best OS? Linux?

[Xakic]

I've been running a Minecraft server for about 10 months in my house and for a few friends (most connected at one was about 8 or 9.. been running it on the same machine the whole time was running bukkit but now i'm gonna be running FTB..

Over the corse of everything i had to wipe it and put the copy of windows it was running on my sons computer so i ended up putting windows8 on it just to get it running (was having alot of issues with it not booting and such all ended up being the PSU)

So now i'm looning to wipe it again sue to the being windows 8 and it also being preview edition of win8 lol

So i'm looking for what OS to run.. i could put windows back on it and run it that buy but i know thats not the best solution. but i know nothing about linux mess with it a few times for a day each time.. i'm a PC game that plays alot of games and very few run well in linux, So i'm here for suggestions and pointers on where to start learning what i need to know..

few things i need it to do.. be able to remote login and restart it and such from my iphone or my pc (running windows).. then computer will NOT have a monitor hooked up.. i currently use splashtop for this.. and i just did a search and they have a version for linux so that shouldnt be a issue

anyways the server specs are as follows

CPU: 2.8ghz quad core amd OC'd to 3ghz
MB: gigabyte something..
Ram: 8 gigs of ddr2
HD: 250gig 7200 rpm running OS and a 250gig 7200rpm where Minecraft sits (i had them raided at one time but when i was having the boot problems due tot he PSU i removed that)
Video card: Geforce GTX 285 (not like it matters tho)

i would consider getting a SSD to runthe computer off also.. something around the 120gig range for the whole computer

I've never really noticed any lag for the most part.. but i might be having a few more people play on it.. some where around 12-15 total (not all at once) and would like to it run the best it can

thanks for the help =)

 

[roberttt1005]

Look, most people often use Linux as a Server OS due to its low resource consumption, so in theory, Linux is always (most of the time) the best choice for a Server. And about not having a monitor hooked up, it's no problem. There are many programs that let you share your screen either online or LAN, an example is RealVNC. Just set up VNC and log in from either your iphone, android, mac, or windows based PC.

A good 'distribution' of Linux for Windows users is Ubuntu (many experts would disagree and recommend Fedora or whatever, but Ubuntu is often the first choice), you don't need to know A LOT of programming or anything since it's MADE so Windows users can easily switch over time. Mojang has a Minecraft Server .jar file which you just need to double click like you would in Windows or Mac, and boom! Minecraft server up and ready to go. There are a ton of YouTube tutorials about this aswell.

Just my grain of sand, hope it helps.

(You could also just use Win8, it won't affect that much if you don't have many people online at the same time)

 

[monotonehell]

I've run Minecraft servers on a Debian remote box for about two years now. There is a learning curve, but it is a lot more flexible as a server. For example, with Debian I can move Bukkit plugins / FTB mod files around while the server is running, then do a /reload (on Bukkit) or a restart and they are loaded. Whereas on a Windows based server you need to stop the server, then move the files, as Windows locks the jar files from modification while it is running. This means a bit more downtime. Tiny thing, but lots of tiny things add up to less uptime. Also a lot of the tools you need to run a server are built in or already installed. Where as in Windows you need to download, install and configure all these things.

Having told you how good linux is for a dedicated server, now I'm going to tell you not to bother if you've had no command line experience with running a *nix box. If all you know is Windows, you have a lot to learn. If you want to expand your mind, however, install a flavour of Linux and start learning. It's not really that hard, and there's plenty of help via Google.

 

[Miamore]

Performance and versatility wise - yes.

But there is a big learning curve with Linux. If you feel like you're up for learning BASH, then by all means, go ahead and start with a Ubuntu Server and Google some basic bash command tutorials.

 

[Smackzter]

CentOS 6.3 if you're willing to learn. It's free and it's based off Linux.[DOUBLEPOST=1356554387][/DOUBLEPOST]Also your server specs aren't that great. DDR2, AMD CPU & no raid/SSD is a nogo for a larger server. Why bother changing OS if you aren't gonna run a big server? If you REALLY want a OS for servers, get Windows Server. I don't see a point in learning linux if the server is for max 20 people.

 

[magnifikus]

you need some knowledge to run a server opened to the internet both on windows and linux to keep it secure, so take some time and inform yourself on either plattform you choose, because even a linux server badly configured can get worse

 

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Being a linux user, I have to say that Ubuntu and Mint are the most user-friendly. Mint (particularly with Cinnamon) looks pretty much like XP did, only without the resource hogging, the BSoDs, the viruses, the malware, (s)Norton, and a lot of other things that should never happen to your computer.

I will also concur that running a server on Linux is going to take learning a bit of BASH language. One of the first things you need to do is establish a Whitelist to keep jerks and griefers off your sever.

I'd also suggest going here for some very bukkit-like features you might be missing.

 

[TiGG]

i run mineOS, for a week now, on a dual core atom, 4 GB ram, and for 2-3 people, its been working great, (im doing a mas DW20/MindCrack server) but with the web host feature, its awesome to manage.

 

[Crimson]

If you run linux you don't need an SSD, you can run the server out of RAM. So if you want high performance consider Linux (RAM is much faster than SSD). You would just need to script that copies your server files to the RAM drive before it starts the server, then copies them back to the hard drive when it stops.

