Thinking about hosting on my own hardware

[Legacy_DM_Vecna]

               Hey all;

I am looking for any tips or direction. We use a host for our pw but the harware is getting a little long in the tooth. So I am toying with the possibility of hosting this myself. But I have a few questions. I just need to get a better understanding of what that would look like. 

1. Hardware: What level of hardware would I need to host? I don't need a bloodbath of overkill but I don't want to be slow either. I have a two year old Mac Mini laying around that I could re-image but maybe I need to buy something new? I was also considering hosting through a service like Media Temple where I have my website but it looks like you don't get as much for your money, maybe I am wrong.

2. Internet connection speeds. I have the Charter high speed cable that offers 30 down and 4 up. Is this fast enough or would I need higher. 

3. OS - I am thinking I would use Linux but I have never worked with it. Is there a specific version anyone would recommend?

Thanks for any advice.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Zarathustra217]

               1. It really depends on the amount of players you anticipate and the size of your world. You'll not benefit anything from dual or quad cores, but I'd recommend at least a 2 Ghz processor. Any processor should do, but I've personally had best experience with Intel for hosting. For memory. 1 gb to be safe.

2. It really depends mostly on your latencies (aka ping times). The bandwidth usage of NWN is minimal, but if you can give your server priority to your internet connection, that might be a good idea.

3. I'd definitely recommend Ubuntu Server if you are new to linux. That's what we run on too.

Hoping that helps get you started. '>
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Codex85]

               1: I hosted on and old 3GHz P4, and CPU usage rarely exceeded 25%.  RAM usage was generally below 512MB.

2:  It's entirely feasible to host NWN on a plan like that--in fact, I did (and do) on a similar Charter line.  You probably won't see significant lag issues unless something else is hogging bandwidth, or you have many players in a single area.  You could definitely feel it on my setup when 20+ players gathered in one area, but that's fairly rare.

3: If starting from scratch today I'd definitely give some flavor of linux a try.  It's lighter on requirements, and more NWNX plugins are kept up to date for it than Windows.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Codex85, 11 janvier 2012 - 10:25 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Knight_Shield]

               I didnt use linux before 2 years ago ,now use ubuntu server 11.04.Still learning.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_SuperFly_2000]

               Well, this is an old game.

1) I hosted on an ol P2 computer. Up to 15 people with no problems. So really...its not a problem. However I would not use a laptop cause they get warm and Mac....euuwww...

2) I had an xDSL about 1 mbit...worked great.

3) I used windows 2000. I had problems understanding how linux worked. Win2k worked great.

Personally I would however just rent a VPS thingie...
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Knight_Shield]

               Ok here are two excellent Linux VPS(Virtual Private Machine). They have windows also.

I used this one and there was absolutely no lag and very easy to use .This would be my #1 pick.
www.dotblock.com
34.95 month

I would still be there but I'm so tight I squeak so when 123systems.net sent me an email offering me one for $10 a month went there.

EDIT: Also when looking to set up your forum. You can use a free one from a website or if you want to make your own on your  linux server here is an excellent tutorial for setting up phpbb
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Knight_Shield, 19 janvier 2012 - 01:54 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Squatting Monk]

               Be aware that having a server is against Charter's terms and conditions unless you spring for the business package. I've had mine up for over a year now and they haven't said anything, but keep that in mind.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Foxfire Celest]

               Hey Knight Shield.

How easy is it to use www.dotblock.com  compared to 123systems.net ??

Have you previously been able to host a NWN PW using either?
And you mention dotblock had no lag at all, does 123systems have lag?

Thanks in advance, I am paying 60$ a month for a hosting company to host my server and I only get 12 player slots.
However It runs flawlessly, never a complain about speed or anything.
And It is simple enough to use via a webpage administration panel.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Knight_Shield]

               dotblock is a virtual machine just to make sure we understand each other.You will need a program called filelizza to move your files to server.You dont need putty because they provide a vnc(web page panel).I still use putty though.You will need to know how to use linux for the 34.95.Windows is more im sure .They offer free trial so if want to try it let me know I can help some but still new to linux myself.