Where should i rent server ?

[Dawg]

Thanks for replies. i got survivalservers now. btw is it possible to patch server manually with a hosting company ? atleast thats what i try now. i prolly break the server :P but now i have started so no way back

 

Finuix

 

In about a month if you decide that company is not working for you I too would say go with Vert Hosting. The reason I say this is they may be slow but that is because they work with you. I have learned more about scripting and running a server with them then any other in the 2 years I have been doing this. They will help you with things you dont know how to do. Also there prices for work they do are really resonable. Example when I first went with them I had them add in 6 different scripts that I supplied. They also set up custom static spawn on Sector B for me. All this work was done for less than $50. That is not all though. If anything was not working properly they would look into it and get it fixed. Now they were not fast and that was annoying.....But they got it right and if it was a script they put in never charged anymore. The one thing you have to remember about Vert Hosting is though...they are in New Zealand on the other side of the world. When it is evening here in the States it is morning there. That has a lot to do with there response times. I have found that about 5PM Central time is when they get in. If I have a ticket in waiting for them, by 7pm my time there is a response for it. If I dont get a response atleast the status is changed. This lets you know they seen it. Sometimes there is not an answer to be written if you are asking them to do something.

I have heard bad things about Survival from other server owners. Also heard some of the billing issues they had. Does not mean they are a bad company.

[monkeebhoy]

and you recommended the 2nd worst Fastpoint lol

I'm sorry but fastpoint bad? Not in my experience. So far i have 3 server with them and anytime i've asked for help i've got it. 

[prue420]

what dedicated host would you guys pick?

[DeadandGone]

I use :-

 

www.soyoustart.com

 

As a dedicated hosting provider, they are basically OVH but allow you to install Windows OS on the server, for £25 a month for the sort of spec that I have it's dawn good value!  The only thing you have to factor in is the cost of a Windows licence but as I already have a MS Server Licence it doesn't cost me any more!..

 

 

[Richie]

In the past i've used http://oneprovider.com/

They're a reseller but have some cracking deals, because of VAT it works out cheaper for me to order an OVH server from them.

[Finuix]

i changed from survivalservers to GTXgaming and so far GTX outshine them hard. when i mod and restart server it is up in about 2 mins. i have made an ticket there also and they answered really fast. they were also very fast to get 0301 up and go :)

[Tango2k13]

can anyone say how much traffic a Dedicated Server is Using on example of 50 Slots?

 

Have any User here that is using A Dedicated Server any Information about this?

 

I want to order a Dedicated machine but the Traffic is the question now?

 

Can someone say anything on this Point

[axeman]

Another thing to consider if you go for a dedi is ILO type access. If you can install your own windows OS costs are going to come down.

 

TuBz and I had a dedi back in the early epoch 2 days, we picked a server that could provide this, never got round to doing it tho :)

 

Edit: I once made a Windows 98 quake OS that booted up purely to run a quake 2 or 3 server with minimal windows dependencies... 

 

Am not suggesting putting 98 on a box but is food for thought ;)

[Tango2k13]

@axe can you say someting about traffic in a Month with a 50 Slots server as example?

 

Regards

[DayZ Vet]

I'm sorry but fastpoint bad? Not in my experience. So far i have 3 server with them and anytime i've asked for help i've got it. 

we had 4 and one of them they setup and it did work without us ever touching it,bcuz there messed up there own files and would not sort it out there for charging us for a server we could not use for a whole month!! about as bad as it gets!!

[axeman]

Tango, allow TBs per month, go for the fastest and widest bandwidth  you can..

 

As said before, if you start hitting any hosting limitations you will see yellow / red chains. Some of that can be desync for high ping players, which the Arma engine handles admirably, but realistically we're talking CPU and memory usage. 

 

100 player servers are hungry beasts. That said you can run a small friends only server from a decent laptop on a good home broadband / lan event, have done it more than once.

 

I've calculated that I could heat my house from a rack of Sql servers before. Arma servers, am knocking on the neighbours doors to see if they want free heating ;)

[Tango2k13]

Tango, allow TBs per month, go for the fastest and widest bandwidth  you can..

 

As said before, if you start hitting any hosting limitations you will see yellow / red chains. Some of that can be desync for high ping players, which the Arma engine handles admirably, but realistically we're talking CPU and memory usage. 

