How strong does a VPS need to be?

Discussion in 'Bukkit Discussion' started by izver, Sep 14, 2011.

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  1. Offline

    izver

    Hi! I am trying to start my own minecraft server. I expect to have ~50 users at peaks in the start. (I have about 30 people confirmed, so 50 is reasonable)

    My question to you is, how strong does a bought VPS need to be or can I even host such a server on a PC?

    I have been looking at some VPS hosting services in my country and they sell me this for 20€:
    • 10 GB disk space
    • 384 MB memory
    • unlimited data transfer
    • 100Mbit connection
    Now I know this appears to be little enough memory, but this is a VPS dedicated only for minecraft.

    I have also checked some other VPS providers, they offer:
    160GB Storage
    3,000GB Monthly Traffic
    1.6GHz Pentium E
    2GB RAM

    for 69€.

    I am not sure whether this is a rip-off or not, so I came here. What hardware are you using, and how many people do you have?


    Cheers!
     
  2. Offline

    strontkever

    get a dedicated server, even 2gb can run around only 10-15 players
     
  3. Offline

    Brain

    I would consider this a rip-off since you can get a dedicated machine with better hardware for 49 Eurons a month.
    -> http://www.hetzner.de/en/hosting/produktmatrix/rootserver-produktmatrix-eq

    Then again, who knows what other services this VPS provider offers. Perhaps automated backups or failover or whatever.
     
  4. Offline

    Ranzdo

    I had a VPS once for websites purpose and I tried to run minecraft server on it. It had 1gb RAM and 1,6GHz but it lagged like hell.

    VPS is not really suited for running servers since you share the same CPU with many other users on the same server.

    That is my experience anyway...
     
  5. Offline

    Nathan C

    Yep, you used to be able to use VPSs, but times have changed. Minecraft servers require a lot more CPU power now, which low end VPSs can't provide.

    And no OP, that won't hold close to 50 or 30.
     
  6. Offline

    FunCraft

    i host my minecraft server with 2 gigabytes RAM(1 gigabyte allocated to the server),2.2 GHZ AMD 64 x2,an old IDE 320 G HDD & 80 G IDE HDD with 50 mb/s internet speed and i can run up to 20 players without no lag(just for users in america,they have a little lag cause i'm in europe,romania)
    i didn't try increasing the number of players but i'm sure that i can handle 30 players with little amount of lag...
    if you have a decent gaming PC you could also host a minecraft server
     
  7. Offline

    Claryn

    40-50 if good processor.

    A dedicated server is what you need. You should basicly be looking at RAM. CPU and such is important aswell, but RAM got alot to say when you are to host a minecraft server.
    1,5GB Shouldn't cost more then 35$

    As for a dedicated host, i'd really recommend beastnode.com
    VERY fast and good customer support. Their hardware is awesome, so it runs even more then the plans says. They are also cheap :)
     
  8. Offline

    erdrickk

    Beastnode looks like VPS to me
     
  9. Offline

    Claryn

    Beastnode got VPS' aswell, but also dedicated Minecraft servers :)
     
  10. Offline

    erdrickk

    It does? I don't see the plans on their website. All it talks about are the Minecraft hosting features and all that stuff is VPS

    If you want a real host - go with Nuclear Fallout - These do actual deticated servers but they aren't cheap - about $240 per Month for a beast of a machine with 16 gigs of Memory

    http://www.nfoservers.com/

    EDIT by Moderator: merged posts, please use the edit button instead of double posting.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 19, 2016
  11. I use a VPS with 2 x 2.4ghz and 1.5GB of RAM. It work pretty well for the 8-10 users that are on most of the time. I use BigBrother & WorldGuard, among other plugins.

    For those based in (or near) The Netherlands I highly recommend Tilaa. Price/performance is excellent.
     
  12. Offline

    Claryn

    Yes they are all run on dedicated servers.
     
