Server Requirments

[ryetoc]

I know this must have been asked about a million places, but I am trying to run a FTB server (using the direwolf20 mod pack) and I am having a hell of a time finding out "Why it lags?"

So I starting running on a ec2 m1.small instance. Obviously this was fine for installing, and it hosted about 2 people before lagging. This is rather expected so I went to a ec2 m1.medium instance. I personally use about 40 of these instances for hosting other things (not minecraft related) so I know them pretty well, and I know their limitations. I expected them to run FTB with little to no lag, and actually be a bit of overkill for the server. But it's not. It lagged horridly.

Now I am currently running a c1.medium. This is an expensive machine to run. Roughly $140 a month by my math. The server seems to not lag in any noticeable way. However this is about $100 more then I want to spend monthly on this small server setup.

So the question is, what does it take to run a decent lag free-ish FTB server?

Now for me desires

What I want is a server that can run 24/7 and support up to 10 concurrent users. (In my mind this is pretty small, I am used to hundreds of thousands of concurrent users on other platforms).

I don't give a flying **** about tick lag. What I do not want is block place/block destroy/block update lag.

I do use chunkloaders but only admins can place them, and they are all sensible. Either 1-2 chunks, or a line of chunks. There are no huge 10,000 chunk areas loaded to cause massive memory issues (in face memory has been fine even on the m1.small)

I do not want to restrict mods, items, or using items, in any unreasonable way just for server admin stuff the users can't see. For example, I have no problem doing "Don't put 23 chests of items in a BC pipe, thats just bad." I do not want to do "Don't use BC pipes", or "See you made a pipe turn right, that means it takes .02% more cpu so go find all the pipes and make them 3 left turns instead of 1 right turn".

And a final question

I have looked at Creaperhost, but I have no idea how they are going to give me a comparable server experance, with the costs they state, knowing what it's taking on EC2. I assume they have some kind of shared host setup going, but what's the trade off? Will the server stay running 24/7 or is it shutdown when no one is online? What is their lag situation like, blah blah blah? Normal experiences with them questions here...

 

[Dekar]

There are quite a few threads kicking around that talk about hardware and what people are running their servers on.

Modified MC relies a lot on cpu speed as some of the machines and such really need a lot of power to run. Network connection effects playability as well, but most hosted solutions really don't have a network speed issue.

Most likely you were running into issues with cpu speed or cpu availability to your instance, which was causing the issue.

I don't use creeperhost so I can't comment on them, but I have a vps service that is using sandy bridge based xeon cpus, with 2gb of ram and run a modified version of ftb fine with 10 people connected at once.

 

[ryetoc]

I can agree with CPU being the issue, but this is a c1 instance. It's HUGE. It's the same thing that runs netflix, but it's not handling a 10 person FTB server with 4-5 people on it.In my book this means something is wrong. I can't seem to find out what though. The c1 is running at about 60% CPU. the m1 instances ran pegged. Again these would be servers comparable to 3-4 times a single web server running this forum (guessing here).

I am fine with paying someone else to host, I just need to find a decent hosting provider I guess. Creeper host had their chance. They didn't respond to my email request and their sales support staff is only available for 2 hours in the wrong time zone. I would require more then that. Not that I need a lot of actual support but if they can't even be bothered to staff a sales line or answer emails then someone else can get my money. ......Anyway --rant over.

I can not find (maybe my google-fu sucks this week) a way to diagnose CPU issues. I have see somethings for bukkit but not for Mod Forge. Even those seem to only give me a tiny bit of information. Server logs are clean, IOPS are petty compared to what the hosts can do. So it seems to be strictly CPU.

Open to any ideas on trouble shooting or config changes. I have tried most of what I can find online with no results.

Thanks again.

 

[frostmute]

what is the machines actual cpu speed? it might be a "beast" but it is probably bottlenecked at the cpu....

 

[ryetoc]

M1 Small Instance – default++
1.7 GiB memory
1 EC2 Compute Unit (1 virtual core with 1 EC2 Compute Unit)
160 GB instance storage
32-bit or 64-bit platform
I/O Performance: Moderate
EBS-Optimized Available: No
API name: m1.small


High-CPU Medium Instance
1.7 GiB of memory
5 EC2 Compute Units (2 virtual cores with 2.5 EC2 Compute Units each)
350 GB of instance storage
32-bit or 64-bit platform
I/O Performance: Moderate
EBS-Optimized Available: No
API name: c1.medium


Keep in mind that these are AWS servers to their idea of "small" is larger then what most people would have in a corporate data center. Ec2 Compute units are a different measurement then most people are used to but.... a compute unit is about equilivant to a 2.33GHz so 2 CPU with 2.5 each is roughly a dual cpu 6Ghz machine. Of course that's all rounded and not at all that accurate, but it's been a good measure.

The m1.small would be roughly a single core 2.33 GHz xeon processor. The c1.small produces about 4665 BOGOMIPS.