Personally I run CentOS. Ubuntu is probably better if you have a stronger Windows background though. Scripts for setting up a minecraft service will be slightly different on each system as different distributions of linux may have slightly different conventions.

If you decide to go with CentOS let me know and I might be able to give you a hand.

 

[glasspelican]

I would recommend that you put the harddisks back in raid and install ubuntu x64 on them, use the latest long term support version 12.04.
SSDs help with desktops allot, I'm not sure how much they would help with a mc server, If hdd speed becomes a problem add an ssd.

The largest performance boost I have seen with my server came from tuning the java garbage collection.
java will stop server execution to do GC this post shows how to turn that off and have GC run in parallel with the server.
related post -> http://forum.feed-the-beast.com/threads/server-lag.2501/
that thread was a windows server but if you install openjdk all the same options work.

 

[Xakic]

Thanks everyone for the replay.. i have been readign them just havent had a chance to sit down and reply =)

First thing.. Server is running DDR3 was a mistype..

2nd i did end up installing Ubuntu x64 12.04 and messed with it for about 4 hours.. get the server running on it was able to VNC into it and such.. then started messing around with other stuff and seeing how much i was gonna have to learn.. and then scampered back to windows LOL not that I was having a hard time of it.. most of it i got.. remembering back to my DOS days and when i was taking programming in school (basic.. school required it before you could move on to better stuff.. my family had to move or i would have been able to take c++ the next year)

Main reasons i went back to windows is, i dont think its really nessasary to run linux for my needs (like I said 10 people max at a time on the server) and i already know it, and RL time constrains.. Wife Kid work new house.. and i need time to play too =)

So thank you everyone for the info.. if i ever do think i need to go linux i'll make sure to take your info into account..

One thing i will probably look into is tuning the java garbage collection

 

[Cmars]

Thanks everyone for the replay.. i have been readign them just havent had a chance to sit down and reply =)

First thing.. Server is running DDR3 was a mistype..

2nd i did end up installing Ubuntu x64 12.04 and messed with it for about 4 hours.. get the server running on it was able to VNC into it and such.. then started messing around with other stuff and seeing how much i was gonna have to learn.. and then scampered back to windows LOL not that I was having a hard time of it.. most of it i got.. remembering back to my DOS days and when i was taking programming in school (basic.. school required it before you could move on to better stuff.. my family had to move or i would have been able to take c++ the next year)

Main reasons i went back to windows is, i dont think its really nessasary to run linux for my needs (like I said 10 people max at a time on the server) and i already know it, and RL time constrains.. Wife Kid work new house.. and i need time to play too =)

So thank you everyone for the info.. if i ever do think i need to go linux i'll make sure to take your info into account..

One thing i will probably look into is tuning the java garbage collection

If you need help next time with linux I'd be happy to help you (As long as it's debian or ubuntu because I don't like centos).

 

[AliasXNeo]

Look in my signature for getting started. Also, most people use Linux because its secure, not because of low resource usage.

 

[Eremite]

I really love #! http://crunchbang.org/ It's Debian based and very low resource usage. (I run it on a laptop with 256MB of RAM... not for minecraft obviously )
If you want really low overhead, run it in runlevel 3 for command-line only, then make sure you have an ssh daemon installed for remote connections if you need to administer it.

Bash is confusing at first, but I absolutely love it and once you know your way around it, you'll start to reevaluate why you ever liked Windows to begin with. TLDP and a few google searches will find a plethora of information about it and I recommend the O'Reilly books. http://tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/

 

[Cmars]

I really love #! http://crunchbang.org/ It's Debian based and very low resource usage. (I run it on a laptop with 256MB of RAM... not for minecraft obviously )
If you want really low overhead, run it in runlevel 3 for command-line only, then make sure you have an ssh daemon installed for remote connections if you need to administer it.

Bash is confusing at first, but I absolutely love it and once you know your way around it, you'll start to reevaluate why you ever liked Windows to begin with. TLDP and a few google searches will find a plethora of information about it and I recommend the O'Reilly books. http://tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/

I love Debian for my servers, The OS uses 2 MB of dedicated ram and 1 MB of swap.
How much do you use on the laptop?

 

[AliasXNeo]

I really love #! http://crunchbang.org/ It's Debian based and very low resource usage. (I run it on a laptop with 256MB of RAM... not for minecraft obviously )
If you want really low overhead, run it in runlevel 3 for command-line only, then make sure you have an ssh daemon installed for remote connections if you need to administer it.

Bash is confusing at first, but I absolutely love it and once you know your way around it, you'll start to reevaluate why you ever liked Windows to begin with. TLDP and a few google searches will find a plethora of information about it and I recommend the O'Reilly books. http://tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/

CrunchBang is a pretty amazing distribution, but I don't think it was really intended to be run as a server. It's main focus is using light programs, mainly OpenBox, to minimize system resource usage. I don't think there's anything wrong with running it as a server, I just think there are some more specialized distributions out there that might be a better fit. If you want zero resource usage, Arch Linux would be about as good as you can get. An initial installation has only the very basics you need to run the nix environment. Only drawback is it's bleeding edge and therefor slightly more unstable and vulnerable (although the opposite could be said since it's always up to date against latest security threats).