  13. Offline

    erdrickk

    lol What? Every Host has Dedicated servers for Minecraft but that doesn't mean you get a box for yourself.... BeastNode is VPS meaning there are multiple Minecraft servers running off of one box. If you want an actual Dedicated server - One Box for yourself then you are going to pay $150 - $240 per Month.... Otherwise its VPS VPS VPS
     
  14. Offline

    heavy1metal

    Honestly, I would host it from home, get your name known and a player base, and when needed switch to a hosted server. Otherwise the first month or two you're just wasting money for a server to hold 1-5 players when probably your PC will do just fine.

    Changing the IP for a name is easy no matter your choice. Dyndns.org or no-ip.com is 2-3 clicks to change the listed IP, or if hosted from your box you can install software to do this for you (some routers even support this). If you pay for a domain, name-cheap.com also supports dynamic IP updating.

     
  15. Offline

    phaed

  16. Offline

    Robert Pendell

    For the mis-information here. Beastnode is not running VPS for their servers. It's a shared environment meaning all minecraft servers are sharing the same ram pool (all 24GB by their spec). Now then all servers are also limited in the ram that each one can use but this is controlled via -Xmx when starting the server. For those that don't know what VPS or dedicated really is here is my brief definition.

    Shared = A setup that is split among all users running on the same OS installation. It is possible for a person to bring down the whole OS. When that happens all clients are affected on that server.

    VPS = A setup between shared and dedicated. It is a physical machine split into two or more isolated environments. Each environment runs independently of the other and will not affect the server. If one VPS has it's OS crashed the other one keeps going. You will have root access if you are the person renting the VPS because it is it's own OS and there would be minimal restrictions (OpenVZ based VPS doesn't allow time changes or swap).

    Dedicated = A dedicated server all your own. No one else is using the hardware except you.

    If you are running a VPS or Dedicated server you will need to keep in mind OS overhead in regards to the amount of ram needed. A 1.5GB VPS can do 1GB to the minecraft server itself if you do not run anything else. This is basically vanilla minecraft and no other servers. 15 players max... maybe. If you do bukkit and other plugins as well as mysql server the OS overhead goes up and the amount you can give minecraft goes down. Trust me on this. I had issues with a VPS and running out of ram. I actually switched to a shared host (Beastnode) and took a 1.5GB shared plan. Have not had an issue since. I left a 1.5GB VPS OpenVZ based host (ProvisionHost) due to Out of Memory issue not necessarily related to them.
     
  17. Offline

    croxis

    As of 1.7.3 I can run a 15 person server on a 1GB vps on linode.
     
  18. Offline

    dademon

    Just to kick in my own experience - I run a 25 slot on a burst.net resold VPS - it's dual core 4ghz 4.0GB ram with 4gb burst. The lag is subjective, most people get none, some people experience slight lag, but that's dependant entirely on the client to server communication. However, I do run about 45 plugins, quite a few that eat up the resources. The VPS I pay for is about $45 a month.
     
  19. Offline

    Digital_God

    Before we talk VPS:
    Rule 1: Keep plugins to a low and run the server on actual preset essentials and permissions.
    Rule 2: Before messing with VPS, allow your "Run.exe" file to withstand at LEAST 5 Gigs of ram by opening on a text file and following the Noob Guide for installing Bukkit servers on this site when you download BukkitCraft.
    Rule 3: If you are running more than 1 world in the server, there is this one plugin... (Forgot the name), allows you to set priority to your worlds; as in... Like setting a designated amount of RAM to each world.
    So the set-up would be, something like mine:

    5 worlds:
    - Grief World/ Noob World: .5gigs.
    - Creative World: 2gig
    - Event World: 2gig
    - Sky Lands: 2gig
    - Nether: 2gig's+ IF YOU HAVE GHASTS ON: you will need ALOT more.

    On a side note, most people don't realize that unlike SP, SMP takes up 2-3 times the amount of ram usually needed. This is mostly applicable for just regular players.

