Best Server Setup
 

Hello,

I'm new to the whole EQEmu thing (I ran a server for, maybe, three days several years ago, but quit due to school) and I'm considering setting up a public server.

I currently have FiOS 50/35mbps and I'm sure that will be able to handle several players at once.

What I don't have is a server. I have an Intel Mac with 8 cores running Windows 7 64-bit, but I'd prefer to have a dedicated server for my EQEmu server and I wanted to ask you guys what you feel the best equipment would be for a guy with about $1,500 to spend.

I plan on capping the content at PoP and mimicking EQMac as closely as I possibly can. Also, I'd like it to be able to support about 300 people at any given time, though I don't expect to have that many folks online.

Any advice from anyone with experience or knowledge on EQEmu hardware requirements would be much appreciated.

Thanks
Kruiser

For about 500 you could slap together a great dedicated server on a home computer. I believe EZ server is on an equivalent line as you and they can sustain a few hundred stable connections.
I think Hunter posted his specs on the ez forums.

When Clumsy's World was in it's prime we ran 50'ish people on a 768kbps upstream and a busted ass single core Intel P4 compaq laptop.

Now I have no doubt the current CW specs could host 500 plus easily. But getting that number is another story.

95% of your hosting load is going to be upstream and RAM. The core processing and HDD speeds are basically irrelevant though I wouldn't skimp on them.

EZ Server GMs are Hunter and Basher

Our connection is 30 Mbits/sec Down, 5 Mbits/sec Up from Fiber Optics

Due to the Operating System limitations, it will only use 32 GB of the 48 GB RAM installed.

Qty (2) Intel® Xeon® processor X5550
Qty (2) Intel® Thermal Solution STS100C
Intel® Server Board S5520HC
Intel® Server Chassis SC5650DPNA with 600Watt Power Supply
Intel® Integrated RAID Module (SROMBSASMR)
Qty (2) Seagate* Cheetah* NS.2 450GB SAS HDD’s (ST3450802SS)
48GB DDR3 Memory 12 x 4GB
Samsung* 22X DVDRW SATA Optical Drive
40GB Intel SSD
Intel Remote Management Module 3
Intel 6 Bay Hot Swap Expander Backplane

Complete overkill. Do not waste money building something like this unless you're hosting enterprise level servers.

Second, Fiber connections are synchronous (means the up matches the down), that connection is a cable connection.

FiOS would disagree with your synchronous assertion. http://www22.verizon.com/home/fios-f...nternet/#plans

The native capabilities of the connection and the way it is provisioned by the provider are two different things.

All has to do with throughput and backplane capacity, if you are on old shitty copper infrastructure and your access gear to the customer premise has only a limited throughput backplane capacity, from the ISP standpoint you have to budget that capacity of both upstream and downstream. It makes more sense to put more into the downstream than the upstream because that's what most customers use.

FiOS is modeled around high customer area densities and asymmetrical profiles are ultimately going to be cheaper for Verizon to not have to provide more gear for fewer customers because of high symmetrical profiles even though symmetrical profiles burn up the backplane budget so to speak. Symmetrical profiles are definitely more feasible with fiber access equipment so it is not necessarily wrong to say that fiber is symmetrical but that is not a specific differentiating property of fiber to the home itself, but rather the capacity of the fiber and the back-plane of the gear that drives access to the customer premise.

if you want a gaming system get AMD if you want a processor system for your programs get Intel

Unless you're really cheap, Intel is the best best for gaming at the moment. Not sure why that applies to a question about a server though.

I agree AMD never catch Intel again I dont thin EVER they might as well give up lol