Server Owners - Please Post Info

[Demonic]

Just want to get a idea what hardware etc people are using for running MIR3 Servers - so if possible coudl you answer following:

1. CPU Make and Model
2. Ram
3. OS used (XP, W2000 Server etc)
4. Line Speed (for example 1024/256, 512/256 etc)

Trying to esablish what CPU is best for MIR, be it AMD or P4 or even the newer AMD 64bit or is Dual Better? Memeory, i know that 1 GIG ram is fine but what does adding say another 1 GIG give you? Faster mobs etc?

Thanks

 

[¤]´)÷¤--§îr Äürøñ--¤÷(`[¤]

Ideal Setup:

2 Pcs, SQL and main.

Main:
1.5ghz+ processor, AMDs are faster and cheaper, but intels can be overclocked more.
2 CPUs would be good, but only if you can afford it.

AT LEAST 768mb of ram, 1GB+ prefered.
Windows Server 2003
either 512k ADSL, 512k+ SDSL (look into that).

SQL
1GHZ+ CPU, any Intel or AMD
256mb+ RAM, provided you're only going to host your mir3db.
Windows Server 2003, although any NT-kernel OS will do.
MUST BE CONNECTED VIA INTERNAL LAN/WLAN.

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64bit AMDs own all Intel can offer, so they're better than normal. Dual CPUs compare very well to them though. 2 64bit AMD FX51/53s, although it'd cost a mint, would own any server.

Adding the extra ram just gives you extra headroom for monsters & characters, it won't make them faster, but it'll let events, etc run smoother.

Line speed is what really matters these days. Almost all ADSL is 256kb upload, no matter what package you get. Recently, SDSL became available. SDSL gives you the same upload as download. So a 2mbit SDSL would give you 2048/2048. SDSL is the ideal connection for any server.

256kb upload can handle a maximum of around 50 Ei players. Based on that, each player uses around 5kbit upload.

You MUST put SQL on a different PC, to avoid the RunDB errors. This way, both servers run smoother, and gives you much more headroom for spawns. RunDB i believe is caused by an attempted asynchronous read and write at the same time.

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Stuck, this topic will proove useful to those wondering if they are able to host a server.

 

[Demonic]

Many thanks for making it sticky - there is No offical guide as to what is the min/max specs and depending on who you speak to - they say this is better then that etc.

To give my input - here is what i have tried and the results:

Dual 933Mhz P3 CPU, WIndows 2000 Server with SQL Enterprise edition (2000) all running on the same machine. My Connection was Uk Based on NTL which offers 1mbit / 256 upload (translated to 126kb/sec download and 28kb/sec upload) - IP hardly if ever changes on NTL - this been good.

My Experiece is that it ran fine until i added Ancient worlds (full spawns outside - its a big map as well) and the temple (lots of maps - lots of mobs) and i also added something called New Lands which offered 4 caves, 2 rooms to walk through (incarnated WT) then this led off to 3 KR all with full spawns and fast as well - as i need the KR to be a challenge.

Now although it run fine (just) - the mobs slowed down and the dead mob bug came about at random every now and then. In case you never came across the dead mob bug - its when you kill a mob - its dead on your screen but the dead body chases and attacks you anyhow.

If I halfed the spawns on the complete game - then the mobs were back to full speed and no dead mob bug at all.

As for the Server stats - the cpus both ran at 54% and the memory used was 880 on first loading which settled down to about 550 with a full running server. I had of course tweaked 2000 Server to run better as it was not a true server (as in Active Directory, File Sharing and so forth).

 

[¤]´)÷¤--§îr Äürøñ--¤÷(`[¤]

Your problems could be linked to either SQL or your RAM.

In the old days, you could get away with 512mb of ram, but with all these new areas, i reckon it's time to invest in 1gb sticks at a time.

Also, check your virtual memory load, that's probably more important.

 

[Demonic]

I had 1 gig btw - sorry i forgot to Mention this.

Reason for the post was not to try and work out my problems - i dont run a server anymore - i just help people with theres.

I was just trying to get a chart if you like of the people who run servers, what specs they have and from this it would form a picture if you like of what is good and what is not so good (example been a Celeron - crap CPU but is it ok for running mir3 server for example).

A good example been if you compare a AMD with a P4 - the P4 has a faster core clock speed - on certain benchmarks this matters a lot. Seems for example that Games run good on Atlhon and they hold there own when comapred to P4 of the same Clock rating (XP3000 say). Some programs for example are no faster running on Dual then they are on single as they have not been written to take account of the dual CPU - good exmaple here been Nero Vision Express, a Duron 1.1Ghz beats my Dual 933Mhz machine on encoding videos.