    ***Now, as far as VPS goes, I didn't see any RAM specs on it... or maybe it was worded differently... idk. But for RAM I suggest getting one that can hold up to AT LEAST 5gigs. For DL speed and UL speed, something around 15mbps would be nice. Personally my own setting are 10gigs/10mbps, with some other "ok" specs.

    Just as an example, with 10 people online I can manage to blow up 150k-300k TNT without crashing server AND/OR kicking all players. I can also do a large area world edit that can reach up to around 1mil without crashing server. This doesn't mean I have a badass computer, in fact I run off a 5 gigs ram laptop... It just means I don't spam useless perms/plugins/mods in my server.
     
  20. Offline

    sukosevato

    You should get them to put i7 2600k's in there. So you can give them a overclock to 4-4.5 Ghz

    Should make the lagg less. Any i7 2600k can do this. Or are you running out of memory and is that causing the lag? It could also be your HDD that can't keep up with the I/O load. You should get your server loaded with 115 people and see what your CPU is like. If it has plenty to spare on the care minecraft runs on and you still have ram left you should consider a ramdisk or a SSD. otherwise overclock the CPU / put more memory in it.

    To the op. for 30-50 people. I'd make sure you got a rather fast cpu. Everything they offer you now is a rip off. I'd try to go for something with 4 GB of ram and a fast CPU.
     
  21. Offline

    obscurehero

    With 1.8 the jury is still out.

    C2D 3.4 GhZ
    2 GB DDR2
    50mb/s

    at viewdistance of 8 gives me about 20 players with little lag. Its fairly taxing...taking up around 20% of thread time on average in 1.7_3. The new 1.8 seems to take more processor speed the orb bug (fixed) notwithstanding.
     
  22. Offline

    Rayden

    Considering I have a similar setup for only €12 per month... I'd say it's rather expensive...
     
  23. Offline

    phaed

    Have all the worlds on ramdisks. So that's not a factor. Can't really ask a dedicated server provider to overclock their CPUs either.
     
  24. Offline

    sukosevato

    For 150 dollar / month you should be able to imo. Especially since its a dedicated rig, not a VPS.

    I my self have a i5 2500k with 16 GB ram as well. And bought all this for +- 500 euro. And it runs on a home connection of 100/100 mbit fiber. Costs me about 10 euro / month to keep it up. So say you rent your server for a full year, that's 1500 dolar. Hell, that's quite a lot of profit if you remove the bandwidth costs. If you ask nicely they will surely consider overclocking it. Especially since its so easy with Sandy Bridge. You change the multiplier from x37 to x45 or so. And then adjust the cpu voltage and do a couple of stress tests to see how much voltage it needs to be stable. That's all there is too. If you pay that much you should be allowed to do so imo. I should change to a server with 1 i7 2600k overclocked vs 2 i7 2600's. Because that's 8 cores where from minecraft will use like 2 max. You're better off with a single i7 2600k highly overclocked.
     
  25. Offline

    phaed

    Actually, if you are looking for performance, you wouldn't be editing any "Run.exe". You would be running on linux.
     
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  26. Offline

    Jobsti

    Look:
    http://forums.bukkit.org/threads/so...ons-and-experiences-about-your-servers.27647/

    Summary:

    Serverspecs:
    Athlon II X4, 2,8gHz, 16gb Ram, ESXI (Boot from USB Stick) Server with some VMs.
    Debian VM only for MC: 8GB Ram, own HDD (hardware-raid 1) and full cpu. MC-Server start with 4096 (8gb max)per cfg and a maximum of 14 players.

    I noticed some stats the last days with CB#1000 and 49 Plugins, 4 Worlds. (interesting? I can list it. INFO: mcmmo uses >500Mb ram):
    CB-Server uptime: ~3h,
    user online: 8
    Java uses ~2,1gb Ram.
    CPU-usage: 20-35%, user-teleport in unloaded chunks, a short peak at 90%,
    average Traffic: <100 kb/s. A peak from ~300-600kb/s on teleport.

