Q: D-Server Specs

[FTC_crane]

Dear Server Admins,

we (ACG) are planning to upgrade our campaign server, and we're reaching out to server admins of current popular servers like WOL, C-BOX, TAW to ask if you would be so kind to share your're specs and experience on how to build a stable server for BoX.

 

A couple of specs we're interested in are listed below, but please let us know if we missed anything important:

- CPU Ghz & # of Cores
- RAM size & speed
- Disk size, type & bus
- Native O/S: Linux, Windoze
- VMs required?
- Access methods required; ssh, https, etc
- Latency required
- Uptime SLA
- # of Public interfaces/IPs required
- Pre-installed O/S or user installed/maintained

[Alonzo]

Hello there. I run Combat Box, and we recently attempted to switch hosting so I have some data that might be useful.

 

Both the IL2 game client and server really like single-core speed and fast memory. We are using an 8600K overclocked to 4.8ghz, with 3200mhz RAM. As a comparison, we switched to a datacentre-hosted 9700K with two extra cores, but it only boosted to 4.3ghz and had 2133 'enterprise' RAM. As a result, the 9700K was unable to keep up with our player count and map complexity as compared to the 8600K.

 

The spec that has been successfully running Combat Box with fairly complex maps for 72 players, is:

• 8600K @ 4.8ghz
• 8GB 3200-CAS16 RAM
• Cheap 240gb SSD
• Windows 10 Pro
• Access via Windows remote desktop protocol
• VMs not required, and not recommended (native Windows is best)
• One public IP required with the ability to accept traffic on ports 28000 and 28100, TCP and UDP

If you want to run IL2 stats on the same box (we do) then you need a web server. IIS will work fine as a proxy to Django, which is a Python framework that runs the stats. Ideally you'd use WSGI or FastCGI to host Django a bit more natively, but I never managed to get that to work.

 

The limiting factor for Combat Box right now is the network. It's hosted at my home on fast 150/150 fibre (true fibre all the way to my garage) but because it's 'consumer' internet, at peak times and peak player counts we sometimes see a bit of network lag. That's why we wanted to try the datacentre hosting. We might try a datacentre again in future, but I will make sure to do a lot of investigation about what they can actually offer before proceeding -- the one we tried was advertised as 9700K which should boost to 4.9ghz, and 4.6ghz all-core, but we only ever got 4.3 out of it and they claimed that was the max we could hope for. Unfortunately IL2 needs single-core speed more than anything else, so having 8 cores doesn't help.

 

For reference, the spec that we tried for the datacentre, that I would say (depending on map complexity) will cap out at around 64-72 players, was:

• 9700K boost to 4.3ghz only
• 16GB 2133RAM
• SSD
• Gigabit networking, 150 TB/month traffic cap (Combat Box uses ~4TB per month only)
• One public IP, we did have both IPv4 and IPv6, I believe IL2 uses v4 but it's nice to have both
• IIS as web server
• Let's Encrypt for an HTTPs certificate

If you have simple maps or are willing to accept a lower player limit, something like this would work well. Players definitely noticed the improved networking smoothness over the server in my basement. We still want to find the best of both worlds, but Combat Box has built a reputation on interesting maps with good mechanics, and we're reluctant to lower the fidelity of the maps just to run on a lesser 'datacentre' machine.

 

We have built a ton of server management scripts on top to catch dserver issues. The server can hang or get stuck in weird ways, and we've taught our scripts to catch most of them. If you like I can provide a copy of the server management stuff, it's mostly written in Perl. It might not be what you want, but you could take the code apart and see how we're checking for server hangs and reimplement yourself in the language of your choice. Or if this is a "weekend campaign" server you can probably skip it and just monitor things by hand. We want 24x7 hands-off operation which is why we have all the scripting on top.

[Heckpupper]

Thanks Alonzo, that's a very comprehensive answer that will surely help us find an optimal hosting solution.

[FTC_crane]

Thank you Alonzo - this is much appreciated.

 

To all other server admins, please feel free to further discuss solutions that work and that don't. I believe an open exchange here could improve the game experience for a lot of people.

Edited February 2, 2020 by ACG_crane

[Alonzo]

As an update, Haluter has helped with some CPU tuning and the server host has done a RAM upgrade. Our specs are now:

• 9700K @ 4.6ghz
• 16GB RAM @ 2666Mhz

I've optimized some of our maps and we'll be giving the server another try soon.

 

Tip: Modify TcpTimedWaitDelay if you are running a dserver. Details here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/biztalk/technical-guides/settings-that-can-be-modified-to-improve-network-performance

[FTC_crane]

cheers Alonzo!

[JG4_Deciman]

Hi there

 

As far as I know for servers there is no need of multiple cores as the dserver uses only ONE core
more cores would give the option to use
- 1 core for windows system (recommended)
- further cores for multiple instances of dserver

But the final power of your server always results in the processor SPEED and maybe memory and SSD vs HDD, too...
More speed means more power for missions (more players, AI, ...)
More memory might mean larger missions (not sure about that)

SSD means faster loading (internal)

 

Deci

[Heckpupper]

Thanks for help everyone, we just aquired a new dedicated server an we'll be trying it out soon.

It's an i7 7700K at 4.2 with a 4.5 boost, 16 GB RAM and a 512GB SSD NVMe drive.

 

It's already infinitely better than what we used previously and relatively affordable too. I'll keep you updated on how it performs.

[=NOSIG=Ask]

Hi @ACG_Onebad,

 

Any update on how it performed?

 

I have an old gaming rig I want to host IL-2 on and it's about the same specs as the one you have.

[-DED-Rapidus]

Age of Dogfights

I9 9900K 4800mhz (liquid cooling), 64gb 2666 mhz KINGSTON HyperX Predator (13 CAS) RAM, 512 NVMe SSD, 600mb/s channel.

[Heckpupper]

On 12/31/2020 at 8:06 AM, NOSIGAsk said:

Hi @ACG_Onebad,

 

Any update on how it performed?

 

I have an old gaming rig I want to host IL-2 on and it's about the same specs as the one you have.

 

It's running okay. Our missions are relatively large and complex, so it's running worse than your typical deathmatch server, but we can sustain 70 or so people without any crashes or significant problems. Server overload message does happen a lot though, even when no side effects are visible. 

[=NOSIG=Ask]

Super. Thanks. We're only 12 atm but we'll be adding another 12 shortly.

[muzashi1963]

Sorry for the Necro, but if Alonzo is still willing to share his server scripts:

On 2/2/2020 at 8:35 AM, Alonzo said:

We have built a ton of server management scripts on top to catch dserver issues. The server can hang or get stuck in weird ways, and we've taught our scripts to catch most of them. If you like I can provide a copy of the server management stuff, it's mostly written in Perl. It might not be what you want, but you could take the code apart and see how we're checking for server hangs and reimplement yourself in the language of your choice. Or if this is a "weekend campaign" server you can probably skip it and just monitor things by hand. We want 24x7 hands-off operation which is why we have all the scripting on top.

I would like to have a gander at them.

 

I am based in New Zealand and I have tried joining the Combat Box server, but get kicked after a short time (ping too high), which I understand.

 

Renting one down here is astronomically expensive. (NZ$150 and upwards, and based in Oz, as there are no providers in NZ), so our option is to try run the dserver on some older server boxes we have.

 

I am trying to set up a local server which I can play on with my mates and we are willing to accept lower player numbers because of our restrictions, but would like to optimize as best we can.

 

Any help would be much appreciated.