Dedicated Server

[Richard Cranium]

I'm curious about the dedicated server. For D3 most of us use a tool like D3Server to simplify the configuration of our dedicated server and even run the server tool as a service. I understand that Core Decision dedicated server will have a GUI of some sort but I have a few questions.

1. Will the dedicated server be able to run as a service and use the GUI to 'remotely' manage the game server?
2. If the dedicated server doesn’t have the ability to run as a service natively could we still use something like FireDamon to run it unattended?
3. Depending on how much CPU and memory a dedicated server requires will we be able to run more than one dedicated server on the same box?

This would be important to those of who want to support these new games. Some of us don't have physical access to our servers but still need to manage them.

I would be willing to host a dedicated server on my equipment if interested.

RC

[zbriggs]

1. Will the dedicated server be able to run as a service and use the GUI to 'remotely' manage the game server?

The game presently has a dedicated server, a dedicated server is no good without good fault tolerance. So to answer the question about services, Yes it should have an option to run as a service. As for the remote management. You will need a public IP on your system. It doesn't need to be static though. If it is a dynamic IP the game list host will automatically update it's listing, unfortunately when the IP changes everyone will have to reconnect to the server. Most ISP this happens on every dialup or once every week. I know a lot of ISPs though that never really change the IP.

If the server is behind a firewall or a router then a port permission and / or a port forward will need to be set up for both the server and the admin console.

2. If the dedicated server doesn’t have the ability to run as a service natively could we still use something like FireDamon to run it unattended?

You could still use this app if you wanted to.

3. Depending on how much CPU and memory a dedicated server requires will we be able to run more than one dedicated server on the same box?

When launching the servers you will need to specify which port they will use. They should however notice that a server is already launched on a given port and move to the next one. It's just better practice to assign the port.

This would be important to those of who want to support these new games. Some of us don't have physical access to our servers but still need to manage them.

I would be willing to host a dedicated server on my equipment if interested.

RC

The dedicated server license is most likely going to stay free, the same goes for the server application itself. As for the manager, I also want to note that one remote console port should be enough. It should be able to access all the running servers.

Zach

[Richard Cranium]

If the server is behind a firewall or a router then a port permission and / or a port forward will need to be set up for both the server and the admin console.

Do you have a list of ports/protocols that will be used for the defaults? I will need to put in a firewall update request to my provider and would like to have that completed prior to installing the dedicated server.

When launching the servers you will need to specify which port they will use. They should however notice that a server is already launched on a given port and move to the next one. It's just better practice to assign the port.

As for the manager, I also want to note that one remote console port should be enough. It should be able to access all the running servers.

Will the 'remote' manager require its own listen ports to be opened on the firewall or does it use the ports the dedicated server is already open on?

Does the remote manager have the ability to change its default ports as well?

The way I envision the manager is it to have the ability to start and stop a game server(s) on a machine even if the GUI manager isn’t installed on the machine that is running the game server(s). This would require that the GUI manager have the ability to connect to the machine that will run the game server(s) even if no games are currently running. Some small footprint of the manager will have to be installed as a service on the game server in order for the GUI manager to connect to it.

The dedicated server license is most likely going to stay free, the same goes for the server application itself.

This is a very good idea. The server operators will be able to load as many dedicated servers as they can host encouraging people to play with out having to spend lots of extra money to do so. If the Core Decision community has a large enough server base more people will want to join in the game.

I hope this makes sense. I sort of rambled a bit there.

RC

[zbriggs]

Sorry for the delay in response. I will try to respond shortly.

[Richard Cranium]

Sorry for the delay in response. I will try to respond shortly.

No problem. I’m just interested in making sure everything works well for both the players and the server ops. I know that it’s a lot of work and I’m excited to see the finished product.

RC