Buying hosting service

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The Purple Panzer
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Buying hosting service

Post by The Purple Panzer »

Has anyone any info on the (monthly, say) cost of a server
which can run BZFlag? By this I mean an ISP which would provide the hardware and decent connectivity, but allow
root level access to the machine to set things up, etc.

(I may have other uses in parallel with BZFlag, but I'm curious what it might cost to just pay for a dedicated BZFlag host somewhere).
Nidhoggr
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Re: Buying hosting service

Post by Nidhoggr »

Panzer,

If you were to buy a new server that would do the job, you'd be looking at around 500-600 dollars if you wanted to stick it in a datacenter. (1 Rack unit, 1.7 ghz+, 512mb ram, 40-80gb hd)

To rack it and pay for enough bandwidth to provide a 10 shot server, and maybe another 2 or 3 shot server, you're looking at a minimum of about 100 dollars a month if you can find a place that will rack a single machine, and not sell a whole or half rack. I currently provide single unit rack space and 1mbps of b/w a month (315 GB) for right at 100 bucks, with additional mbps billed at $65/mo. This is a 100mb connection, which you want to make sure that any provider you choose has at least 10mbps links.

-Nidhoggr
The Purple Panzer wrote:Has anyone any info on the (monthly, say) cost of a server
which can run BZFlag? By this I mean an ISP which would provide the hardware and decent connectivity, but allow
root level access to the machine to set things up, etc.

(I may have other uses in parallel with BZFlag, but I'm curious what it might cost to just pay for a dedicated BZFlag host somewhere).
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EvilChickenNugget
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Post by EvilChickenNugget »

You could try a site like http://www.serverbeach.com they have dedicated Linux and Windows servers starting at around $99 a month.
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elmer fudd
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Post by elmer fudd »

1and1.com

dedicated root access server from $49 a month with 500GB bandwith, $.99/GB
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toaster
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Post by toaster »

elmer fudd wrote:1and1.com

dedicated root access server from $49 a month with 500GB bandwith, $.99/GB
That's GB/month, not per second. They're talking about data flow in and out, not actual bandwidth / capacity / performance. Just visited their site because it's incredibly cheap and I was instantly curious where they might be getting their access.

Generally, Tier 1 access is going to get charged at $95-$115/month for each 1MB of bandwidth.

Tier 2 and 3 access is cheaper, but you are adding more layers of equipment and more potential bottlenecks between your server and some of the major backbone providers.

Some of the providers cannot be trusted. I worked with one recently who claimed to offer 100Mbps links to the Internet through his Tier 2 backbone connection. What he had in actuality was a 100Mbps port in his switching equipment to connect to your server, but his off-site connection to his provider was a DS-3 (45Mbps). He was supporting about 30 very active Web servers, and quoted hits in the millions per month. No way anyone was getting 100Mbps of bandwidth, he was sharing 45Mbps to everyone and hoping that no one noticed. (That was not Nidhoggr!!!!)

Generally, wirespeeds are not the best way to approach bandwidth allocation. More typically, providers have large pipes with plenty of bandwidth to the Internet, and perform shaping to your server via the switching equipment. With shaping, you can limit the bandwidth using a PVC (Private Virtual Circuit) if you have enough horsepower in your switching equipment. Then, the wire to your server could be a 10/100/1000BASET (10Mbps through 1Gbps Ethernet) but the actual bandwidth allowed is shaped and limited to some predetermined limit, such as 1Mbps.

In other words, be careful and ask the right questions.
-toaster
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Post by trepan »

OC-48 = 2.48832 Gbps
I used to design 'em, and OC-192's, 10GbE, etc...
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Post by elmer fudd »

15000 MB connectivity
cant find the Mbps but its fiber optic so its very fast
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Post by toaster »

Likewise, trepan. I just finished a regional SONET network design a couple of months ago, and some of the pre-design work for an I-WIRE (with Argonne Labs) extension at 10Gbps DWDM channel rates before that. Way cool, and it's easy to forget the term "modem."

elmer fudd, there is nothing in the world currently capable of running at 15,000MBps connectivity rate (note capital B for Byte, not lowercase for bit) right now or in the very near future. 15GBps would be the 120Gbps, or .120Tbps, (terabits per second). The closest is the most recent National Lambda Rail connection (Internet 2 experimental network) running across the country, and it's at 40Gbps, but only for experimental research. The next closest data connections are all running at 10Gbps, or 10,000Mbps. Technology to aggregate 10Gbps lines into single trunks isn't there, yet.

The 15GB is a per-month data traffic rate. A 1Mbps connection is capable of moving 2,592,000Mb, or 324GB of data in a 30-day month. So, in actuality, you're provided on average the equivalent of 15GB/324GBps or 46KBps (370Kbps), about 1/5 of a T-1 line for actual data traffic. That's also about the equivalent average of 7 56kbps modems, still 1/3 of a low-speed DSL or cable connection. That doesn't imply anything about maximum capacity (connectivity) or peaks. Just average over a 30-day period.

You can hook up any kind of fiber you'd like to connect, but the technology exists to bottleneck its bandwidth down to as low as the provider wishes. And it's also very easy to mislead using large numbers with mixed bases and magnitudes. (let alone mixed acronyms) :)
-toaster
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Post by elmer fudd »

sry i meant TOTAL connectivity
seeing as im beaten down everytime i post, i just wont post(in this threadf) anymore
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Post by toaster »

elmer fudd:

Sorry, man. Not trying to beat you down, just trying to provide detail because we're speaking different terms. I was really pointing out the vendor (1and1) is using terms like bandwidth and connectivity out of place. No telling how an interested 3rd party like the Purple Panzer would translate. Standard language is a bear.
-toaster
"So there I was, all alone, facing all of the enemy. I started driving in circles, until I had them surrounded, and then I escaped in the confusion."
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