Server boxes

[Cassiel]

Can anyone outline the minimum appropriate spec for a NWN2 server box? I may be in a position to run one for ALFA in a few weeks. Rough specs:

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3700+ 1MB 90nm Rev. E San Diego (939)
RAM: 3GB

Limiting factor may be the internet connection, which at present plods along around the 2GB down/not a lot up sort of level?

When I ran a server for NWN1 I did so using windows XP and VNC install, and would be keen to do something similar again.

[AcadiusLost]

That's pretty similar to what I use to host TSM; mine is an AMD X2 4200+ 939-processor, currently running 2 gigs of RAM (I had 3, but mixing and matching leftover RAM wasn't the best for performance).

For bandwidth purposes, you can check numbers using this site:

http://www.speedtest.net/

Presumably the box would be physically located somewhere in the UK? This should mean faster connections to the character vault and central persistency database, as well as better ping times for euro players, than TSM. Upload bandwidth is the most important part of the equation for hosting, though both are important.

Another question, regarding Live hosting... Teric's Western Heartlands is next in line for hosting, he's in England as well so shouldn't be bad for regular communication. However, what we've done with the Live servers so far was:

1) Set them up as Linux machines, with remote access shared among Admin and host/HDM
2) Set the linux install up with vmware, which creates a "virtual PC" on the machine
3) Set the Virtual machine up with a windows XP install, which runs the NWN2 server.

This way, linux manages the vault connection, while NWN2 runs in a windows-like environment. Windows updates and crashes/reboots can be accomplished without actually powering down the hardware of the computer, etc.

This doesn't work well if you need to use the machine for other things as well during the hosting period, nor if you are uncomfortable with shared access (presently I think Zic is the only one who knows how to get vault/vmware all configured, and I generally do the module hosting setups myself).

If this all sounds reasonable/exciting, let us know!

[Damart]

Likewise

my current server box is only an AMD xp2500, 1gb Ram and a bog std graphics card.

It sits running Win XP and Teric connects via VNC...

Sometimes it has a NWN1 server or two up as well and seems to cope.

The net connection is definitely the rate limiting factor in my opinion; Faster the better

Dim

[Cassiel]

Hi, AL!

Yep, the box would be in the UK; will run some speed tests over the next few weeks to assess.

The RAM in mine is a bit mixed-n-matched, so may be better to reduce to 2GB - we'll see.

I guess I'm happy with it being Linux-ified if you guys are willing to support. My concern would be my almost total lack of experience with the OS. However, I'm unlikely to use the box for anything else, and the tolerance of XP crashes within Linux without a hardware reset sounds worth it.

In terms of the net connection, I'll be limited by the distance from the exchange - I think we're at the edges here, so max is 2MB at the moment, but we'll see what the speed tests show. That may change if/when I switch to cable, but that won't be until the end of the year earliest.

Two snags - and the reasons I'm upgrading:
(1) It seems my old motherboard has stopped recognising IDE drives, meaning that I don't have a bootable CD-ROM, so may need help installing Linux via a network or USB drive
(2) I only have a single graphics card which I intend to take over to the new box. The only other option is a faulty one which runs in safe mode but not really anything else. Presumably, though, once I've set it up the box be run (remotely) without a graphics card?

[AcadiusLost]

Generally computers don't like to boot up without a video card installed, though it's quite possible the old semi-broken one would be sufficient to get it by. Alternatively one of the ALFAns in your greater geographical area has a spare outdated one they can pass your way.

Unless the motherboard has some sort of integrated video that you could fall back to? That would be the best option, if available. NWN2server doesn't need any sort of 3D support at all, but we need to minimally be able to see what we're doing when we connect remotely to manage the server, install updates, etc.

Installation of Linux via the network is a possibility I believe, though Zic is the expert on that.

Re: not recognizing IDE drives: do you have an SATA hard drive on that machine? If not, I suspect it might be a problem with just one IDE channel, or with the configuration of the drives, else it would be failing to see the primary hard drive as well. We can troubleshoot that via IRC if you have time sometime.

