vps Server Admins / Hosts - Feedback Request

[axeman]

This is a call out to server admins / hosts. Does anybody run their dayZ server specifically on a VPS, if so:

 

1. What is the maximum numbers of players you think can join the server before issues arise..?
2. How much bandwidth are you using ? Would 1TB / Month be sufficient ?

 

TuBz and I are taking the plunge and renting a server for, initially, 6 months to run our own dayZ Epoch server, mainly to have somewhere to play, also to customise and hopefully get a couple of regular groups of players on..

 

Obviously cost is an issue here, I would love to go the full hog and get a Dedicated Server but if a VPS will do, for a smaller server then it is probably going to be the way we go for now..

 

Specs we are looking at are for the node are: dual quad-core processors and 32GB of memory per node with high speed raid 10 storage systems.

 

Thanks for any feedback..

 

 

 

 

[bsmaff]

I have used mulitple server hosts in the past and now run a 'home server'.

 

Survival Servers:

Alot of downtime and awful customer service.

As far as server performance went didn't have that much of an issue although at 30 players that is when the server would start getting slower and players would have joining issues.

Left though due to the server being down as much as it was up.

 

Dayz.St:

Servers were very poor performance wise, 20 players the server would hit issues and after 25 new players wouldn't be able to join and with 30 players server would lag out and have to do an emergency restart.

The FPS on dayz.st servers are also always really low.

 

HFB Servers:

Much better server performance and not many issues, 35+ players is when we started to notice issues, better FPS and more freedom with files, HFB do get my vote as being a good server host.

 

My Home Server:

My home server is just an HP ProLiant Micro Server

Processor:
AMD Turion™ II Model Neo N54L

8GB Ram - Ram was upgraded from 2.

500GB HD

 

My internet is 120MB Virgin and with this server, FPS is amazing and I also get compliments on how well the server performs.  AI is never laggy and always does what it is meant to.

I went to a home server due to a loss in number of players playing on the server, but I have had 25 players on the server and it has never had any issues or problems.  I always thought the system wouldn't be up to the task of running a DayZ server but I was wrong.

 

I personally would never recommend a server host after running my own server, but also axeman you are a very respected member of the Epoch community so if you open your own server it will probably be rammed all the time like the MGT servers, so the best thing for you is probably VPS.

 

Also if you just wanted a server to mess around with your more than welcome to just run an additional server off my MicroServer if you would like.

[TuBz]

We both have Home servers...Axeman's issue is he's to tight to buy another machine so his server is on a laptop that goes to work every so often:(...I have a 3gb quad core with 4gb and a shed loada disks...my only problem is noise if the kids come to stay or I have to kip in the spare room/office...bandwidth so far has not been a problem but I've only really ever had 8-10 on at any onetime...more of a friendly meeting hole that a kill everyone server:)

we are going to give the VPS a whirl for a few months...see how it goes!

But thanks for the offer:)

TuBz

[axeman]

I should add that the VPS will be a clean install of Server 2008 which we will be installing the game server and requirements to..

 

I wouldn't go with a game hosting service mainly because we want control of the whole environment, they are great if you want a game server up and running with no aggro but this way we can add a website, TS server and integrate it all..

[bsmaff]

We both have Home servers...Axeman's issue is he's to tight to buy another machine so his server is on a laptop that goes to work every so often:(...I have a 3gb quad core with 4gb and a shed loada disks...my only problem is noise if the kids come to stay or I have to kip in the spare room/office...bandwidth so far has not been a problem but I've only really ever had 8-10 on at any onetime...more of a friendly meeting hole that a kill everyone server:)

we are going to give the VPS a whirl for a few months...see how it goes!

But thanks for the offer:)

TuBz

Well the offer is there, the server just runs my server which only ever has up to 10 players on these days and is easily more than capable of running another server if it is only going to be a bit of fun with 10-20 players.

 

The server doesnt run Server 2008, just Windows 7 with WAMP Server and Dayz Server files and that is it.

The server never goes down and is always running along with a TS server, I don't run a website off it though as I currently paying for hosting from LCN as they had a really good offer on at the time.

