A Ulysses 24/7 GMod server?

[Megiddo]

What are your thoughts on running a 24/7 GMod server?

Here's some pros and cons a server would give us:
Pros:

• Gets us closer to users. (They can offer tips, suggestions, etc)
• Builds our reputation. Running a server would get the ULX name out to more people, and possibly build a faithful user base.
• Beta testing! It would be nice to be able to put our scripts through rigorous testing before release. 

Cons:

• Resources: Running a server isn't free you know!
• Work: We'd have to babysit the server, or get trustworthy people to do it for us.
• The idiots: There's always those jerks who are out to ruin your day (crash server, spam, etc).

I could ask h2noob if he'd be willing to host us again, though I'm a little wary after what happened last time. I could host on my home computer, though the bandwidth is severely limited. Or, I could host it on the server that's hosting this website, though it's not very powerful (AMD 2000+, 256 MB RAM).

[Megiddo]

Okay, I talked to h2noob and he said he can no longer offer free hosting, so that option is shot.

I checked my bandwidth at home, it's running at 329 Kbps. There's an interesting article on how to optimize srcds servers here

[JamminR]

I like the idea. Very much.
I used to run a ded server (occasionally still do) with 6 (1 reserved, so really 5 external) max players on my gaming machine.
Its connected to an advertised upstream 384kbps connection, which really maxes at at 45 KBytes/s upstream
I could run Gmod and play on my own server with no major CPU issues noticable.
I wasn't doing all this with an AMD XP 2000+ or 256mb though. Those are 1.8Ghz, right?
During 'heavy' prop/build/moving vehicle usage, figure 7.5KB a second for each player upstream. Average/not much going on sits around 2k.
net_graph 3 in console will let you see what you're getting from other servers if you're interested in checking it out.
I have a reasonably tweaked config if you're interested. Thats least of the challenges though I'd guess.

Not sure if I could help with hardware or bandwidth. I might be able to donate some hard cash after Christmas towards hardware.
What kind of powersupply is in your case with the XP 2000 system? Ifs its decent, perhaps considering barebones MB/mem/CPU system to go into it would be good..not worrying about an expensive video card or sound just yet. Leave the onboard sound, buy a 20-30$ vid card. Heck, my linux dev box is headless, sits behind my wifes corner desk, has a Stealth64 vid card. Does what I need it to remotely.

[Megiddo]

Sorry, let me clarify my two previously mentioned options...

1. Using the server that's hosting this website:
I have this website on a dedicated server purchased from serverpronto.com, the $30/mo one. It has a 100 Mbps line going to it, so bandwidth is no issue, CPU power is what would really drag it down. When I've run a GMod server on it previously, I was playing on a HL1 server (also running on it), and the HL1 server was noticeably bogged down by the GMod server. Of course, it's very likely it was bogged down because people were spamming or trying to crash the GMod server.

2. Using the desktop at my home:
You know all the specs, it could handle a GMod server without a second thought, but bandwidth is very tight. Depending on how much we can tweak the bandwidth usage before it's unbearably laggy, we might be able to get a 12 player server out of it. Of course, since this would be running on my personal computer, there might be times I need to take the server down in order to download something from bittorrent, or reset my computer, etc.

I also have a laptop that would run a GMod server fairly well, but I'm very wary of keeping a laptop on indefinitely.


The more I think about running a GMod server, the more I like it. Now we just have to figure out how we'll run one...

[JamminR]

12 Players on 389kbps? Do you mean Kilo BITS or BYTES?



Sorry if my long windedness didn't come clear through the fog...

I say, Option 1, with upgrades as we go..
At the least, find a good deal on value brand or medium quality PC 3200 dual channel setup memory (does your server MB support dual channel?), and I might be able to lay into a good chunk of change towards purchase.
Or, like I said before...find a better barebones MB/memory/CPU for the existing case/powersupply you have for it now.
I know money doesn't grow on trees. But I just got a new job, Christmas is coming (Amen), and currently, I'm in a giving mood.

Here's my thoughts.
1) It doesn't need high end 0 CAS 0 latency memory. Its not a gaming rig..its a ded server.
(Heck, even my gaming rig has Corsair Value Select sticks in it, got two 1GB PC3200 sticks for $89 each on sale)

2) It doesn't need a video card (onboard crap is fine, its co-lo)

3) No sound necessary

If you go barebones, decent MB/CPU/memory deals can be found just about anywhere.
$200 or less if you go AMD 64 3800

Just my ideas. If you don't think we can round up enough for barebones, even with a donation from me, I fully understand.

Hmm. I'll look around at my boxes of parts. I might have an AMD 2600+ somewhere around here.

[Megiddo]

Sorry, maybe it's just miscommunication between us, but option one is a static option, I don't have access to the physical box, it's in California in the serverpronto facility.

The only way I could upgrade is by requesting it and paying more money per month.

[Megiddo]

Bringing this topic up again, I still think it's worth it, if we can find some people willing to watch it.

[JamminR]

I'm good for $20 a month (I'd do more, but I'm not single anymore (Try explaining to a wife you're throwing money at a gaming server),
 and can babysit evenings >7-(midnight?) EST and weekends.

I keep hoping a 1u rack server will become available at work. Had my eye on a nice P4 2ghz Dell, but, alas, darn corporate financers said "dev box" and it became so.
You'll be first to know if one comes my way. There have been 2 show up on shelves in our inventory, but next excess sale is far off (not really, but, in life of a rack server sitting around it is)

Megiddo, are there any decent priced bandwidth (2-3mb) options in your area at a decent price (<$100)?
The Beast Build server Wildwill runs is on a standard home cable line. Fortunately for the area he lives in, lots of competition, he gets 2mb upstream.
I'm not sure of his hardware specs, but it runs ok most time.

[Megiddo]

I just tried running garrysmod under linux with wine... let me explain the setup I used so you understand how insane this was and how pleased I am with the results...

I'm running windows, then I ran VMWare (emulates another computer) to setup linux. In this emulated linux, I installed srcds using wine. Then, because I'm lazy like this, I ran putty in windows to run srcds.exe with wine under the emulated linux (X11 tunneled over SSH).

I am now connected to this crazy, messed up server with my windows client, and it's responding great! You would never even know it wasn't your run-of-the-mill dedicated server. Unfortunately, I'm sure srcds under wine is less efficient than native linux srcds, so our minimum requirements for our server have been boosted.

Talking to "Dr. Roxor" today, he recommended minimum requirements of 2.8 Ghz (single core/CPU) with 2 GB RAM with a good hard drive/RAID. I think this is probably a right-on suggestion as far as being able to run a lag-free server. What do you think?

PS: This makes me want to just switch to linux once and for all on all my machines... will this dream ever become a reality?

[JamminR]

When did Source DS Gmod become available for linux? I wasn't aware it was.
As for his specs, he is accurate.

[spbogie]

It's not, that's why he's running it under Wine.

[JamminR]

Unfortunately, I'm sure srcds under wine is less efficient than native linux srcds, so our minimum requirements for our server have been boosted.

Bah.
 I know what Wine is. I just thought by his phrasing there that he was planning on running native. Now that I've stepped back and involved rest of context 'minimum requirements increased', he's talking of running it in Windows.

BLEH!
(As much as I dislike MS, they're my job security)

[Megiddo]

There's linux binaries for all other source servers.

[JamminR]

Keyword = OTHER



Gmod 9 had Linux.
I keep hoping 10 will too.

[spbogie]

I still can't figure out why srcds on windows has to use it's own commnd prompt window. If it would just use the command line that called it then it could be run under under Wine without X.