What would be a good server?

[a_dead_lois]

I am currently looking to purchase a server to run my RunUO server. I Don’t want to rent one. I have a high-speed internet connection already in the works. I just need advice on a good server for around $2500. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions please pass them my way.

[Phantom]

Originally Posted by a_dead_lois

I am currently looking to purchase a server to run my RunUO server. I Don’t want to rent one. I have a high-speed internet connection already in the works. I just need advice on a good server for around $2500. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions please pass them my way.

www.dell.com

OMG phantom don't give him false advise. hes asking a question.
a_dead_lois, the best computer for runuo is one that you made.
I actully use a GATEWAY midsized buisness server and have NO trouble with it. Absolutly NO trouble. Nothing has gone wrong.

*seven gives phantom an evil glare*

[psz]

Go with Dell over Gateway anyday.

Go with custom built whenever possible :-P

[septor]

Build one yourself, then you get exactly what you want. Then of course you can't blame anyone for something malfunctioning.

[Guadah]

After doing a little research on what type of server you want, I would suggest going here.

http://www.pricewatch.com/

Pick out what you want for a deceint price. Always make sure to check the ratings of the company your buying from, and spending a little more can sometimes be better. (Meaning the lowest price isnt always the best product).

They have Servers listed from a few hundred dollars to into the 10's of thousands.

[Phantom]

Dell makes good quality servers, enough for a major hosting company to use them.

Well, my entire school is against dells and eMachines o.0
I went with GATEWAY and have not had a problem @ all.

[psz]

Gateway *IS* eMachines :-P

(And eMachines sucks)

[DontdroptheSOAD]

Emachines are the most horrible computers in the world.

Try taking one apart :/
Like breaking into a safe.

[psz]

The old "eMacs" they did were the worst :-<

[Friar Shaggy]

Originally Posted by Phantom

Dell makes good quality servers, enough for a major hosting company to use them.

I agree with Phantom. Use Dell. The way i plan to do it and u might want to. Is figure out what dell u want then check pricewatch or ebay. Just saw some nice stuff in "dell server" category there on ebay. around 600 or so. Then buy what u want and use rest of money to buy more ram or whatever u desire.

shags

[Deimos]

What's the recommended spec (ram/cpu/bandwith etc) for a server with say.....upto 50 players on at one time?

[VxD.32]

Doen't use any of them ! < lol

Buy an Asus Board you'll have to aply some knowladge here as to what kind of power you'll need, since you have the cash I'd go for a sturdy P4 1meg cache arcutectur with 800mhz fsb and as much ram as posible with win2K Pro as the O/s
10K rpm S-ATA Drives in RAID 0 format,

I custom build tons of machines for people and Asus has all ways stood out with the best customer suport and reliability on the market, and as the others said Custom is the only real way to go.

[Phantom]

Originally Posted by Friar Shaggy

I agree with Phantom. Use Dell. The way i plan to do it and u might want to. Is figure out what dell u want then check pricewatch or ebay. Just saw some nice stuff in "dell server" category there on ebay. around 600 or so. Then buy what u want and use rest of money to buy more ram or whatever u desire.

shags

Actually the desktops are little worst quality then their servers.

Your better off spending some extra and buying a server, designed to be used like it will.

what about a rental server that is free or low cost? Any good places?

[cfaust]

http://faustrealms.servegame.com/Inf...nformation.htm

The only thing wrong with mine is the operating system :P

It runs great, saves are from .5 to .9 seconds

server load up and world load up are less than 15 seconds

[Alari]

If you build it yourself, keep in mind that you'll have to handle warranty issues and repair yourself too. When (not if) a part fails you'll be dealing with the manufacturer to get a replacement, and it will take some time for them to receive the broken part, ascertain that yes it did indeed fail, and mail you back a new one. That said, there's nothing wrong with either building it yourself OR buying a complete system from someone, whatever method works best for you financially and technically.

If you're going to be running a large shard, and you build the server yourself, you may want to consider only spending most of your budgeted money on the server, saving some for replacement parts while the broken ones are out on RMA. (Return Materials/Merchandise Authorization, lingo for 'sending it back and getting a new one' =)

If you get the whole server pre-assembled from a company, when it breaks chances are you'll have to send the whole thing in for repairs and it will be gone for a while, so it might be worthwhile to get TWO servers, identical machines, so that you could move the data over to the backup when the primary fails.

If you do buy a complete, ready-to-go system, I'd recommend doing it from a local store. Check their warranty though and compare it with the other stores in the area, and watch out for hidden costs in extended warranty programs. Also note that shipping a system cross-country can loosen parts, and when you have to return it for service it's much easier to drive the system over to a local store than pack it up and ship it back across the country.


