New to servers need help

Sjdeany · 3 Feb 2012 at 02:37

Hello, I have been considering buying some hardware and making my own server for hosting game servers.

I currently have a machine already that I use to play games and am familier in setting up servers using that machine but I would like to have a dedicated machine for running game servers and services.

Im putting together the machine which is not the problem.

I have no idea what software to use, I understand I could probably do everything I want if I ran the server machine using W7, but I would like to know whats my best option and what sort of money would I be looking to pay for software.

Thanks!

ethos · 3 Feb 2012 at 11:04

Why not just rent a hosted game server?

It'll be better in every way.

PistolPete · 3 Feb 2012 at 11:13

^This.

Most decent dedicated server run on a flavour of linux, require more reliable bandwidth than your home can provide and the expertise to setup and tweak the game server correctly.

KIA · 3 Feb 2012 at 12:14

Not worth renting a server if he already has 10Mb/s upstream at home. The question is, how fast is your pipe?

ethos · 3 Feb 2012 at 12:24

KIA said:
Not worth renting a server if he already has 10Mb/s upstream at home. The question is, how fast is your pipe?

Yes, because the upstream is all that is required to run a server...

Server costs
Running costs (electric isn't cheap)
Time to get the server up and running
Hassle and time maintaining it
Possibly on a Home ISP package (Dynamic IP)

Electricity savings alone would probably cover renting. By the time you've put in the costs and time above, you'll be looking at years before any ROI.

If you want to learn (not that there's much to learn) and dabble yourself then fair enough- otherwise it's a waste of money and effort.

Sjdeany · 3 Feb 2012 at 12:45

I have considered renting a server but I would like to learn how to operate one myself my internet upload is good enough for what I want: virgin 50mb

I've heard they will be doubling my speeds to 100mb which should give me 1 megabyte/s upload.

PistolPete · 3 Feb 2012 at 13:24

Should give you 10Mb once the upload rollout is complete, but like Ethos says, there is a whole lot more to it than bandwidth.

What games were you thinking about anyway?

Sjdeany · 3 Feb 2012 at 13:30

lets not get into the technical side of things I would like help with which operating system to use everything else is part of learning

Semple · 3 Feb 2012 at 13:31

First point Windows 7 is not used for servers.

The hardware will depend on what games you are planning to host. If you're hosting several from a home connection (Assuming these aren't heavy resourceful games with lots of players) then you could virtualise it using VMWares vCenter. This would give you the luxury of having multiple operating systems for different services.

If you can get away with running the game server on a linux distro then do that. Will save on a lot of resources. You could then run a webserver/mumble server using windows server.

Also you need to take note with what ethos has said. If you plan to run the server 24/7 and it uses a lot of resources then your electricity bills will be quite high!

EDIT: On another note (depending on the game) but you could run the game server from within a VM on your own machine if its powerful enough. This would save splashing out on expensive hardware that may not be needed.