Help me squeeze the maximum out of my dedicated servers.

[Dekken]

So I have 3 dedicated servers and the specs are:

#1

Code:

Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU 5130 @ 2.00GHz * 4
2GB ram
Currently running 2 servers @ 12slots each

#2 & #3

Code:

Intel(R) Xeon(TM) CPU 3.00GHz *4
2GB ram
Each running 24 slots and 12 slots servers.

Each one is on a 10mbps line.
Using linux.

So basically I would like to run Team Fortress 2 servers on them.
1) How many slots can each server hold?
2) How would I go about optimizing the servers for the best performance and maximum slots?

[byteframe]

(08-08-2011, 06:25 AM)Dekken Wrote:  So I have 3 dedicated servers and the specs are:

#1

Code:

Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU 5130 @ 2.00GHz * 4
2GB ram
Currently running 2 servers @ 12slots each

#2 & #3

Code:

Intel(R) Xeon(TM) CPU 3.00GHz *4
2GB ram
Each running 24 slots and 12 slots servers.

Each one is on a 10mbps line.
Using linux.

So basically I would like to run Team Fortress 2 servers on them.
1) How many slots can each server hold?
2) How would I go about optimizing the servers for the best performance and maximum slots?

Sounds like you're fine (assumming default 300fps and such). I've never been blessed with such hardware, so I wouldn't know what to expect from cpu usage stats, but I'd wager you could probably run more slots/servers. The TF2 client warns about joining 32-slot servers, but maybe there's no real limitation there, and their just recommending it for gameplay reasons, or to cover their butt. :\

[BehaartesEtwas]

#1 is not the fastest cpu, it's a 5 year old 2 GHz cpu. I could imagine it cannot run much larger servers, but maybe you could run 4 of them. but beware, the 4 cores are not real cores, the cpu has 2 cores and each 2 threads (hyperthreading).

the specs of #2 & #3 are not sufficient, there are many different xeons with 3 GHz but with very different performance. can you provide more information (ideally the output of cat /proc/cpuinfo)? I suspect by the notation ("TM" instead of "R" after "Xeon") it is an old netburst cpu, which is very slow. in that case I would assume a 24 slot server will not run smoothly, as #1 would be the faster cpu then.

regarding your second question: see the howto linked in my signature. I recommend a zen kernel with HZ=100 and dynamic ticks. but that probably only works for modern cpus (a netburst cpu is not modern)...

[Dekken]

This is for #1:
http://paste.ubuntu.com/661095/

This is for #2 & #3:
http://paste.ubuntu.com/661096/

And what do you mean by not sufficient? can't they hold at least 4 servers of 24 slots? 1 server on each core?

[Mike]

Oh, they can hold it. If they will lag, that's another question.

[BehaartesEtwas]

(08-09-2011, 12:32 AM)Mike Wrote:  Oh, they can hold it. If they will lag, that's another question.

in fact, that's the same question. you can run srcds on anything that supports sse2, but you will have terrible lags.

as I suspected, the 3 GHz Xeon is a Netburst one. It's basically a Pentium 4 3 GHz. no way you will be able to run servers with an acceptable quality on that machine. sorry.

[Dekken]

So, they wont be able to run 2 24slots each servers on this?

[Mike]

Maybe they will, maybe now. No one knows, you need to try it.

[BehaartesEtwas]

probably not even a single, even with less slots... on the 3 GHz one.

the 2 GHz machine is a different story, I am not sure if it holds 24 slots, but you can try...

[jmomo]

Try setting up a single quickplay server with 24 slots and let people play. See how it goes. You should be able to get traffic on there within a week or so.

Your constraint will be CPU usage. Use "htop -n 1" to watch in high resolution. If your CPU is near 80% or more, then it's too much.

[BehaartesEtwas]

(08-23-2011, 12:37 PM)jmomo Wrote:  Your constraint will be CPU usage. Use "htop -n 1" to watch in high resolution. If your CPU is near 80% or more, then it's too much.

cpu load can be displayed wrong, so I would not look on that. either the server is running smooth or it is not. that's all you need to know...

[Dekken]

I see. well I think we are going to get other servers.
Anyways, what do you guys say about this one?
Intel Core i3-2100, 2 x 3.10 GHz HT.
4GB RAM
100mbps.

How many can I hold on this one?

[Mike]

I'll make a quick guess and say 2 24 slotters per core.

[lol554]

i would actually think that each core would hold 3 x 24 slots with plugins and such.

[BehaartesEtwas]

with those questions you will always get 11 opinions from 10 people ;-) this highly depends on the situation. plugins, bots, certain maps... can decrease performance strongly (but not necessarily). also quality demands are very different. the maximum is always at one server per core. so probably you will have to try it out.