 

100 player servers are hungry beasts. That said you can run a small friends only server from a decent laptop on a good home broadband / lan event, have done it more than once.

 

I've calculated that I could heat my house from a rack of Sql servers before. Arma servers, am knocking on the neighbours doors to see if they want free heating ;)

 

Tango, allow TBs per month, go for the fastest and widest bandwidth  you can..

 

As said before, if you start hitting any hosting limitations you will see yellow / red chains. Some of that can be desync for high ping players, which the Arma engine handles admirably, but realistically we're talking CPU and memory usage. 

 

100 player servers are hungry beasts. That said you can run a small friends only server from a decent laptop on a good home broadband / lan event, have done it more than once.

 

I've calculated that I could heat my house from a rack of Sql servers before. Arma servers, am knocking on the neighbours doors to see if they want free heating ;)

ok thanks i ask me only if 50TB Traffic in a Month would be enough for a 50 slots server.

 

Kind Regards

[axeman]

:) pretty sure that will cover it.

[Richie]

ok thanks i ask me only if 50TB Traffic in a Month would be enough for a 50 slots server.

 

Kind Regards

5TB would be enough for 50 players if it was 50 players constantly, most likely 2 or 3TB is plenty.

[TPwalker]

I run 3 A3 servers, 2 A2, Rust, TS3, and a website off my dedicated with 10TB at 800mbps up and down tested for $60 a month but I do own my own server OS license..... Dedicated is def the way to go.

[PryMary]

TL:DR - Get A Dedi...

 

Agreed that dedicated is the way to go, having access to everything and being able to upgrade the moment of release is awesome.

I have been with numerous hosts throughout the years and based on experience and server performance / world wide connectivity I can say that if you have a server based in either France or the Netherlands then you are pretty much sorted for all of Europe and USA... Not so much Australia etc. GamingDeluxe servers on the one hand they seem to match both french and netherland ping rates for my USA friends. The prices with them were the highest but to be honest I pushed that server to near breaking point ;-) 5x DayZ SA servers, 2x Arma 3, 1x DayZ Epoch & 512 TS... The hardware is solid.

 

That's my only experience of Dedi ownership.

 

With hosting, boy oh boy where to begin!!

 

Honestly you get what you pay for, always go to pre-sales... talk to them tell them what you want and be upfront. If you don;t know much about adding scripts / setting up the server them pre-warn the hoster to get you up and running quicker. As I say after many years of hosting game servers all the way back to Jedi Academy days you learn a few things :P

 

Reviews:

 

So far top of my list has to be Vert Hosting for Dayz / Epoch - The CP just works, no glitching or making things a mess. Updates for Epoch A3 seem to be really quick to which is nice... No waiting around for a few days (get to that later)... Yes agreed the support when needed is on a 12 hour time lapse but if you get your side ready and plan ahead, again be clear with what you want them to do for you then no problems. Price with Vert is well bloody well cheap. In fact the cheapest for A3 epoch there is - by a very long way.

 

The OK hosts I have been with were:

 

• Multiplay
• nfoservers
• gameservers
• hypernia
• dayz.st (at the beggining)

The bad ones, well Vilayer are in there! Let's face it there system is horrid and the support is obnoxious and quite frankly they can stick it up their arse.

Had a bad experience with GTX gaming too, took about 2 - 3 days to answer and support requests and when it was answered it was with a question on how to do what i wanted, even though i previously explained it... Let's just say I was not with them for even a month.

 

 

Well I think that's about all I can remember, but yeah Dedicated servers are the way forward. Just remember if youw ant to host something like DayZ SA or Battlefield 4 / 3 then you need to rent the Dedicated server from an Official Ranked hosting company like Gaming Deluxe and others. If you are not bothered about setting up games and manually doing everything then go with a non gaming Dedi provider. If however you are not that confident then go with a gaming dedi server provider, that way when you need help / games / etc they normally have a repo where you can get them quick or via the CP if you choose that route.

