Building a stable, modded, MC Server. No Hosting

[destroyfish]

I am trying to run a modded minecraft server for personal use. For now I just need it to run for 4-5 people. I have three different computers to try and run a server. I want to run All the Mods, but I have since cut down the mods to essentials for furniture stuff and mo creatures. The server runs well with either computers but I'm just extremely picky. I dont trust hosting services simply because I dont want to shell out monthly plans.

The problem is I get constant server ticking lag. Mobs stutter here and there and flying suffers serious lag.

The computer specs are as follows. Note I'll just post the essentials, not the entire specifications.
(1) Ryzen 3900x, 32GB of 3200mhz ram, 1TB NVME SSD.
(2) i5-4590, 16GB of 1333mhz ram, 250 SSD --- This is an old HP Compaq 6000 pro

The servers run fine and blocks can be placed, but it could run smoother. I try allocating the right amount of RAM for each system. for the second system I do a full 16GB. For the first computer I tried 24, and then 16, still getting a lot of ticking and falling behind.

Looking up online some suggestions, I found a post on this site mentioning old Xeons are the way to go. I am just looking for some understanding as to why and how to get the server at optimum.

I read people suggesting linux to run the server as it would utilize CPU cores or something, I read about storage drives playing a role. I already play with RAM allocation but I get conflicting information saying to max out the ram, then to just use half because using all of it would bottleneck the entire PC. I know not to use the server PC for anything else otherwise it would affect performance. I don't know if networking has anything to play in it because I can't really control how my peer's networks are affected. Is there anything I can do on my end to upgrade or improve my server performance. I just really want to get an understanding as to how minecraft processes a server.

 

[go_fish]

So either of these computers should be plenty powerful for even a heavily modded server. Some considerations for you:

What operating system are you using? Windows should be fine, given the power of these computers, but I never recommend a desktop operating system for server use.

Are you opening this server up to the internet?

What is our internet speed?

Don't give the server more RAM than it needs, Java does weird things when you give it too much memory to play with. Just allocate 8GB (or less) and you'll be set.

 

[destroyfish]

So either of these computers should be plenty powerful for even a heavily modded server. Some considerations for you:

What operating system are you using? Windows should be fine, given the power of these computers, but I never recommend a desktop operating system for server use.

Are you opening this server up to the internet?

What is our internet speed?

Don't give the server more RAM than it needs, Java does weird things when you give it too much memory to play with. Just allocate 8GB (or less) and you'll be set.

I am not familiar with anything server related but I would to learn. I just don't know where to start. Operating system, redundancy, all the other technical terms for running a server. For me, its like I've got a pretty good grasp on desktop computer, I'm trying to expand to server engineering.

Eventually I would want to open up to the internet but I realize the huge limitations and inefficiency in cost performance for an at home hosting server for the internet.

Go to internet speeds, right now they are not optimal, I had a downgrade so it is definitely not ready but I'd like to be prepared.

What you told is really good advice thank you! If you have any answers or suggestions to what I had to add on, I would love to take any input!

 

[go_fish]

I am not familiar with anything server related but I would to learn. I just don't know where to start. Operating system, redundancy, all the other technical terms for running a server. For me, its like I've got a pretty good grasp on desktop computer, I'm trying to expand to server engineering.

Eventually I would want to open up to the internet but I realize the huge limitations and inefficiency in cost performance for an at home hosting server for the internet.

Go to internet speeds, right now they are not optimal, I had a downgrade so it is definitely not ready but I'd like to be prepared.

What you told is really good advice thank you! If you have any answers or suggestions to what I had to add on, I would love to take any input!

Absolutely, happy to help! For now, basic desktop computers are just fine, for learning. Anyone who tells you that you NEED server hardware or to run Linux is gatekeeping. Both of those would be great to have, but don't worry about it until you get a handle on service and network concepts.

It should be totally doable for you to setup a basic minecraft server and let people connect from the internet, you could do this in an afternoon, maybe.

If you need help with that, send me a PM or something, happy to help.