If you take a look at some MMORPG server - they run better on a P4 than Athlon - maybe as the coding of the game takes into account the P4 extra bits for example - esp as P4 now has HT - which to the program has 2 x CPU's.

A Server owner though is not going to rush out and buy a Dual Operton with 4 gig ram with Serial ATA raid or SCSI 360 for example - esp as the servers are provided free of charge - most use what they have lying about (as in my case) - i have a AMD 2600XP with 2 gig ram, Serial ATA Raid etc - no way am i going to dedicate that for running a server

 

[¤]´)÷¤--§îr Äürøñ--¤÷(`[¤]

All MMORPG servers are multithreaded, therefore more CPUs, (virtual or physical, though physical help more) help the server run more smoothly.

It's all about the FPU really, and on Pentium4's it's very good. The AthlonXP's FPU is weak compared to the P4's, but the Amd64's is comparable.

Really though, the performance bonus is wasted on the player loads you get in the private server world. A single CPU can easily handle all the players private mir has at once, along with a LOT of spawns.

The main factor when trying to boost the performance of a server is the RAM.

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The reason applications like NVE run faster on the Duron 1.1, is because it's not multithreaded. Performance would increase in any multithreaded application.

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In a realistic world though, dual Pentium4's(NOT CELERONS - CACHE IS IMPORTANT), with a large compliment of ram, should be able to handle any server comfortably.

Most strugge with rigging a second PC for SQL

 

[Kaori]

This is what I am using...

Dungeon Server:
Dual Intel Xeon 1.8G (HT off)
1G Ram
Win2k Srv

Province Server:
Intel Pentium 4 2.6G (HT on)
2G Ram
640G IDE HD
WinSrv2k3 Ent

DSL Line 1: 1M/640k
DSL Line 2: 1M/160k

 

[TritoN]

Olymp Server specs:

Athlon XP 2000+ (ASUS Board)
768 MB DDR RAM
Windows 2003 Server
T1 internet connection @about 1.5MBit down/upload

server is running fine (no lag, normal mob speeds) no matter how many players on (max players at once was 51) for about 2-3 days
after that server needs reboot cause of missing/blinking npcs, guards and slower mobs
Olymp has full spawns including ancient lands and new desert areas (numa)

imo a dual p4 bord (~2.8GHz P4) with 1GB ram and at least T1 connection would be the ideal mir3 gameserver for about 70-100 players at once

 

[Demonic]

Thanks Triton for the info - i wonder though what sort of setup Wemade (or GN) have for a server that has all the spawns and 1,000's of people online - i can only hazard a guess at a 8 way Xeon with lots of ram and probably a server farm full at that.

When we specs out a rig for a company for SQL Server - this was in fact a 8 way Xeon (licence is staggering for that alone) and thats one server.

I suppose the private sector (lol) will never had 10,000 people online let alone a 1,000 to be honest and i bet WeMade have re-written that code to take into account more than one CPU.

The reason i say this by the way, if i run a program that is not dual optimized then it has a go at running on two but you never get the true power of a dual setup. Using a program that had Dual CPU written into the code (or more than one anyhow) - it really does show.

Good exmaple been I guess DVD Shrink - Duron 1.1 Ghz 36 Mins to shrink a movie where as on dual 933 with dual option turned on, 18 mins - so it does work

Another aspect as proven by FlaskMpeg, when re-written to take into account various chipset features, re-coded, streamlined etc, then it runs faster on the same harder. As we have code that has not been touched for some time (and its messy code as well) - then we are not getting the full power really.

It would be great if we got the code (even for mir2 - which is dying on its feet) which then can be streamlined and re-done to run faster and thus not requiring such intense Hardware.

Thanks for all who posted so far - its very intertested to see the various specs as to what will and wont runa a server - hell we could go buy a Celeron 2.8GHz and bump it up to 1 gig+ - sure by the looks of things that will run the server fine and they are dirt cheap.

 

[Kaori]

none of m2 or eiserver.exe's run on dual cpu. they can only run on 1. but having dual has advantage cuz server.exe takes 50%, sql, gate, whatever can take the rest of the cpu load.
I suggest a hyperthreading ones if you wanna go for something dual but can't afford a xeon cpu/board.
Non dual cpu is only good if you run your apps in different priority, if you plan to overload your eiserver.exe with lots of mobs.

BTW... Ram is related to maps+mobs. Cpu is related to mobs. Correct me if I am wrong.