 

Regards,

 

Pry

[Tango2k13]

Ok i think its ok to post this here i need little Help,

 

I need to Buy another Server and will ask you Guys that having more experience which Package i should order:

 

The Setup below should be for a 50 Players Slot

 

Here are the Specs:

Xeon 2xE5530

8cores / 16threads

2.4 GHz+

24 GB Ram

100 Mbit/s Network Unlimited BW

 

or this one:

 

Core™ i7-920

4 cores / 8 threads

2.66 GHz+

16 GB Ram

100 Mbit/s Network Unlimted BW

 

Iam really not sure if i will buy one from this 2 if iam doing a Big Failure or something like this?!

 

Hope any Other Admins here can say something to this & help me out what i should do now.

 

Kind Regards

[PryMary]

Both will run a Arma 3 server but the top one is prefered as you have a lot more CPU / Memory and thats what ArmA as standard will munch through the longer it's playing (until restart anyway)

 

It's why a lot of hosting companies fail is because they put to many game servers onto a sdingle box and the CPU / Memory cannot keep up with the demand on resources.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Pry

[Tango2k13]

Hello PryMary,

 

Thank you very much for your Feedback here iam really unsure with this............

But i saw you have much experience like you told here before.

 

I will go with the First Package.......

I ordered it and now i will start from scratch [Howto] Setup a Arma 3 Server Dedicated becouse its really the First Dedicated that i setup manual on my own.....i hope it will not run in trouble..........

 

Checking google now for any Tutorial how to setup this from Scratch i hope its not really Difficult.

 

Kind Regards

[axeman]

Good choice and good luck. Have a read through these, should help http://epochmod.com/forum/index.php?/forum/62-server-install-help/;)

[TheBigCheese]

This is a really interesting discussion!

 

I've looked at both methods, using a GSM and using a dedicated and (tell me if I'm wrong), but a dedicated server seems like a really expensive way of starting out!

 

Not only do you have the costs of a dedicated server, you also have to pay:

For a license for TCAdmin (unless you are happy using console commands)

Probably for a license for something like Infistar

Some of the servers I have looked at also require Windows licenses

Then if you want a community you need teamspeak servers (or Mumble, which may be free I think?)

 

For a new server admin, that's a huge expense to be starting out with...have I understood that correctly? 

 

Seems like a big undertaking for something that may not work out...

[Floyd]

In response to your questions:

TCAdmin license...You don't need TCAdmin.

Infistar...afaik, you have to buy that if you use it anyway. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but its not offered 'free' from GSP's is it?

Windows licenses...Cost depends largely upon who you rent from (unless you buy your own dedi and rent space in a server farm, then you have to buy the O/S)

Mumble/TeamSpeak...You can put them on your dedi. Though, TS free version has slot limits,ircc. If you don't put them on your dedi, you can rent TS servers cheap enough, imo. Then you don't have to worry about the bandwidth, upkeep, etc.

RE: the cost

For someone wanting to start out and learn the ropes of running a dedicated server, there is always the VDS option. Not the ideal thing for many games, but its a very economical way of learning the ropes without breaking the bank. In fact, for Arma3 servers, (within reason) the cost "per slot" is about the same. If you find that its something you want to pursue, or your community takes off, then you can consider renting a dedicated box that is all your own. Depending upon the company, VDS's may not be without their pitfalls. But monthly rentals won't break the bank. And if you find that its not for you or the company seems to be over-renting the space on their servers, its easy enough to bail. Should you expand with the same company, some companies will move your files and setups for you.

Just my two cents...

Kudos on the Jedi Knight servers, PryMary. That's where I "cut my teeth" running game servers...

[Darth_Rogue]

I rent a dedicated box through Server Mania.  The server is a 3.4GHz Quad Core Xeon with 16GB Ram and a 120GB SSD.  I get unlimited bandwidth on a gigabit connection all for $109 per month.  As dedicated boxes go, that's pretty darn cheap.  Their support is good.  I've had to use them a few times and they always respond within 20 minutes or so.  You have the option of using your own Windows license or you can pay for a license through them, which adds around $20 to the cost of the box.

 

Going the VPS route is doable, although I would plan on keeping the player count low.  Arma runs much better on bare metal hardware.  You can plan on about a 10 server FPS hit right off the top, just by using a VPS vs. a dedi.  That being said, I agree with what others have mentioned, that if you're in a smaller community just starting out and you have limited funds, then a VPS may be the way to go to get your feet wet.

