07-11-2009, 07:22 PM
so its been about 6 months now since i put up the L4D (and sometimes TF2) servers. Learned a lot about steam (things i wouldnt wish on anyone) but basically learned how to set up a steam server to just work! And we have had over 3300 different steam IDs on the servers, so they have been a big success. ie Lots of publicity for the clan! And the connection speeds has been as good as the official servers for those in the midwest/west coast. For those of you on the east coast or Europe, not as good. But thats no different from any other server. And valve did a great job of making poor ping connections work well on L4D, as long as the server is set up correctly.
over the months i also had to make lots of adjustments to the server.cfg files (yes, multiples; each instance gets their own customization), but they have been working well the last few months and will likely stay stable for now (every update necessitates a tweak or two, but thats it).
so i figure now is time for a change.
in the next month or so i will be upgrading the server hardware from a 1.6mhz single core, 2gb memory intel box that runs 2 L4D 18 slot (needs 18 for survivor mode) servers or 1 TF2 32 slot server, to a 2.21mhz 4 core AMD 4gb memory system. That should remove the box as the limiting factor (although i suspect the new limiting factor will be dram...) The internet connection was upgraded a month ago to a 50mb/10mb line and is no longer an issue. (for you geeks, the upload speed is the limiting factor on game servers; download is normally less than half upload. Most dsl lines are upload limited to 384kb, cable may be more like 768 or even 1mb. But you need a good 2mb line to run one server due to the peaks during gameplay; if not you will have lag/stalling in the game).
so my plan is this; 3x L4D servers, and 1 TF2 32 slot server, full time. The only issue will be bandwidth used, so i will have to monitor what comcast does, but the 2 L4D ones only use about 100GB a month, and thats with them open pretty much full time. i plan to have 1 L4D server open full time, with 2x being held in reserve for us using the "sv_search_key FoMG" console command. The TF2 server will be open, pending any better suggestions (im open to just about anything on this one), but when it was up before, not that many people used it except when achievement farming.
Plugins:
•for TF2; the offer still stands; you find a plug in you like and i will add it. as long as it doesnt disrupt game play. Currently using simple team balancer, bonus round immunity, anti micspam, radio, advertisements. Im not planning to run the "fake client" plugins like lotusclan uses, that makes it appear there are more users than there really are so people join.
•for L4D; i have to be picky about the plugins since most everything breaks the game play. for now its just plugins to switch players/teams, spawn stuff, and admin immunity from being kicked.
Admin; any member who wants admin can have it, just play in a server and then let me know you want it; you will be added immediately to be allowed access to base commands like kick, etc. Use it correctly and you can get more functions. abuse it and you will be removed. most fec'rs already have admin. you need to use the sm_admin command to call up the menus. not all functions may work based on your admin level.
advertisements (primarily TF2); if anyone wants to send me a file that works with the advertisements plugin i would be happy to run it on the TF2 server.
host/motd files (primarily L4D); if anyone wants to upgrade these, send me web links to the new ones, and i will run them. they have to conform to the valve specs that can be found by a google search. all i want is the web address to the completed files.
sourcebans; this is a program to manage and propogate bans over several servers. i installed this several weeks ago, but it was more trouble using this than just doing it locally. with 4 servers that may change, and if so i will link sourcebans to the servers and publish the address so everyone will have access.
suggestions: im open to anything constructive
mark
over the months i also had to make lots of adjustments to the server.cfg files (yes, multiples; each instance gets their own customization), but they have been working well the last few months and will likely stay stable for now (every update necessitates a tweak or two, but thats it).
so i figure now is time for a change.
in the next month or so i will be upgrading the server hardware from a 1.6mhz single core, 2gb memory intel box that runs 2 L4D 18 slot (needs 18 for survivor mode) servers or 1 TF2 32 slot server, to a 2.21mhz 4 core AMD 4gb memory system. That should remove the box as the limiting factor (although i suspect the new limiting factor will be dram...) The internet connection was upgraded a month ago to a 50mb/10mb line and is no longer an issue. (for you geeks, the upload speed is the limiting factor on game servers; download is normally less than half upload. Most dsl lines are upload limited to 384kb, cable may be more like 768 or even 1mb. But you need a good 2mb line to run one server due to the peaks during gameplay; if not you will have lag/stalling in the game).
so my plan is this; 3x L4D servers, and 1 TF2 32 slot server, full time. The only issue will be bandwidth used, so i will have to monitor what comcast does, but the 2 L4D ones only use about 100GB a month, and thats with them open pretty much full time. i plan to have 1 L4D server open full time, with 2x being held in reserve for us using the "sv_search_key FoMG" console command. The TF2 server will be open, pending any better suggestions (im open to just about anything on this one), but when it was up before, not that many people used it except when achievement farming.
Plugins:
•for TF2; the offer still stands; you find a plug in you like and i will add it. as long as it doesnt disrupt game play. Currently using simple team balancer, bonus round immunity, anti micspam, radio, advertisements. Im not planning to run the "fake client" plugins like lotusclan uses, that makes it appear there are more users than there really are so people join.
•for L4D; i have to be picky about the plugins since most everything breaks the game play. for now its just plugins to switch players/teams, spawn stuff, and admin immunity from being kicked.
Admin; any member who wants admin can have it, just play in a server and then let me know you want it; you will be added immediately to be allowed access to base commands like kick, etc. Use it correctly and you can get more functions. abuse it and you will be removed. most fec'rs already have admin. you need to use the sm_admin command to call up the menus. not all functions may work based on your admin level.
advertisements (primarily TF2); if anyone wants to send me a file that works with the advertisements plugin i would be happy to run it on the TF2 server.
host/motd files (primarily L4D); if anyone wants to upgrade these, send me web links to the new ones, and i will run them. they have to conform to the valve specs that can be found by a google search. all i want is the web address to the completed files.
sourcebans; this is a program to manage and propogate bans over several servers. i installed this several weeks ago, but it was more trouble using this than just doing it locally. with 4 servers that may change, and if so i will link sourcebans to the servers and publish the address so everyone will have access.
suggestions: im open to anything constructive
mark