Starting a new server

[solidmoose]

Hey guys. Ive been thinking of starting my own Minecraft server (on FTB Ultimate Pack) for about 5 friends and myself. Ive decided to try a hosted server, as opposed to hosting it myself. My only problems are deciding on a hosting service and a payment plan.

I cant tell how much RAM the server would need. For example, lets say there are like 10 chunk loaders running at all times and maybe 4 64x64 quarries, along with like 20 of those advanced machines like industrial centrifuges and the like. Ive checked multiple hosting sites, including creeperhost, but I just cant decide on what a good RAM usage would be. Also I dont know which are the recommended hosting sites. I would really appreciate it if you guys could give me some insight on the subject. thanks

 

[Cieronph]

On sites like creeper host it normally recommends how many people the server should be able to handle, if you have more questions about it then i suggest you send them a support ticket, they know the most about their systems and they can answer this question better than anyone. Personally i would recommend going with what they say they are usually right & if it turns out you are having problems its really simple with most company's to upgrade

 

[DZCreeper]

Most hosts will try and sell you memory as the thing that needs upgrade when your server has any type of lag or issue. This is sometimes the cause, but more often it is client side FPS lag, server CPU usage, server network usage or server SSD usage. So make sure your clients are running decent machines before contacting the host about any future problems. When picking a host, make sure they offer at least 100 mbps up and down. Each client will use about 1 - 5. If it is measured in Mbps, that is a megabyte, which is 8 megabits or mb. Notice the difference in capitalization.

The next 2 issues are often caused by extreme usage of chunk loaders or item spills. I consider extreme usage to be more than 8 chunk loaders per player, some servers limit this to 3, but I consider 4 to be acceptable, clients like to build things apart to improve FPS. Quarries are not lag inducing by the way they work, but the fact that they are very large chunk loaders. A 64x64 quarry loads 25 chunks, so make sure quarries count when telling them the chunk loader limits. And yes, make sure you have an SSD. Its much faster for servers, no arguement. By much faster I mean knock your fucking socks off fast, HDD's seem like antiques in comparison.

As for RAM usage, I have found most people suggest giving players between 0.5 - 1 gig. Your server also has an OS and other needs, so make sure to leave at least 1, likely 2 gigs for things like the OS and chunk loaders which count as small players. I would say 4 chunk loaders = 1 real player.

Assuming 3 people are on your server at the same time, I would suggest starting with 3 gigs, and going up as needed, which most hosts will do happily, your spending more money after all .

 

[UnionCraft]

I tend to agree, many hosting companies will state you need more ram than is necessary, as they generally price based on ram usage. However due to experience I would say a server with around 3-4GBs would be sufficient for what your looking for.
While we are no longer with our old host as we moved onto our very own dedicated machine, I would recommend http://servercrafters.ca/ Thier pricing is way better than creeperhost, they charge £25 for a 4 gig server without SSD, while Server crafters charge £15 with SSD. I can vouch for their uptime on the multicraft admin panel they use, we never had any downtime on that panel which is easy to use and quick to install FTB Ultimate.