Couple of linux questions

[Yashri]

Hey guys,

New to the forum, hope to gain some good knowledge to run my servers. I have one box right now in chicago that I am using linux with, centos 5 64 bit. The server specs are:

Dual Quad Core 5410
8 GB RAM
2 x500 GB HDD

I was wondering, if it is ok to run different types of servers on the same box? My org needs cod4 servers, cs:s servers, l4d2 servers and 1.6 servers so is it fine to run them all on the same machine? We only need about ten servers.

Second question is something I learned from a tut on this site, of running servers on a specific core using taskset. When I run two servers on the same core, ie core1. They start to lag once in a while (when in use), fps is also unstable.

I used BehaartesEtwas' tutorial and I am running the kernel he has listed, but when I run say two cs:s servers on 1000 fps on the same core, they do not have stable fps and lag when one of them go in use (players inside).

So I was wondering what I should do to gain a lag-free environment where I can run servers on the same core and have stable fps? Perhaps switch a kernel? Or something else? Any help would be appreciated!

[Ronny]

http://forums.srcds.com/viewtopic/12891

[Yashri]

I'm using a different distro though, so won't that yield different results? Nor does that address the taskset issue

[Ronny]

Are the fps only unstable when 2 gs are running on the same core? I experienced the same issues with only 1 gs running at all. With more than 5 players the fps will drop sometimes.

After hours of testing I wasn't able to see huge differences between RT kernels or non rt-ones, taskset, chrt "optimization" at all.

Also the distro shouldn't make any difference.

I think we just have to live with the buggy engine as it seems that only external libs can fix the fps drops but I do know if these libs really fix anything or just lie to the engine.

Btw, generally it is not a good idea to run different gameservers on one machine.

[Yashri]

I see, FPS only becomes unstable when running two on the same core, it just becomes unplayable.

[fluke1]

dont use taskset, let the scheduler do its job, it's better.

[BloodAngel]

IMO taskset is better, have you got a script to set the nice values and priority values of the srcds's?

Also have you tried idlers?

[Yashri]

Yep tried both. So if I don't use taskset, won't all the servers just be on the first core?

[fluke1]

(11-23-2009, 10:53 AM)Yashri Wrote:  Yep tried both. So if I don't use taskset, won't all the servers just be on the first core?

no. by default the process gets assigned to all cpu's and the linux scheduler will balance the load evenly among all of the available cores

this is why i say taskset is bad

lets say you've got a dual-core box with 2 cpu cores. 4 game servers on the box total.

game servers 1 & 2 assigned to cpu0
game servers 3 & 4 assigned to cpu1

now lets say game servers 1 & 2 become active with players, but 3 & 4 are not active with players. this means cpu0 is now 60-70% used while cpu1 is near 0% used... very dumb and bad use of resources if you ask me.

now if you did not assign the cpu affinity with taskset, the linux scheduler would balance that load so both cpu0 and cpu1 were at near equal levels of cpu usage, rather than load all of the cpu on cpu0 if you used taskset.

its all preference really, but that is why i dont use taskset

[BehaartesEtwas]

in my experience, assigning the servers to different cores does *not* prevent the fps from getting unstable.