On 22/02/2012 18:45, Michael Johansen wrote:
VPS? Don't do it man, you're going to have SO much trouble with it. Unstable
FPS, lagspikes (because the CPU is shared, and if some customer uses more CPU,
it's gonna lag) and all sorts of other bullshit you don't want.
To be fair it's 6 of 1 and half a dozen of the other.
If you've got a dedicated server running nothing other than one instance
of a TF2 server, then you're incredibly fortunate and maybe you won't
have to share the cpu.
Otherwise, usually, the machine your server is on, whether it's a VPS
or not, will be shared in some way with other people.
e.g If you google 'tf2 servers' and find one of these '39p a slot!' folk
you will get a TF2 server running on a machine that you share with other
customers of that vendor. If this works then why shouldn't a VPS? OTOH,
if it doesn't work, how are they getting away with it?
That means you share the cpu and all the other resources on the machine,
pretty much whatever option you pick. If you've ever played on Valve's
fra servers at weekends when nigh on every instance is full you'll see
the same downside you are describing. The machines seem to be struggling
to run that many instances. Midweek, or late at night, when most of the
instances are empty, things are much better.
FPS is pretty moot now with TF2. In fact that update made a big
difference to the CPU required ime.
I still wouldn't advise anyone to use a VPS if they either can afford
not to and/or have a working option already and if they just want a TF2
server (as opposed to having a linux box on the internet that you can
use for a number of things, including running TF2) But it's a fallacy to
claim it doesn't work because you're sharing things - most of the
cost-effective ways to run a TF2 server will share machine resources.
The type of virtualisation (openvz, Xen PV etc) in use is probably key
to your experience. My VPS uses Xen PV and other people using the
machine doesn't impact it in the way some virt options can. I think
there's a tendency for VPS purchasers to buy the cheapest option they
can find and then jump ship the moment another cheaper offer appears
(and then act peeved that it isn't like a dedicated server - some of
the people that buy VPS are certifiable). I think many VPS vendors
basically cater to this solely price-focussed business model too. Giving
the whole thing a far worse name than it deserves.
I've run minecraft, TF2 and L4D 2 on it, and it works. If anything hlds
works better because minecraft has ridiculous ram requirements.
But, the price tiers VPS are sold on usually only specify ram, HD space
and bandwidth - and these aren't really the issue for Tf2. They are
quite trivial to get enough of (I don't think I've ever used 10% of the
bandwidth I get allocated per month). CPU is less obvious in most VPS
adverts. /proc/cpuinfo for my VPS suggests it has a 2.66ghz quadcore,
but digging deep in my providers website I found supposedly the tier
level I get gives me equiv of 1.2ghz. Probably not enough. Trouble is to
raise that I'd end up with silly amounts of ram and HD space I wouldn't
use (and a much bigger bill)
So yeah, it's not perfect. But if you've got a VPS then running TF2 on
it does work and it's definitely a fallacy to say "the cpu is shared",
given that this is most likely going to be the case whatever other
alternatives you have - at least similarly priced ones. We can't all
afford one dedicated server per tf2 instance can we?
--
Dan
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