 

But you are free to give it a try if you like, just PM me and will give you the TeamViewer details, as could end up saving you quite a bit of cash due to the cost of VPS.

 

Also out of curiosity how much does it cost to rent a VPS?

[Richie]

I've used a VPS in the past and had no problems with a shared disk, cheapest i could find was the sister company of Dayz.st called http://serv.st/

They'll install windows free of charge :)

 

I've always picked Xeons for dedicated Dayz servers, cheapest in Europe i found is http://www.online.net/en , they have This for €50 including windows license

[axeman]

Thanks but I think we are committed now, am just waiting for the hosting company to come back with a 'Christmas Promotional Code', I already have a VPS or two with them from my business :)

 

http://www.host-it.co.uk/vps/windows-virtual-private-servers.asp

 

We are looking at the silver package.. On top of that there is no real cost, once the server is installed with steam there are no checks for licencing, though I do have an extra Arma licence for this, just in case, and one for my Headless Client.. mySQL is free, TS is free.. I actually bought an extra Arma install because I lost my password and have since recovered it..

[Richie]

They look pricey to me Axeman, for £12 more you could of had the dedicated server i linked and use all cores, more Ram, dedicated 150 Mbit connection (outbound) plus the T&Cs of the VPS state excessive CPU/Ram use can result in suspension, ArmA is a real CPU hog.

Your choice of course but the price between dedi and VPS is only £12 :)

[axeman]

They look pricey to me Axeman, for £12 more you could of had the dedicated server i linked and use all cores, more Ram, dedicated 150 Mbit connection (outbound) plus the T&Cs of the VPS state excessive CPU/Ram use can result in suspension, ArmA is a real CPU hog.

Your choice of course but the price between dedi and VPS is only £12 :)

 

hmm, good point on the Ts and Cs, I quite like this one as they are literally down the road from me so am hoping for a sub 5ms ping :) And have used them before and very happy with the service.

 

Arma definitely is resource hungry, i suspect however that those terms are to cover persistent offenders where they might get some code stuck in a loop, i.e. using the server as a test environment or generally not coding very well.. A 'well' crafted code loop will bring the whole server down with ease taking out other customers..

 

The VPS shouldn't give more resource than is allocated otherwise some simple exe's would keep pushing for resource until there was none left..?

[Richie]

With a VPS it all depends on if they use OpenVZ or Xen, Xen is the best but costs more, OpenVZ means anyone on the same machine can affect you.

 

Basically OpenVZ has shared resources, often sold as burstable and minimum specs, performace can change hourly or daily.

Xen on the other hand has fixed resources, what you get one day will never change, you share nothing so you don't affect other users.

[axeman]

They look pricey to me Axeman, for £12 more you could of had the dedicated server i linked and use all cores, more Ram, dedicated 150 Mbit connection (outbound) plus the T&Cs of the VPS state excessive CPU/Ram use can result in suspension, ArmA is a real CPU hog.

Your choice of course but the price between dedi and VPS is only £12 :)

 

 

Is not paid for yet. French servers have always given me a good ping, looks like this datacentre is in Paris. Is very tempting, no dual cores, looks like single or quad. My home server is a quad core and splitting the HC onto other cores has worked well.

 

Decisions, decisions... Looking at the http://www.online.net/en/dedicated-server/dedibox-classic +Gen 2

 

Have you used these before ?

[mckooter]

axeman:

 

on dedi/vps i find this tool infinitely valuable as well: http://www.firedaemon.com/

 

this way you can setup the arma server and bec as services (bec ends up dependant on arma) along with some pre-post tasks to do things like rotate logs (and even shift in updated pbos automatically on boot)

 

if you end up getting it and have any questions lemme know as i have the bat files and services configured perfectly now so itd probably save you time

[axeman]

Ta, have written a c# app to manage the server restarts, it doesn't do any file shifting, which probably would have been easier. I do edit the config file to change the +GMT so it is accurate after server restarts :)

 

It did do all sorts of other stuff, I had an in-game, website authentication process so you signed up to the website then had to join the game to get your passphrase.. Was based on vanilla dayZ so no Epoch stuff in there, might have to brush off the cobwebs on that but will be sure to give you a shout, thanks.

