Lan Party - A couple of questions

[SmackAHobo]

Hey guys,
I'm planning on running a lan party and i'm trying to map out as much as possible beforehand so that i don't run into any problems. If you could be as informative as possible in your responses it would be really helpful (Links to sites, info, long lists of personal opinions ect).

First of all, I need some dedicated servers, and was wondering, with the games that we have today, what's the minimum specs a computer would need to run a server?
Also, how many servers can a single computer run at one time? And can they be for different games?

Network wise, what would the strain on the network be from all these servers? and will i need a gigabit switch or will a normal switch suffice? Furthermore, i want people to be instantly assigned an IP once plugged into the network (DHCP). Once people are on the network, is there someway i can stop people from sharing files while the gaming is going on? Are there any network management programs out there? (Sharing will only be possible when there are few people gaming)

All help would be greatly appreciated,
Thanks guys

 

[NickOlsen8390]

How many people?
Without knowing the amount of people that will attend we don't know what kind of capacity you would need.

 

[SmackAHobo]

We're looking at 25 - 50 People. As it becomes more popular, more people will come.

 

[SmackAHobo]

Can anyone answer any of my questions?

 

[jewps]

Depending on the type of LAN this may be, a lot of the bandwidth could be used for file sharing so adjust accordingly. Besides, you said it's only going to be for 50 people, you shouldn't have a problem with a pretty simple network setup. I doubt you'll need GB, I run a few public game servers at my colo and bandwidth is the last thing I'm really concerned about.

As for as the servers themselves, I suppose that depends on the games you plan on hosting, as well as how many games will you guys be playing concurrently. With quads being at the prices they are at now, I find them to be pretty decent game servers, very capable of running quite a few sessions on each.

 

[SmackAHobo]

Originally posted by: jewps
As for as the servers themselves, I suppose that depends on the games you plan on hosting, as well as how many games will you guys be playing concurrently. With quads being at the prices they are at now, I find them to be pretty decent game servers, very capable of running quite a few sessions on each.

We will be running multiple game servers at the same time, so that we can cater for all different styles of gaming. So how will this effect the network?

Games include:
CSS
C&C
F.E.A.R
Crysis / WH
Company of Heroes
COD4
BF2
Quake III
UT2004 / 2007

Can 1 server run a CSS, Crysis and COD4 server (or anything in between) at the same time?

Thanks guys

 

[jlazzaro]

from a network perspective, gaming generates very little traffic. i don't see a way to stop file shares while a game is in progress using SOHO gear.

for the server side, it ultimately depends on the machine specs. you're going to need a pretty beefy box to run multiple servers of different games at once.

 

[NickOlsen8390]

I don't think you really need to stop file sharing, its all local you have a good amount of bandwidth. As long as it isn't hitting the servers all there effecting is themselves.
Herers what i would do

1 Gb switch, Mabey managed.
hook the servers and other switches to it.
for each table switch i would look for a gig uplink and 10/100 ports are fine.
for each server i would run as little as possible, I would look to about 3-4 servers to run all them games, if they are high end (dual core or quad, 2-4gb ram)
Since you don't really have that many people I would only startup the servers you need. If someone wants to play a game start the server up.
For as little people you have, you don't really need anything special.
you really don't even need a Gb switch.
I would however watch internet usage, your line is going to get stomped on probably.
last lan i did we were at a school, and had 10mb fiber that would burst to 100, and we used about 40 the whole time.
And that was with about 50 people.
granted everyone was downloading crap.

 

[heymrdj]

Originally posted by: SmackAHobo

Originally posted by: jewps
As for as the servers themselves, I suppose that depends on the games you plan on hosting, as well as how many games will you guys be playing concurrently. With quads being at the prices they are at now, I find them to be pretty decent game servers, very capable of running quite a few sessions on each.

We will be running multiple game servers at the same time, so that we can cater for all different styles of gaming. So how will this effect the network?

Games include:
CSS
C&C
F.E.A.R
Crysis / WH
Company of Heroes
COD4
BF2
Quake III
UT2004 / 2007

Can 1 server run a CSS, Crysis and COD4 server (or anything in between) at the same time?

Thanks guys

I ran the Bainbridge College Lan Parties with my brother, and we did alot of stuff like this.

The server was an X2 4300+ AMD overclocked to 2.8Ghz, 2GB DDR2 Ram.

Server ran Serious Sam First Encounter, Serious Sam Second Encounter, and UT2004. Ram will be your key, not processing power. I would say that a quad core Xeon box with 8GB of RAM should handle all those games at once. Putting your installs on RAPTOR or SCSI discs will help with level loads.

UT2004/2007 share custom files (maps, textures, sounds, ect) poorly over networks, using the netspeed setting of ut2004.ini to control the speed, which is a max of 30kb. This is slow when you're downloading a 45MB level with 100MB of texture for plane mods or whatever. Therefore you need at least one gigabit connected web server. As you become popular you may want more. Here was the layout I used for ours.

Windows 2003 Server for control. It provided DNS/DHCP services to the network. DNS wise, it held the domain www.bcx3.local This was the local domain everyone could access. The home page held game links, info, ect., stats pages for the games that would allow it (like phpstats for UT2004), and links to downloads. The www.bcx3.local/files was the directory used for UT2004/2007 files.