 

[frostmute]

keep in mind this game runs on a single thread, multiple cores and procs are not really adding any thing here...

from my experience, anything less than 3ghz has beed problematic for my servers. even the minecraft client, in ssp, is laggy for me at 2.4ghz.

right now my creeperhost setup is at 3.30 ghz with 3gb of ram... smooth as butter with multiple people on.

 

[ryetoc]

Hmm, well creeper host is the first place I looked, but their sales support just ins't there. I mean 2 hours a day, that's a little silly IMO. I would even be fine with that, if they answered the email. I mean if I can't get a hold of the people that want to take my money what is it going to be like when I need actual help?

Also do they allow apache hosting from the same machine. I would like to host the servers website from the same IP as the server. Not a requirement, but it would be nice.[DOUBLEPOST=1359571128][/DOUBLEPOST]Oh an a single core would be 6Ghz at 2.5 EC2 compute units. I would think that would be plenty. (again totally not accurate in the real world, and I understand that, but it's "close enough")

 

[frostmute]

well.... ec2 is a virtual core..... one ec2 compute unit is equal in cpu capacity to a 1ghz opteron or xeon proc.

you are probably not able to use the full available cpu resources at any given time. cloud procs were never really designed with gaming and the computational requirements that they bring.

i have had great experience with creeper host so far. have had several vps and a dedicated server from them, over the past two years. yes, you can run LAMP on their vps, they basically let you do what you want with your box... however, anything you do to the system outside of their minecraft support becomes your problem, but that is typical of server host companies.

 

[ryetoc]

Hmm, not sure I agree with your EC2 measurements, but it doesn't really matter. the c1.medium is running the host just fine, it's just to expensive for a game. I will give creeperhost a bit longer to answer the email, but again, a sales email is usually the fastest email to get answered, and it's been a couple of days.

Thanks for your responses. I would still like to get a few more responses related to experiences related to creeperhost. I would really like to talk with them, but I guess that just isn't going to happen.

 

[Luke_H]

Hmm, not sure I agree with your EC2 measurements, but it doesn't really matter. the c1.medium is running the host just fine, it's just to expensive for a game. I will give creeperhost a bit longer to answer the email, but again, a sales email is usually the fastest email to get answered, and it's been a couple of days.

Thanks for your responses. I would still like to get a few more responses related to experiences related to creeperhost. I would really like to talk with them, but I guess that just isn't going to happen.

Sales e-mail will get you nowhere ;p open a ticket or pm me on these forums.

 

[hoodster25]

Sales e-mail will get you nowhere ;p open a ticket or pm me on these forums.

oh man, your everywher Luke ;D

 

[krasoft]

I know this must have been asked about a million places, but I am trying to run a FTB server (using the direwolf20 mod pack) and I am having a hell of a time finding out "Why it lags?"

So I starting running on a ec2 m1.small instance. Obviously this was fine for installing, and it hosted about 2 people before lagging. This is rather expected so I went to a ec2 m1.medium instance. I personally use about 40 of these instances for hosting other things (not minecraft related) so I know them pretty well, and I know their limitations. I expected them to run FTB with little to no lag, and actually be a bit of overkill for the server. But it's not. It lagged horridly.

Now I am currently running a c1.medium. This is an expensive machine to run. Roughly $140 a month by my math. The server seems to not lag in any noticeable way. However this is about $100 more then I want to spend monthly on this small server setup.

Hi, I was looking into Amazon EC2, and wanted to know how many people you were running on your small and medium instances? And how was the lag?

I'm currently hosting a server for 3 people (Mindcrack), and my host lagging on us (even with only 2 people online!). So I'm interested to move to a different one ASAP.

Could Amazon EC2 support 5 people on small or medium without lag? Could you just provide a bit of details about your experiences?

I looked up what an EC2 computational unit is from their FAQ:

One EC2 Compute Unit provides the equivalent CPU capacity of a 1.0-1.2 GHz 2007 Opteron or 2007 Xeon processor. This is also the equivalent to an early-2006 1.7 GHz Xeon processor referenced in our original documentation.

Source: http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/faqs/#What_is_an_EC2_Compute_Unit_and_why_did_you_introduce_it

So, it's actually REALLY weak. So I'm not sure it's worth it.

Can I try it out for a few hours and then stop paying without committing to a full month?

 

[ryetoc]

Ok, so my experiences with EC2 and mindcraft are not good.

The c1.medium works quite well for 10. But running full time it's $140 a month. Assuming no other things are running.

The small and the m1.medium were absolutely horrid. It might be my config, but they were only about to support 1-2 players.

That said ec2 is excellent for "On demand" hosting. Start your m1.medium and turn it off when your not playing and you might get away with just $4-$5 a month.


I would not recommend it, because of my problems, but you can certainly try it. No harm in that.

 

[ayeso]

I pay 64/Month from Datashack.net for a I5 2400 3.1Ghz with 8GB ram. So far I've had 25 people online with 20TPS and no block lag. Might want to check them out. use coupon code i5deal10

If you want to checkout how my server runs just join mc.getonmylevel.ca it has no whitelist and runs mindcrack.