 

Not used it for a while, definitely need to setup the server as a service, great idea to make BEC a dependent.. Have always used sc.exe to create the services..

 

What do you think of a Paris based server, are you UK based ? The most important thing for me is a a decent ping, don't want to buy a server and then find it is a bit shit to play on :)

[Richie]

Is not paid for yet. French servers have always given me a good ping, looks like this datacentre is in Paris. Is very tempting, no dual cores, looks like single or quad. My home server is a quad core and splitting the HC onto other cores has worked well.

 

Decisions, decisions... Looking at the http://www.online.net/en/dedicated-server/dedibox-classic +Gen 2

 

Have you used these before ?

It's a Xeon with 4 cores @ 3.5GHz, much better than any i5 or i7 :)

The classic +Gen 2 was the server i linked to originally, windows is an extra 20 Euros so total cost is 50Euros for a very nice machine, you could run a few Dayz servers from that.

 

Other options you have would be OVH.co.uk (France) Leaseweb.com (Netherlands) or Hetzner.de (Germany), all will give a decent ping but Online.net are the cheapest option.

[Radiix]

webtropia.com is a bit expensive but the service and the hardware is just outstanding!

 

You can even install your own OS on the HP dediboxes over iLo if you want to, so you can safe those +20 bucks a month for the windows license

 

The only thing u need is a "legit" windows server key.

 

[axeman]

Bonjour Monsieur Serveur.... Except after authorising paypal payments i get:

 

Error: You are not allowed to order. Please contact Online support for more information.

 

Ou est mon serveur s'il vous plait ? I have no idea what they are going to do with my Paypal or where to go next.. 

[fr1nk]

Should probably go into PayPal and cancel/block that transaction to be safe.

[axeman]

EDIT: Ok, so my own stupid fault, I clicked on the confirm account link, in my email, on the train. Hadn't gone through  :blink:

[Storm]

I have a dedi from Server4You.

They offer unmetered bandwidth.

I bought mine from the US, they are cheap for a 32GB ram server with 8 cores you can get for about 70$

 

This is the server I have right now: 

http://www.server4you.com/dedicated-server/server-vergleich.php?server=POWER

You can go even higher to the bizservers which are 10x better

http://www.server4you.com/dedicated-server/business-server.php

 

With the server I have now I could host 70+ players.

The only issue is you are limited on the port speed since it is only a 1GB and not 2GB like the really expensive servers.

[cen]

+1 for FireDaemon.

 

Ask me any questions you want Axe.

[TuBz]

Seems we have some useful experience here Axeman! Thanks guys...

Server now installed..but Axeman does not do long nights (axemans xmas pressie...barrel of red bull) so went to bed.. Dayz will probably be up later..If I pull my finger out when I get in from work and sort the pbo's etc:)...

More info to follow

But once again thanks for all your input guys...

Ohh we did go for the french "Online" one, pings right off the bat are 30 ish for me in the south of England...might find a better route once things are sorted:)

More news to follow very soon... of course all will be welcome to dive in and have a peak and suggest improvements (I don't mind as axemans the web guru/game guru) not me really:) 

[cen]

Oh no, TuBz is involved. I retract any help I was willing to give ;)

[fr1nk]

I can help.....fill the player queue  :lol:

[TuBz]

NB Never let Axeman do the registrations late at night....administrator is spelt different in France:) re-installed.. server maybe a tad delayed now we have access again:)

[axeman]

Well we went with the Paris server and so far am very impressed, just need to get some network load on it, more players :) Restarts in seconds, I can now see why the specs are so high..

 

Can be found at tubofaxes.net (no website yet) 62.210.125.191.

 

Is Vanilla Epoch on V 1.0.3 (Not had time to patch yet)

 

dayZCommander doesn't seem to have grabbed it yet, best way is to load Arma with Epoch mod loaded and filter servers using tub of axes.

 

US pings obviously higher, use this website to check ping from near your location:

 

http://cloudmonitor.ca.com/en/ping.php

 

Come and join in..

[Richie]

Glad to be of been some help Axeman :D

If you're looking for good cheap hosing give me a message, I can sort something for you.