Sounds like Zic's hosting machine may be out of commission for a bit (current hosting BG), so there might be a need sooner than anticipated.

[Veilan]

Hullo Dr. Nick!

Alternatively one of the ALFAns in your greater geographical area has a spare outdated one they can pass your way.

Got a Radeon X1950 XTX, a PCI-e card, lying around still if all else fails. It's almost a waste for just a server machine though, still, drop me a line if you need it.

Cheers,

[AcadiusLost]

That card would certainly work, if the motherboard supports PCI-E video (not all the 939-socket boards did, IIRC). It would, as Veilan said, be rather overkill... I'd guess it'd increase power consumption on your server rig by 20% or more, and crank out a lot of unnecessary heat for our purposes.

Ideal would be an older AGP-interface card with a passive heatsink, low power consumption, and minimal obstruction to case airflow, I'd think.

(of course, if the X1950 is better than what you're already running... leave the current one in there and use Veilan's for your playing rig... )

Food for thought, at least.

[Veilan]

I think I also have a GeForce EN9800 in the rig my father trashed that I could check out, it might be salvageable.

[zicada]

Hey cassiel!

Please come see me on IRC when you have a chance, so we can look into the box in a bit m ore detail and see where we're at. This sort of thing is much more practical to do in realtime.

Thanks for stepping up!

[Hialmar]

Heya Nick,

If you need help with Linux and zic isn't around I can help you.
I should have an old AGP card somewhere as well. I'll check that this evening or over the week-end.

[Cassiel]

Thank you all! For reference the motherboard is an Asus A8-NE, so I don't think it has an AGP card slot - PCI only. I may well try the old card in it as that does work in limited fashion.

Will hop onto IRC this morning in case anyone's around to try and get this thing working...

[Cassiel]

Not great news on the connection speed front...but the good news is my pings to the ALFA server are quick (average 23ms).

The old video card I had is completely fried now. The fan goes round, but no output to the monitor at all and it eventually hangs the whole box, so I'm going to bin the thing. Having spoken to Zic, it may well work out more expensive for one of you (thanks, Veilan!) to send a card than for me to pick one up second-hand from somewhere like this. So I'll do that, and we can see where we get to.

[zicada]

Aight, had a chat with Cassiel. He'll look to grab a super cheap GPU. The rest of the hardware seems entirely decent. The link isn't high bandwith, but it has excellent ping to the vault, which really is the #1 priority.

A 12 gbp gpu is about what it'd cost for any of you guys to send your cards in the mail, so I think it's easier to go this route. With the donations that have come in, we can reimburse cassiel for the cost.

We're looking at getting it set up with linux next week for some testing.

(most of which he just posted apparently )

[Cassiel]

I now have the new GPU. Irritatingly, it seems that wasn't the problem - currently the box won't fire up. I've tried stripping out all non-essential bits without success.

What happens is that I press the power button, there's a brief attempt to load (I know this because one of the fans has a built-in LED which flickers on), then the power cuts out again.

PSU: "Rexpower" - came with the case. This *could* be the problem - but I know it's supplying gas to the motherboard okay, because Asus MBs have a green indicator light when they're getting juice, and that's lit.

MB: Asus A8-NE - this could be the problem, but was working fine previously. Any easy way of testing it people know?

RAM: paired 1GB chips + paired 512 chips for a total of 3GB. The 512 chips are corsair valueselect, and I've tried removing both sets to see if they're faulty - neither make a difference.

GPU: Nvidia GeForce 6600 GT 128MB PCI-E - this is 'new' secondhand, and it's not the problem as the same thing occurs with the old GPU.

Any thoughts on what I should do next?

[hollyfant]

MB: Asus A8-NE - this could be the problem, but was working fine previously. Any easy way of testing it people know?

Rule of thumb: if you hear no beeps, then the problem is not in any peripheral or even the memory.
Unless the beeper is broken.