Web server cluster. 5 old clunker PC's with decent hard drives. These were in a load balanced Apache cluster with PHP. server1-5.bcx3.local. 6th clunker was Apache load balancer/MySQL server. mysql.bxc3.local Ran PAFileDB for file management (simple mysql/php app)

3 rigs were game servers. All 2.8Ghz P4 with HT, 1GB Ram each.

These rigs used the 20IP's I reserved in Windows Server DHCP. The servers all got static IP's.

The Windows server was connected at 10/100. The web servers all had 1gb connections. The game servers ran 10/100's. We never had a bandwidth issue. Our biggest issue at the first party was using an old clunker Cisco switch. The switch was dropping packets and causing lag. A brand new 24 port Gigabit Netgear switch for 178$ from Newegg fixed that. We had more than enough bandwidth for everyone. With the loadbalancing on the apache server, people got fast downloads when they needed it, and throttled when necessary for everyone to get fair share.

It's a system that worked great for us. If you were in the Atlanta/Americus/Cordele area I'd over to come and assist with setups.

 

[SmackAHobo]

Thanks a lot for the wonderful and informative posts guys. If anyone else has any thoughts / ideas / info they'd like to share, please feel free.

Thanks

 

[SmackAHobo]

Also, when buying a computer purely for use as a server, does it have to have certain requirements such as OS or parts?

 

[heymrdj]

Originally posted by: SmackAHobo
Also, when buying a computer purely for use as a server, does it have to have certain requirements such as OS or parts?

Your game should have a listing. Games like UT2004 are simple to host. When it ran it took less than 2% power on my X2, even with 30 bots on an idle map. It's the hard drive that get's thrashed on level changes.

Most games have some command line dedicated server, like the UT series, Serious Sam, i believe Quake too. These draw absolutely no power, just ram to load the textures, and hard drive space.

Good HD, LOTS of Ram, and a nice dual core processor on the boxes will get you smoothness. Avoid unicore when running multiple servers on a box, unless it's a P4 with HT, the game will bog because it can only execute one thread at a time.

 

[SmackAHobo]

Well i'm now looking to buy some server computers and i was wondering if this hardware would be enough. Would an 80GB WD 7200Rpm HDD be powerful enough? or do i really need to go for SCSI/raptor drives? I'd get about 2 -4GB of ram, 2 at the minimum?
Also, do these servers require a GFX card? seeing as it won't be running any video/audio is it really necessary?
Finally, what kind of mobo do i need? Do i need a highend one or will anything suffice?

Thank-you

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Originally posted by: SmackAHobo
Well i'm now looking to buy some server computers and i was wondering if this hardware would be enough. Would an 80GB WD 7200Rpm HDD be powerful enough? or do i really need to go for SCSI/raptor drives? I'd get about 2 -4GB of ram, 2 at the minimum?
Also, do these servers require a GFX card? seeing as it won't be running any video/audio is it really necessary?
Finally, what kind of mobo do i need? Do i need a highend one or will anything suffice?

Thank-you

What kind of budget are you trying to accomplish this on, or at least what kind of budget do you have to work with? That would help in determining what hardware you "need".

 

[heymrdj]

Originally posted by: SmackAHobo
Well i'm now looking to buy some server computers and i was wondering if this hardware would be enough. Would an 80GB WD 7200Rpm HDD be powerful enough? or do i really need to go for SCSI/raptor drives? I'd get about 2 -4GB of ram, 2 at the minimum?
Also, do these servers require a GFX card? seeing as it won't be running any video/audio is it really necessary?
Finally, what kind of mobo do i need? Do i need a highend one or will anything suffice?

Thank-you

80GB's will be just fine, no need to go to raptors.

1GB minimum, 4 max depending on how many servers you want on the box. This is basing on XP Home/Pro.

No gfx card necessary, although our main server (the x2), has 6150 IGP graphics. We overclocked the onboard and used it to be a spectator in the Serious Sam Mental Speed Run so everyone could see it on the 50" projector. If you want something like this, consider having a server with a decent gfx card.

Any mobo will do.

 

[SmackAHobo]

Nice advice guys. Fullmetal, I'd like to get 2 server computers and keep it around $1000 for both.
What about the OS? Can i use vista?
Finally, is there any program out there where i can manage both of these server computers (Eg, changing a particular level or even changing the type of game server running) without leaving my own PC?

Thanks guys

 

[heymrdj]

Originally posted by: SmackAHobo
Nice advice guys. Fullmetal, I'd like to get 2 server computers and keep it around $1000 for both.
What about the OS? Can i use vista?
Finally, is there any program out there where i can manage both of these server computers (Eg, changing a particular level or even changing the type of game server running) without leaving my own PC?

Thanks guys

I gotta go to work so i can't give quotes right now. But you can use any OS on the servers you want. Win XP Home or Vista Basic/Home Premium are great for the job. Through my school I get unlimited licenses of 2000 Pro, and up to 35 licenses of XP Home. I put XP Home on most of the boxes, and 2000Pro on some of the older game servers, like Delta Force 2 Lan, Commanche Gold/Commanche 4, and Serious Sam First/Second Encounter.

 

[SmackAHobo]

What about the software to be able to change servers from my own computer, any idea?

 

[heymrdj]

Originally posted by: SmackAHobo
What about the software to be able to change servers from my own computer, any idea?

TightVNC server on the server. TightVNC viewer on your system.