Remember to have at least two backup processes, one can be to another location on the hard drive or, better yet, a second (physical) or external hard drive, and the second process could be to a CD-R or CD-RW. Both of these processes can be easily automated. (I also change the "m_Backups" section in AutoSave.cs to have 9 recent backups instead of 3, but that's just me. =)


Is this overkill? No, not at all. =) (Not for a large shard anyway. Though having a second standby machine while waiting for the first to break down might seem like overkill, there's nothing to say you couldn't use it for a personal computer in the meantime. =) And the reason I recommend having a standby is simply because if you get the server as a 'whole system' from somewhere, you'll have to send back in the 'whole system' when it comes time for repair.)

[cfaust]

You are right Alari, but sometimes folks can't afford to get that much hardware; though your advice is solid, it's not practical for everyone.

[Alari]

The original poster said they had $2500 to spend, they could get two decent servers for $1000 each, or build one from scratch for $2000 and have $500 left over for spare parts. =) (or buy one whole server for 2k and not have a spare for when it breaks, a desktop machine would work fine as a temporary server for the month or so repairs would take)

[cfaust]

True enough Alari; I would still suggest a self built machine, it's going to be a server, so the biggest problem is picking the processor, memory and hard drive. My configuration, although the processor is a bit outragous cost about $700 to $800, which would leave some left over to purchase more ram and have quite a bit left over for spare parts. The only thing is, can the poster put a machine together?

[a_dead_lois]

I have looked into all those ideas you all posted for me. I am still kinda confused in a few areas. Would there be any advantage to have a multi-processor system instead of a single cpu? I was looking around online and found some older Compac servers that had 4 PIII Zeons 550mhz cpus for like 500 bucks max. Would that even be something worth getting. I understand its 4 550mhz cpus which is slow but since there are 4 would it make any difference? I really dont know so anyone that can explain please do. I still am not sure if I am just going to buy the parts and build it myself or just get a premade one. I was looking into some 6U cabinets and 1U server cases to build a couple servers but it really isnt cost effective for me at this point since my player base will only be about 50 max. I also have other plans to run other game servers also.

[cfaust]

There are few programs or software packages that can fully take advantage of more than one processor at a time; however, multiple processors when set up properly can be to your advantage.

You should sit down and figure out what all you are going to try and run from your server, and go from there. RunUO really doesn't require much processor or memory comparitively speaking, I haven't used POL in so long, but it was a hog on system resources. I have with my server had a full RunUO shard with 10 folks on, while simultaniously running the following: SMTP, HTTP, FTP, Teamspeak (with people accessing them), and had a full blown EQ Emulator running with another 10 to 15 folks online in the EQ Emu, with no lag in Web, RunUO, or EQEmu. I am also using SQL based forums, downloads, and EQEmu is SQL based as far as it's items, zones, NPCs and accounts.

Just look in to possible server software that you may want to run, ask around about how well it runs and see what other folks are using for servers. You might be able to save your self some headaches and money in the long run. You won't save a whole lot of time though because research can get to be a pain in the arse.

[a_dead_lois]

Thanks cfaust, I might just do that and ask around what people are using for servers. I was doing some looking around last night on Pricewatch.com and think I might be going with a Althon FX 53 939 Chip(Might go lower with Althon 64 3500+ 939 to get more Ram) and about 2-3 gb Ram, a couple SATA 10k HDs. I think that should work for me for now. Not 100% yet but what I am looking into.

[Alari]

Just to give you an idea, my test server was one of those small desktop PCs that were popular a few years ago, had something like a 400mhz processor and 256mb memory. Saves were a few seconds at most, and cpu load was almost nothing. =) Memory load was ~100mb after a world respawn, and dropped to about 50mb at most afterwards.

Keep in mind it was a dedicated server, didn't run anything else but the OS, and had nothing but the OS, RunUO, and the UO client on a 4gb hard drive. It all fit quite nicely. Admittedly, I'd have to regularly clean out logs and my custom daily backups. (I'd modified AutoSave.cs to make a backup every day into another folder, and not overwrite it. Saw one too many posts going "OMG I lost everything and my three backups are corrupt!" Heh. =)

So you don't need a whole lot for RunUO to run stable and smooth. Though honestly I'd recommend you get something better than that for hosting a larger shard with more players. =) Especially if you plan to run other services or servers off of it.


If the others who commented post their specs and save time, cpu load, and memory load, it might give you a better idea of the range of systems, and what you need for the size of shard you're planning to run.