    Empty Server after 3h uptime:
    Java uses ~1,9gb Ram.
    CPU-usage: 5-12%

    Empty Server directly after a restart:
    Java uses ~1,2gb Ram.
    CPU-usage: 5-12%

    Empty Server directly after a restart, I'm loggin in:
    Java uses ~1,3gb Ram.
    CPU: short peak at 50%. then average CPU-usage between 10-22%.
    20 seconds, the upload is at 100kb/s, after that, average traffic between 7-10kb/s (No user-movement)

    Update:
    Vanilla 1.8 Server today, 14 Users online, max 2gb ram per config:
    <50% CPU load, uses ~2gb ram (After 4h), 14 user online, traffic ~400 kb/s.
    Users reporting no Lag.

    4 from 14 online ppl exploring the world in 4 directions by flying: 100% CPU load and lag ;)

    I would say for 30-50 ppl:
    ~ DualCore or Multi-CPU(Server-CPU) >2,6ghz, 4-8gb ram (according to your Plugins), ~10gb Space (for backups), ~10Mbit Upload.
     
  27. Offline

    Digital_God

    Roflz, Linux is mostly know for its viral protection not performance, ALTHOUGH it does have good performance :D

    If you want performance, I would make my own personalized comp; oh, and if you do this: don't be like all the hardware illiterate nerds out there thinking HIGHER DETAIL IS BETTER *coughs* WoW *coughs*, you need something to sustain all that "BANG".

    Truthfully, depends on 2 things, your computer processing speed and the speed of your internet/bandwidth; and/or if your internet provider has a filter. For example: AT&T has filters so it gives some delayed response to activity; although it goes as a straight-flow streaming after passing the filter.
     
  28. Offline

    sukosevato

    Now its my turn to Rofl. You have no clue. Linux IS known for good server performance. It essentially only does absolutely that what is necessary. You can find linux operating systems that use as little as 30-40 MB of memory.

    When you have a server you want as much performance from the hardware you have as possible. You don't care about a ton of stuff you can do with your system. It only needs to do that what you want it to do. No more, no less. Linux comes in play perfectly here. You can choose a distro that fits your needs best or choose one which has nothing installed and then compile it anyway you like.

    You are right that it depends on mainly 2 things, the performance the computer delivers and how good your internet is.
    But the amount of performance your computer delivers changes a lot. Ever heard about drivers? Sometimes there are driver updates where performance gains of as much as 100% are made.

    http://www.geeks3d.com/20110617/tes...gl-tessellation-with-recent-catalyst-drivers/

    So you can say all you want about all it comes down to is the performance of the computer, but that's just bullshit. Sure it has the largest impact. But drivers and the right operating system has a huge impact as well.

    Otherwise I suggest you go run your server on windows vista 32 bit or something. I'm sure it'll run perfectly if you pair it up to a i7 2600k @ 5.0 Ghz and 16 GB of ram.
     
  29. Offline

    EniGmA1987

    lol. Or if you use proper server config instead of the default everyone uses then you can get 40 people to fit in less than 1GB with better performance than your 2GB+ server. Just because some servers use more than 2 gigs of memory doesnt mean all of them do





    How powerful of a VPS do you need? At least a quad core, MC runs so much better on a quad. Speed should be somewhere at or above 2.5GHz, the higher the better. at least 1GB of RAM, preferably 2GB so you have room to grow in the world and player base and use whatever plugins you want. 5GB of HDD space for the main server and a couple backups. And then tune your server because default config sucks.
     
  30. Offline

    urbn

    Safe bet is about 2 gigs for every 10 concurrent players. I have 2 dedicated servers (1 live server, 1 for testing) both of which have 4 gigs memory and even with 4 gigs with 5 people on at times lag can occur.

    The 2 main servers I played on had roughly 40 to 50 concurrent connections and that server had 16 gigs ram and was a dual xeon which still suffered from lag from time to time.


    If you're really expecting to have 40 people on all the time (pretty sure you wont regardless of what you think) assume you will be spending 250 to 450 a month for zero lag.
     
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