Dimensioning server hardware and online hosting for a game server.

[Horizon]

Hi all,

I'm trying to figure out how to choose hardware and best hosting site for a web game server. The server is for hosting games with a Apache,PHP, and Mysql backend, serving a Flash frontend.

The problem is I don't have any experience in the subject.

How can i estimate the needed Hardware?

How can i estimate the needed bandwitch?

How can i choose the best location for the hosting knowing the target audience for the games?

Not having experience is it best to have server management (security, updates, backups) by the hosting site?

Can someone please give me some pointers?

Thank you.

[The Spirit]

Contact http://www.w3theory.com Im sure they could help you out and ask any questions.

[a_bertrand]

The hardware needed depends on how much server resources your service will be hungry. For example, if it is mainly static content, basically content which doesn't change between the calls (images, flash, and whatever), then it will be more a question of bandwidth than CPU and hard-drive speed. On the other side, if th content is generated and not cached on every request, then you may need a good CPU / HDD as well.

For the bandwidth it all depends how big your content is, and how many times it will be transfered. For example you have 1 big page (tons of video, music or whatever) but you have only 1 request per day, then even a slow connection / small bandwidth will do the trick. On the other side if it is called mil. times per day, then you will need a bigger bandwidth.

To resume it, you will need to guess how many users per month / day you will have.

For the location, you have 2 things to think about. If you are an EU citizen and place your server in the US, you are under the US laws. So in case somebody sue you, it will be done in the US. Also US laws are quiet different that the EU one. The second thing is how good is the link between the chosen hosting location to the target audience.

For the system administration, if you never have done it, you will have a real hard time to start with. There is no easy tutorials for installing, applying patches, keep your system up to date and make backups. This is really something which require a lot of knowledge and the only way to start is to install a Linux box somewhere (for example a virtual machine) and check the things. Yet be warned that Linux doesn't mean you are safe. Actually, if you don't apply the right patch at the right time or if you have all the port open you may risk to be hacked, which means somebody else will take control of your server and maybe do illegal activities with it. So if you never have done it before, I would strongly suggest to do not host your site by yourself, and instead pay somebody to host it.

[rulerofzu]

Really all comes down to budget.

Your options are really as follows:

Shared hosting...will it be good enough if you take on too many users you will normally be asked to leave in which case

VPS - next best thing to a dedicated server and usually comes with more support.

Dedicated Server - Going dedicated would be a tough call for you as you have no experience. Managed dedicated servers could be an option but you have to pay a premium.

VPS I would say could be a good option for you. Burstable, Has a higher CPU/RAM usage allowance. Plus it give you the benefits of a Dedicated feel so you could get some experience using admin systems just in case in the future your requirements change and need to move to a dedicated server.

Further to what Alain stated. You need to think about where your players will be. Mainly US based then where in the US? East/West Coast or general or mainly European?

Main reason for this is the connection to your site and response back to the player. If your player is in Europe and site is hosted in West Coast US then you have to bear in mind the site will be fractionally or sometimes a great deal slower to use. Your travelling across the atlantic and then across various hubs in the USA before reaching the server and then back again.

The difference is generally between 30ms > 70ms (local server) and 130+ms (non local). So if ping response time is something you need to consider then keeping it local is beneficial. Also the more hops you have to go through to reach the site then the more chance you get problems such as work on one of the hubs.

If your expecting players from everywhere then you could look into cluster database configs or geoIP redirection to a local server.

When chosing servers when I ran my webhosting company I also looked at what bandwidth providers they had available as this makes a huge difference. Multihomed premium bandwith is much much quicker than cheaper providers generally due to the amount of hops involved. Also internal infrastructure is vital to ensure uptime.