player servers that are full 24/7 and individually chew up more bandwidth per month than rackshack gives you.

Palin......


I think the recommended Min for a BF server is a 1000mhz CPU and 512 mb of ram. So in theory you could run 4 games on a dual 2k box.

But I highly doubt in reality that is the case. My guess is you would get 2 servers on a box.

As far as the pipe goes I have seen posts about them pulling 2 megs a sec per server instance.

If you are looking to make money on this I would suggest you pick somthing else. Alot of the large server companys wont host BF 1942 because its a pig and uses alot of everything.

Game Servers ahhhh :)

Well..... First You need alot of Cash.... tons of it....Willing to make sacrifice if necessary. You'r servers need to be tough and mean.:stickout: Usually all game server companies go with Duals..... This helps Crustability and smoothness of the server. Dual Mp's is just a too good.:D and for apache you do NEED... Yes I said you do NEED. Well you dont really need but you dont like to give out root of your box now do you? No. So what you do is setup webmin . This is by far the best Panel to control your server. It is sorta a pain to setup but once you get it, It will never do you wrong. Webmin works best with Red Hat Linux also.

Now Remember, Dont look for making a profit overnight. This is a LONG and I mean LONG process then it sounds...

-Reguards,
Chris

Does anybody know the recommended min for a CS server?

thanks for the info guys :D

You'll also need a lot of luck to compete in the market...your first dozen customers should be easy to get but after that it becomes tough.

one last question...what type of internet connection will i need?

You would be amazed at how many people host game servers on the RackShack network.

With people, asking how many the can put on a system, it depends on how you admin the system, The biggest thing to watch for is your Load average, you don't want it to get over 60%-70% or it will affect the servers. the processor is only used in loading the game maps, you have to make sure you have alot of memory, nothin under a GIG if you hope to resell.

I would bounce around to some of the other big companies hiosting game servers if i were you, and run some trace routes, plus look at their sever specs for more details on what you need.

Windows 2000 Server is a MUST!

I have been looking for a game server hosting, and so far, on these forums, there have been... no takers.

The stats I am looking for is..

1) Low Ping.
2) Must be in the lower 49 (I'm in Alaska...)
3) Windows 2000 Server
4) .NET Framework
5) Dedicated Hosting
6) 1ghz or higher
7) 512MB RAM or higher
8) 20 Gig HD or higher
9) mySQL (is a must)
10) Bandwidth? I can do with 5gigs or higher/mo.

If you can provide those, then you are the person I am looking for!

btw: Believe it or not, my game server (I am actually talking about a 2d MMORPG) is currently running (with NO lag) on a 1ghz duron/512MB ram, 20gig hd, on a 1/2 MB pipe, w/ 40 players. So I do not need such "beefy" machines.. lol. When we go P2p, on the other hand... might be a different story.

Beefy is for more then 1 server on the box.... :D

Lots of people host on RackShack but if their prices are anywhere close to the big three (AOWC, GD, GR) then you can forget about having happy customers. If you host on RackShack be prepared to have some pissed off customers due to poor latency unless your prices are CHEAP.

i was going to use my own servers. What type of connection would i need.

My top choice would be colocation in UUNET.

Theplanet.com Has realy good deals on Colo on GOOD BW!

I have a few comments.

I concur with the duals other people have mentioned. I have had great luck with dual AMD machines and fast single P4's as well (512 cache 533fsb).

Windows 2000 Server is a MUST!

Negative. Linux all the way, unless the game you want to host doesnt run on linux. Then, forget it.

Webmin works best with Red Hat Linux also.

Correction, webmin works VERY WELL with nearly ANY linux distribution. It doesn't favor redhat anymore than I do.

the processor is only used in loading the game maps

And everything else... You can expect to use the processor for more than just loading maps.

Now Remember, Dont look for making a profit overnight. This is a LONG and I mean LONG process then it sounds...

No truer words have been spoken! I have been in this nearly 1.5 years now and am just starting to see the fruits of my hard work.

Before you ever consider getting into this, I would tell you flat out that you better find some kind of niche, as this market is congested with Johnny-come-latelys, and the customers know it. Time and time again I have a customer leave on account of pricing only to return, disgusted with ping/service/stability/etc.

Price enough to be fair to yourself, customers know by now that you truly get what you pay for. You can't offer a good 20 man server for $60, and nor will you get much attention pricing it at $200 either...

Hmm, now I have to reply..


quote:
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Windows 2000 Server is a MUST!
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Negative. Linux all the way, unless the game you want to host doesnt run on linux. Then, forget it.



How do you figure that? Linux all the way? Lol, 100% illogical if you already have the software and hardware in your ownership, unless your one of those few people that loves wasting time instead of making money?

Im not sure if atwebhost is a good company to get a server, or anything from. Just us the search tool in this board and search @webhost or whatever, and you'll see, they want more money after a while, their support sux, they drop the brandwidth amounts you get without much notice, etc. Ask around before you buy. I am trying to start a game rental company, /ded server host/reseller plans/ web host/ domain reseller :p. If ya have any tips for me that'd be great. Thanks.

Originally posted by mastwolf
Theplanet.com Has realy good deals on Colo on GOOD BW! I am trying to reach their web server and it is incredibly slow. Not a very engaging start...

How do you figure that? Linux all the way? Lol, 100% illogical if you already have the software and hardware in your ownership, unless your one of those few people that loves wasting time instead of making money?


The thread starter did say "Starting" a game server business :)