New Server Admin

[DisputedLeader]

Hi All,

I'm new to this server admin type stuff, wanted to post a question about mystcraft and diagnosing FTB/Minecraft issues on a server.

I use a rented server from the guys over at Nitrous Networks, seems quite good and wasn't too expensive. My question is around Mystcraft. I have been reading up on how it can effect server lag, as far as i know, the ages are not loaded but i wanted to check if they can still have an effect on server performance, as i notice that after a day the server is sat at 120% ram usage. Obviously this effects the games performance.

So I'd appreciate if someone could fill me in a little on how Mystcraft works, with regard to server management (or point me in the direction of some support files) and the best ways to diagnose what is going on with your server when its running Minecraft.

I'm running Monster 1.0.9 with 2gb ram.

Thanks,
DL

 

[Francis Baster]

Hi there,

I just chatted with Nitrous Networks, and found out they offer shared hosting with multiple Minecraft servers running on the same machine. Sadly this means you don't have root access which makes resource monitoring more difficult.

In my experience the main cause of lag with Mystcraft is a result of the high hard drive bandwidth utilisation while exploring new chunks. This can be seen when CPU and memory are both freely available, yet the server still locks up and doesn't respond for short periods. This problem can occur in any dimension, but is most noticable when a Mystcraft age is first created, as a lot of chunks are generated during the age's creation. Dedicated servers usually have plenty of hard drive bandwidth available, but VPS and shared hosting can strain this resource.

As you have observed, when the ages are empty of players and chunkloaders they will simply be unloaded from the server where they do not consume any of your resources, apart from hard disk space. The real CPU and memory load on your server comes from the number of loaded chunks and the number of tile entities inside those loaded chunks. These figures can be monitored using certain mods, my favourite is aPerf, currently maintained by Legobear. You can download it here and it will give you information on how many chunks are loaded in each dimension, how many entities (mobs / dropped items) are currently loaded, and how many tile entities (machines) are currently loaded. It also has other fantastic features, such as a strict item-grouper which eliminates lag from item overflows, a mob spawn rule system, which can cap the number of mobs that spawners can produce, and an entity removal system with complex filter options which is great for removing overflowed items or mobs which can cause crippling lag. You can also view a list of all current chunk loading tickets, which is great for keeping tabs on just how many chunk loaders are present.

Good luck with server administration! You'll be a troubleshooting pro in no time.

 

[SonOfEnyalius]

DisputedLeader,

Monster is a very resource heavy modpack. When slowpoke did a twitch broadcast revealing the modpack he stated that even "small" servers should have at least 4GB of RAM, so if you are running into performance issues I would recommend upgrading a bit.

For diagnosing server performance issues I recommend familiarizing yourself with Opis. It is such an amazing tool for server admins.

Best of luck! If you have more questions or need any assistance feel free to PM me.

-SoE

 

[Connor Gavitt]

I'm not sure how 120% of ram can be used since you have 2GB which is 100%. Anyway, RAM does Not affect performance unless you are at 95% used+ which the server will start writing it to disc which will lower performance. 6GB ram is no different then 6000GB of ram, in fact say you had 6TB if ram you server will lag more.

To the point, performance is dictated by the CPU mostly and partially the disc. You will want a host using E3CPUs, not i7, and if they use E5 make sure they don't use any E5 CPUs with a clock speed lower then 2.8ghz, clock sped is not everything but with single core applications like minecraft it matters. You canc get accurate info on processors on ark.intel.com

 

[Francis Baster]

I'm not sure how 120% of ram can be used since you have 2GB which is 100%. Anyway, RAM does Not affect performance unless you are at 95% used+ which the server will start writing it to disc which will lower performance. 6GB ram is no different then 6000GB of ram, in fact say you had 6TB if ram you server will lag more.

To the point, performance is dictated by the CPU mostly and partially the disc. You will want a host using E3CPUs, not i7, and if they use E5 make sure they don't use any E5 CPUs with a clock speed lower then 2.8ghz, clock sped is not everything but with single core applications like minecraft it matters. You canc get accurate info on processors on ark.intel.com

What do you find inferior about the i7?

 

[Connor Gavitt]

What do you find inferior about the i7?

Well it's a desktop processor, that's just a general statement though. The main issues I have are the lower caches in general of almost 30-50% and less then half the bandwidth of most server processors and the fact desktop processors are not designed to be running 24/7/365 and get hotter in some cases limiting lifetime.

However there are a few desktop processors which are very similar to server processors, ARK even marks them as "high end desktop processors" like the i7 3930k overclocked to 4.38ghz which is what I have. Most hosts that use i7 processors that I have seen use crap 3770ks etc, those are not designed to run a server, great for your computer but they will last not nearly as long in a server. Clock speed is not everything, ex is the E7 series they have 1ghz-3.4ghz yet totally dominate multicore competitions and can be online for months at. A time or even years without a performance degrade.

 

[Francis Baster]

Well it's a desktop processor, that's just a general statement though. The main issues I have are the lower caches in general of almost 30-50% and less then half the bandwidth of most server processors and the fact desktop processors are not designed to be running 24/7/365 and get hotter in some cases limiting lifetime.

However there are a few desktop processors which are very similar to server processors, ARK even marks them as "high end desktop processors" like the i7 3930k overclocked to 4.38ghz which is what I have. Most hosts that use i7 processors that I have seen use crap 3770ks etc, those are not designed to run a server, great for your computer but they will last not nearly as long in a server. Clock speed is not everything, ex is the E7 series they have 1ghz-3.4ghz yet totally dominate multicore competitions and can be online for months at. A time or even years without a performance degrade.

I see, thanks for the insight.