 

[TritoN]

i prefer dual cpu setup cause more then 1 thread is used for the server to run (all the various gates and sql). in that case u will get a huge performance boost even without the programs code optimized for dual cpu.

 

[Demonic]

Personally I think MIR3 (version we have) is so baddly written it needs a Fast cpu and ram just to keep up. I know prices aint that much these days but a Dual 933 with 1 gig ram can run a hell of a lot of apps fine serving many many users (server side im thinking here). Now i tried a few diff mmorpg server and they all can run fine even on a duron with 512mb ram - so what does that tell us about mir3 eh..

Ive not tried a mir2 server in anger (lol) but why for exmaple does that run better on lower spec hardware when in realitys in not much different code (server side anyhow). I am guessing the version of the server (1.4) is more upto date and better coded then MIR3 ever is. I have a version which has been optimized (also happens to include new magic) and its definatly better, on the very same machine i have Full spawns with SQL on another box and it runs fine apart from the Dead mob Bug every now and then and I get the client socket error thing, though im gonna change the port to 5000 as this might fix it.

 

[Demonic]

Little update on my last play for the specs, the following setup ran a server with FULL spawns no problems whatsoever:

Mir3 Server
Shuttle PC Fitted with 512MB DDR333 Ram x 2 (1 gig)
Athlon 2500+ barton
Windows XP Pro fully updated including service Pack 2

SQL Server - two here - both worked 100% fine

First one I had - P550 P3 Machine with 1 gig ram, windows 2003 Server, Sql Enterprise...

Later I had Dual 933 P3 machine, 1 Gig EEC Ram - Windows 2000 Server, Sql Enterprise.

Now here is the interesteing bit really, The Dual 933 machine cost me £250 from a mate, ripped out the SCSI Drives as way to noisy...
The Shuttle complete again I bought from a Mate for £300 notes, with a bit of hunting on EBAY im sure you could build yourself a decent machine and no reason to run off and buy a 8 way Xeon with 8 gig ram like for a MIR3 Server because most of the power will be wasted...

I beleive once you put SQL on a seperate machine, the server specs can hold a lot more mobs, the only problem by the way with a underpowered server is you end of with the Dead Mob Bug (Looks dead on screen but still attack you) and mobs slow in attacking etc.

 

[Ephemera]

my Pc specs are.

AMD 3200+ Barton.
1gb ddr RAM,
windows XP pro
T1 Connection.

will this be good enough for having say, 50 plays + on?

 

[Demonic]

my Pc specs are.

AMD 3200+ Barton.
1gb ddr RAM,
windows XP pro
T1 Connection.

will this be good enough for having say, 50 plays + on?

Hell Yer - T1 I take it been both ways? Becuase i have 1.5Mbit Download which could be classed as T1 (i think lol) but the upload been only 256 like. ANyhow, with 256 Upload, I was told you coudl hold about 85 people - so your above is fine trust me

 

[johnyl1]

RageZone mir3 is running with the following specs.

P4 1.7GHz with 1gb ddr 333,1 40Gb Hd and 1 20 gb hd for the sql server only.

P4 2.4Ghz with 1gb ddr 400, 80 gb hd for the server files.

connection is crappy coz im moving to a new place lol.

 

[GeneralCarnage]

InfiniteDreams

AMD Athlon(tm) 64 3500+ 2 x ddr 400 1 gig each
2 x 120 gig sata drives raided
Asus av8 delux motherboard
3 gig Broadband

 

[Craig321]

Just want to get a idea what hardware etc people are using for running MIR3 Servers - so if possible coudl you answer following:

1. CPU Make and Model
2. Ram
3. OS used (XP, W2000 Server etc)
4. Line Speed (for example 1024/256, 512/256 etc)

Trying to esablish what CPU is best for MIR, be it AMD or P4 or even the newer AMD 64bit or is Dual Better? Memeory, i know that 1 GIG ram is fine but what does adding say another 1 GIG give you? Faster mobs etc?

Thanks

Intel with HT will be best for running a server (unless of course you can get hold of a AMD X2, then either is good):

My current setup -
3.0GHZ, 1GB RAM XMS3200 DDR, 200GB HDD SATA. I can run the server and play the game at the same time lagless, it's only me and my brother that play on it so it's perfect like that

But if you're planning a server with lots of people then get a dedicated PC for it.

Craig.

 

[Far]

its abit of an old post m8 lol. nearly a year old infact.

 

[Craig321]

hehe, woops, didn't see the last post was in Feb