 

Personally, I love the control I have with a dedicated box.  I've run slotted servers for many other games in the past, from Arma to Battlefield to CoD, and there is just no substitute.  Plus, you never have to worry about how many other servers are sharing the same hardware as you are using, which is always a concern when talking about a VPS or slotted server.  You just never know for sure whether the host has squeezed too many server instances on the same hardware, which tends to cause performance issues for everyone who's on that hardware.  I'll gladly pay the premium to have full control over the box and know that I'm getting the most I possibly can out of it and that I'm not having to share it with God knows how many others.

[TheBigCheese]

Thanks for your posts guys.

 

Floyd, if not using TCAdmin, how would you suggest a new server owner manages their server? I know it can be done via command line but a GUI seems like a much easier solution for a new admin.

 

I think GTX Gaming offered a version of Infistar as part of their hosting...I could be wrong on that, just something I read the other day.

 

Thanks for the clarification on licensing, I didn't know the costs varied that much between suppliers.

 

True enough with cheap teamspeak.

In response to your questions:
TCAdmin license...You don't need TCAdmin.
Infistar...afaik, you have to buy that if you use it anyway. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but its not offered 'free' from GSP's is it?
Windows licenses...Cost depends largely upon who you rent from (unless you buy your own dedi and rent space in a server farm, then you have to buy the O/S)
Mumble/TeamSpeak...You can put them on your dedi. Though, TS free version has slot limits,ircc. If you don't put them on your dedi, you can rent TS servers cheap enough, imo. Then you don't have to worry about the bandwidth, upkeep, etc.

RE: the cost
For someone wanting to start out and learn the ropes of running a dedicated server, there is always the VDS option. Not the ideal thing for many games, but its a very economical way of learning the ropes without breaking the bank. In fact, for Arma3 servers, (within reason) the cost "per slot" is about the same. If you find that its something you want to pursue, or your community takes off, then you can consider renting a dedicated box that is all your own. Depending upon the company, VDS's may not be without their pitfalls. But monthly rentals won't break the bank. And if you find that its not for you or the company seems to be over-renting the space on their servers, its easy enough to bail. Should you expand with the same company, some companies will move your files and setups for you.

Just my two cents...

Kudos on the Jedi Knight servers, PryMary. That's where I "cut my teeth" running game servers...

 

These are some really interesting suggestions, personally I wouldn't call $109/month cheap for anything, but I know what you mean!

 

Surprising to hear how much a VPS can affected frame rates, that's not something I would have thought of.

I rent a dedicated box through Server Mania.  The server is a 3.4GHz Quad Core Xeon with 16GB Ram and a 120GB SSD.  I get unlimited bandwidth on a gigabit connection all for $109 per month.  As dedicated boxes go, that's pretty darn cheap.  Their support is good.  I've had to use them a few times and they always respond within 20 minutes or so.  You have the option of using your own Windows license or you can pay for a license through them, which adds around $20 to the cost of the box.

 

Going the VPS route is doable, although I would plan on keeping the player count low.  Arma runs much better on bare metal hardware.  You can plan on about a 10 server FPS hit right off the top, just by using a VPS vs. a dedi.  That being said, I agree with what others have mentioned, that if you're in a smaller community just starting out and you have limited funds, then a VPS may be the way to go to get your feet wet.

 

Personally, I love the control I have with a dedicated box.  I've run slotted servers for many other games in the past, from Arma to Battlefield to CoD, and there is just no substitute.  Plus, you never have to worry about how many other servers are sharing the same hardware as you are using, which is always a concern when talking about a VPS or slotted server.  You just never know for sure whether the host has squeezed too many server instances on the same hardware, which tends to cause performance issues for everyone who's on that hardware.  I'll gladly pay the premium to have full control over the box and know that I'm getting the most I possibly can out of it and that I'm not having to share it with God knows how many others.

 

If you are running a dedicated server, what happens if something goes horribly wrong though? There's no-one to fix it, which could be especially difficult for a new admin...do you just turn to the community in the hope of a suggestion for a fix or scrap everything and start again?

 

I'm not advocating GSP over dedi hosting, it's just something that came to mind.

[1Man]

Most owners of dedicated boxes have a fair knowledge running game servers so if it's hardware the provider fixes it, if it's software the owners fix it.