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  1. #1

    Hosting a game proxy server - suggestions needed...

    Hi,

    I am shopping around for a decent dedicated server that I can run as a proxy server for games. My scenario is that there are a lot of online games that have IP restrictions - i.e. the game server will not allow certain IP blocks to connect to it.

    I plan to run proxy server which allows game clients from blocked IP addresses to go through and relay their connections to the game servers and appear with a legal IP to the game servers. The games I am looking at are mostly MMORPG games, such as EverQuest, EverQuest2, World of Warcraft, Guild Wars, etc.

    I am curious what is the minimum hardware and network bandwidth requirements for such an proxy server. I am pretty new to this field, and any suggestions and recommendations will be highly appreciated. Right now, it looks like most dedicated servers have 10Mbps or 100Mbps bandwidth, and I figure it probably can sustain 10-20 simultaneous game clients to connect and relay their connections. Is this estimate too optimestic?

    Thanks!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Posts
    600
    Quote Originally Posted by zhangla
    Hi,

    I am shopping around for a decent dedicated server that I can run as a proxy server for games. My scenario is that there are a lot of online games that have IP restrictions - i.e. the game server will not allow certain IP blocks to connect to it.

    I plan to run proxy server which allows game clients from blocked IP addresses to go through and relay their connections to the game servers and appear with a legal IP to the game servers. The games I am looking at are mostly MMORPG games, such as EverQuest, EverQuest2, World of Warcraft, Guild Wars, etc.

    I am curious what is the minimum hardware and network bandwidth requirements for such an proxy server. I am pretty new to this field, and any suggestions and recommendations will be highly appreciated. Right now, it looks like most dedicated servers have 10Mbps or 100Mbps bandwidth, and I figure it probably can sustain 10-20 simultaneous game clients to connect and relay their connections. Is this estimate too optimestic?

    Thanks!
    It would depend on the game.

    If a game uses 10kb/sec bandwidth, you could support 100 simultaneous game clients on 10mbps connection (at 80% utilization, not taking into account overhead).
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  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    345
    Isnt it breaking the TOS for the game itself to evade IP bans?
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  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    San Diego
    Posts
    1,103
    I heard many gold farmers have been banned by those companies, I am assuming this would not be used for farming?

  5. #5
    I can assure you that most so called "farmers" were banned because they were using illegal "bots" or "hacks" to create gold in the illegal way.

    Simply playing the game like every one else is within the TOS of the games. What a lot of game companies are doing now is to ban a whole range of IPs where some farmers are from because they do not have a reliable way to tell if someone is using a bot or hack for sure.

    Does anyone know typical bandwidth used by MMORPGs like Guild Wars, World of Warcraft, EverQuest? I would be happy if a 10Mbps server can host >50 connections.

    Thanks.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    New York
    Posts
    737
    i dont think any game really would go above 15kbps/sec down and 10kbps/sec up on average, so 50 connections on a 10mbps unmetered would probably be ok, however automatic file downloads from guildwars etc would then liekly be fairly slow if there isnt enough proxy bandwidth
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  7. #7
    I agree with jNive about the patch slowdown. One solution that you could look into is a burstable connection. That way you can burst past your 10mbps unmetered limit if your clients need to download patches. Or you can see if you can host patches locally on another server and run both servers into a single 100mbps unmetered switch. Their are many possible solutions, one issue that you will always run into is quality unmetered bandwidth runs in the thousands of dollars a month. Shared bandwidth, even if it is unmetered, you will still run into "limits" if you are pulling to much bandwidth from the provider.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    San Diego
    Posts
    1,103
    Quote Originally Posted by zhangla
    I can assure you that most so called "farmers" were banned because they were using illegal "bots" or "hacks" to create gold in the illegal way.

    Simply playing the game like every one else is within the TOS of the games. What a lot of game companies are doing now is to ban a whole range of IPs where some farmers are from because they do not have a reliable way to tell if someone is using a bot or hack for sure.

    Does anyone know typical bandwidth used by MMORPGs like Guild Wars, World of Warcraft, EverQuest? I would be happy if a 10Mbps server can host >50 connections.

    Thanks.
    There are "farmers", "botters" and "hackers", all are banned and getting banned by those MMO servers, here is where the farming is done :
    http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?name=news&id=1545907

  9. #9
    Everyone who plays MMORPG is a farmer. If you play WoW, you know what I mean. You have to grind days after days to get enough gold, gear, etc for your character to progress.

    I think only the hackers and bot users are against TOS of the games. The so called "farmers" are just regular players who grind at one spot in the game. Most other players like to switch spot to grind. Like the video says, it is really not the fault of the players who do grind for gold days after days, it is the issue of the brokers who are selling those gold.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Chicago
    Posts
    984
    Whats your plan for when your dedicated servers IP, or entire providers IP range gets blocked? Or they recieve a legal notice from the company running the game assuming its hosted in the US?

    It's nothing new that companies or individuals who supply the RMT companies with in-game currency use proxies to get around blocks. Just seems to me that you'd be having to move your server fairly frequently to get around future IP blocks of the proxy.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Posts
    306
    i got saw this kind of game server, most of them do not really care about hardware but bandwidth, however some game proxy servers only use less than 1mbps too, a bit strange.

  12. #12
    Unless you are gonna have authentication method, don't do it. Some ppl will use your proxy to spam. Open socks or http proxy can and will be use by spammer and leave you with an angry hosting provider.

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