Game server hosting in ESXi?

[brad1150]

I've been searching high and low for advice on hosting game servers as virtual machines on ESXi. I've found 2 posts in the archives that are similar, but neither came to a helpful conclusion. I'm attempting to host a Minecraft server, and possibly a Counter-Strike: Source server. The server itself is 2x dual core AMD Opterons, 8gb RAM, 300gb SCSI HD, so it should be able to handle at least one of those. When I try to play on my Minecraft server, I get tons of latency and other network related problems. So that's all I can think of to put in as a first post. I'll provide any other information you need if I forgot to put it in here. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated, as I have been trying to get this to work for a couple weeks.

[Chilly201110141]

Take a look at this Intel paper about virtualizing game servers in ESX 3.5

turtlepocwpepi.pdf (application/pdf Object)

turtlepocwpepi.pdf (application/pdf Object)

[brad1150]

That doesn''t really help much. I don't have VMDq enabled NIC cards, so that was mostly irrelevant. Everything else I'm already doing. I saw in a thread from about 5 years ago where the OP had pretty much the same problem. There was a lot of talk about a host kernel clock or something. Here is a quote from the thread:

ksc wrote:

I recall the short version being roughly, make sure you've set the host hz higher than the guest hz.  Very roughly, if a guest is configured at 1000hz, vmware will try to get clocks from the host at ~1020hz (or some approximation thereof).  Handling cases where the guest timer is higher-resolution than the host has ALWAYS been a problem for vmware, because it's dependent on what hardware the host provides (wrong hardware = host kernel busy waits = performance dies OR host kernel waits too long = choppy behavior).

turtlepocwpepi.pdf (application/pdf Object)

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/49739

But I really don't understand most of what he's talking about here or what do to with it.

[Chilly201110141]

He's referring to the kernel timer frequency, for most game servers the default is 100hz, which is fine, and I suspect 100hz is somewhere near the default hz for most OS kernels as well as esxi, but that's merely a guess.

I'm trying to find some more information on what esxi's kernel timer frequency is, and what settings are available. If I find anything, I'll report in.

[EDIT] Also, upon further research, it seems Minecraft Server uses java, follow the best practises for java app: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&externalId=1008480

[jasoncllsystems]

I just would like to share with you that my customer hosted their online game servers with 4 unit of Dell PE R900 ESXi 4.1, 256G RAM, 4 x Quad Core CPU and almost  40:1 ratio.

[brad1150]

So the Minecraft server should work following those Java guidelines, and anything else should work without any further tuning? I'm trying to assign helpful answers, but I keep getting an error page. Sorry guys.

[m1k30rz]

I am running ESXI with a 2008 R2 server hosting Minecraft and it works perfectly, machine is only Dual core with 3gb ram too :smileyhappy:

[brad1150]

Awesome! I just set up a fresh Ubuntu server VM to host the server, just to make sure there's not anything else hogging resources. I'm installing java right  now, and I should have the Minecraft server running pretty soon. I'll edit this post, or reply to the thread with the results. Thank you all so much for the advice!

[m1k30rz]

That's great news, would be keen to hear how it runs on Ubuntu, I'm using Windows at the moment but might change over to Ubuntu :smileyhappy:

[Chilly201110141]

Yes, the Minecraft server *should* work so long as you follow the java guidelines. As for most other game servers, as long as you leave the "hz"(sometimes called "fps") to the default value(usually 100) they should work quite well without further tuning.

[brad1150]

I got the Minecraft server up with only a little trouble. Now I'm just waiting to a friend of mine to get online so we can test it out. I'm on the same LAN as the server, so it wouldn't really tell me how well it's running if I tested it myself. You guys have been so helpful, and quick with replies!

EDIT: We tried to test it out, but my friend cannot connect. The Windows server, running the same .jar program, runs really choppy (as usual), but he can at least connect. That rules out a firewall problem. I might have to go to a different community to figure this one out.

EDIT2: Alright, i finally got it up and running. I spent hours troubleshooting why no one could connect to the server, and ended up finding out that, even though I changed the NAT port forwarding rules in my firewall, it did not update the actual firewall rules. FYI if you are using pfSense, double check your Rules.

[ChrisDearden]

I deployed a few HL2 Servers when I had some cloud service to test - as you say if you get the network ports right , they are very low utilisation.

[pgoggins]

The problem with a Counter-Strike VM is your hitbox lag without a high-precision timer (Which currently doesn't exist). With some modifications to your OS you might be able to get close to 512FPS but you'll never get the 1000FPS+ which is wanted for ladder play.

[Chilly201110141]

I had a feeling this might come up, I did make a comment orginally in my post about this, but removed it before I posted. I didn't want to bring the argument up as it had nothing to do with his issues.

Read whitepapers such as the Intel one, emails from devs themselves of the multiplayer code of the source engine, etc etc, and you'll find that its a placebo effect. Hell, Intel used pro gamers in its virtualization tests(CS 1.6 was used in the tests), and no one found ANY difference.

As you said, its wanted for ladder play, and that is true, but its not needed. The ONLY time this issue would effect anyone is if your a game server reseller, as, placebo effect or not, most people(ladder players especially) out there are willing to pay extra for for 1000+ "hz"(fps) servers. If I was a reseller, if people are willing to pay extra for snakeoil, I'm not going to argue! :smileylaugh:

I'm not going to delve any deeper into the topic, if you disagree, then lets agree to disagree. The point in the end stands, if your virtualizing game servers, you SHOULD NOT play around too much with your game server "hz"(fps). It will ultimately detremental to the vm's performance.

[pgoggins]

As you said, its wanted for ladder play, and that is true, but its not needed. The ONLY time this issue would effect anyone is if your a game server reseller, as, placebo effect or not, most people(ladder players especially) out there are willing to pay extra for for 1000+ "hz"(fps) servers. If I was a reseller, if people are willing to pay extra for snakeoil, I'm not going to argue! :smileylaugh:

Ditto, I've had many users complaining on about servers bouncing between 500 and 505fps....they will find any reason to blame why they couldn't hold their own. The biggest problems I've seen blamed on VM's had nothing to do with the VM. Typically it has been someone running a laptop with wireless blaming low FPS for why there hits weren't registering while seeing dropped packets between their laptop and wireless router, if they are "really serious" they should always be "plugged in".

[brad1150]

Yeah, this is just going to be a personal server for messing around in. I don't need to worry about any tournaments or pro gaming or anything. Both Minecraft and Garrysmod (a source engine mod) are running fine, thanks to your advice!