Hey all.
Turns out I've had an acct here since 2006... No posts, but... :stongue:
Anyway, I have some simple questions about server performance. Specifically, the silly thing lags like hell at times, and I was wondering:
1. What the box setup is, as in how many other games on it.
2. What it would take to improve it... $$ are involved, I'm sure, which is where I'm going.
{PhX}Ice.
Performance
I believe the box is fine. It's only using about 10% processing power to run all of the servers.
From what I hear is that there are several routing problems occurring lately. I'm hoping they'll be resolved soon. Have you traced your routing? Maybe you'll be able to find what's causing lag ;)
From what I hear is that there are several routing problems occurring lately. I'm hoping they'll be resolved soon. Have you traced your routing? Maybe you'll be able to find what's causing lag ;)
The difference between successful people from others is
not in the lack of strength,
not in the lack of knowledge,
but rather in the lack of will.
FFE466
_________________________
{F}{AH}{CivFR}{XC}{U}{DF}{CJ}{SD}
not in the lack of strength,
not in the lack of knowledge,
but rather in the lack of will.
FFE466
_________________________
{F}{AH}{CivFR}{XC}{U}{DF}{CJ}{SD}
Well, it seems way more load related than routing related.
That being said, 2K4 never really works very well at the 32 player max.
But it seems to be time of day and number of players related. My ping drifts up from 60 to 90 or higher.
I would more suspect a network card IO bottleneck. Which would depend on the motherboard, NIC type, etc.
32 players spewing out link gun primary blobs at accelerated rates... On an open map with no fog distance... Every client getting updated with it all...
Heh.
That being said, 2K4 never really works very well at the 32 player max.
But it seems to be time of day and number of players related. My ping drifts up from 60 to 90 or higher.
I would more suspect a network card IO bottleneck. Which would depend on the motherboard, NIC type, etc.
32 players spewing out link gun primary blobs at accelerated rates... On an open map with no fog distance... Every client getting updated with it all...
Heh.
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DW_Bomzin
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- Xfire: bomzin
- Location: Layton,Utah
I don't know our box specs right off the top of my head but here goes . 2 quad core 3Ghz processors with whole buttload of ram. :clown: I would have to look.
Pictures are worth a thousand words.
Box has been smooth . Most of our problems we see come from peoples routing as was stated.
DW currently is running Spam Vikings , Moster Mash One,Two and Three . A couple of COD4 servers , Tam server , After the lights go Out and a TF2 server . Just a couple.
We have switched locations multiple times looking for a sweet spot . Despite my protests it should be in Kansas we ended up in Chicago.
Donations are always gladly accepted and I thank you for your gesture . Without the donations we would not be were we are today . Thank god we have Toxic to pick up the slack when we come up short .
Box has been smooth . Most of our problems we see come from peoples routing as was stated.
DW currently is running Spam Vikings , Moster Mash One,Two and Three . A couple of COD4 servers , Tam server , After the lights go Out and a TF2 server . Just a couple.
We have switched locations multiple times looking for a sweet spot . Despite my protests it should be in Kansas we ended up in Chicago.
Donations are always gladly accepted and I thank you for your gesture . Without the donations we would not be were we are today . Thank god we have Toxic to pick up the slack when we come up short .
Heh.
Well, tuning a system is always amusing. There always exists a bottleneck, just a question of where and is it being hit.
IO and networking issues are kinda related. They both have to do with amounts of data being transferred. The IO I'm referring to is the path from the CPU to the network card. This depends very heavily on the motherboard.
The amount of data to be transferred goes up at least geometrically with the number of players. The networking stats for the server might show something interesting. Like it hitting a peak and flattening.
Ice.
Well, tuning a system is always amusing. There always exists a bottleneck, just a question of where and is it being hit.
IO and networking issues are kinda related. They both have to do with amounts of data being transferred. The IO I'm referring to is the path from the CPU to the network card. This depends very heavily on the motherboard.
The amount of data to be transferred goes up at least geometrically with the number of players. The networking stats for the server might show something interesting. Like it hitting a peak and flattening.
Ice.
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DW_Bomzin
- Site Admin
- Posts: 2241
- Joined: Mon Dec 26, 2005 12:00 am
- Xfire: bomzin
- Location: Layton,Utah
Well at least try doing a trace route when the problem seems to be occurring . Would eliminate one possibility.
No flat lines in BW
The server . Eight cores .
No flat lines in BW
- server.JPG (36.56 KiB) Viewed 8203 times
Hmmm. It isn't all based on the server itself. What speed is the net running at in that location?
Also, as a side note (bare in mind this is just some quick calcs) you need a lot more RAM. From what I understand you are running 15 game servers from that one box? If that is the case, inluding what the OS is using, each game will only get 1.59GHz and 500mb of RAM each. While this meets (just) the reqs of UT2004 it is a lot less than the minimum reqs of UT3 for example. While the proc is probably good enough you are really lacking in RAM.
Even if it is distributed to what each game needs don't forget people have to use a little of your RAM. Say each of your games has 20 player cap. Thats up to 300 players all downloading from your server. You RAM will directly affect everyone elses gameplay.
I see you are using 2003 R2 ... you can support a hell of a lot more RAM. I don't know if you either own it or at least have access to it, but RAM is not that expensive. Even another 2 GB in there will make a massive difference. This is counted on if the box itself can support more, but most nowadays go up to at least 16GB.
As I said previously this has only been worked out quickly with the factors that I know about, and if the info I have been given is up to date. If anything is incorrect about any of this please correct it.
Also, as a side note (bare in mind this is just some quick calcs) you need a lot more RAM. From what I understand you are running 15 game servers from that one box? If that is the case, inluding what the OS is using, each game will only get 1.59GHz and 500mb of RAM each. While this meets (just) the reqs of UT2004 it is a lot less than the minimum reqs of UT3 for example. While the proc is probably good enough you are really lacking in RAM.
Even if it is distributed to what each game needs don't forget people have to use a little of your RAM. Say each of your games has 20 player cap. Thats up to 300 players all downloading from your server. You RAM will directly affect everyone elses gameplay.
I see you are using 2003 R2 ... you can support a hell of a lot more RAM. I don't know if you either own it or at least have access to it, but RAM is not that expensive. Even another 2 GB in there will make a massive difference. This is counted on if the box itself can support more, but most nowadays go up to at least 16GB.
As I said previously this has only been worked out quickly with the factors that I know about, and if the info I have been given is up to date. If anything is incorrect about any of this please correct it.
To bring about the end you have to start at the beginning.
Clearly the server is not CPU or memory bound.
I suspect this goes back to the inherent design issues with 2k4, server tick rate, etc. To be honest, I don't think anyone got a 32 man server running well.
I started this with a hope that something obvious might be happening. But without taking a trip to chicago, I suspect I won't find it...
The network traffic graph above is not fine grained enough to spot any flat spots. The lag hits are relatively short.
I also suspect some of the clients are running substandard machines, and thus lagging, which lags the overall state of the server.
Ah well.
I suspect this goes back to the inherent design issues with 2k4, server tick rate, etc. To be honest, I don't think anyone got a 32 man server running well.
I started this with a hope that something obvious might be happening. But without taking a trip to chicago, I suspect I won't find it...
The network traffic graph above is not fine grained enough to spot any flat spots. The lag hits are relatively short.
I also suspect some of the clients are running substandard machines, and thus lagging, which lags the overall state of the server.
Ah well.
It also happens per map, which just kinda seems to make it more of a game issue than anything else. For instance, KAKMO runs like crap and Captains Box runs like a champ. I'm sure if this server were to run stock maps only, it would be a whole lot smoother.