How many people know a lot about Minecraft?

[Tim]

Hey guys,

So I have a project I'm working on now that might require me to build a couple Intel 2600K 12GB RAM systems to encode video. I'm currently doing 3x systems to encode video but it takes a long while, so I might add on 2 more systems. Problem is, once I'm done encoding video, I don't have a use for these spanking new systems.

So I thought, maybe I could use them to create some sort of community something?

So how about this: Free public Minecraft server for people to use

Does anybody happen to know much about administrating a Minecraft server for the public to use?

Also, what sort of resources are used for a Minecraft server?

Assuming these are the specs:

• Linux server OS
• Intel i7 2600k @ 4.5Ghz (These are the newest CPUs from Intel, very fast)
• 12GB of DDR3 RAM
• Basically unlimited hard drive space
• Video cards don't apply for a Minecraft server

So knowing those specs, what are my options for a public Minecraft server and how many could it handle at once as far as people connecting to it? Could 100 people connect at once? Or a 1000? I've no idea!

Also, how much bandwidth is used per user (both up and down)?

Oh and I really don't want to admin the thing, I'd try and find somebody else to do that. I just want to set up the hardware and keep it free for peeps to use. I'd probably build a website around the server and do whatever I can to make a billion people come see it and make it popular, but other than that, I'd want somebody else to admin it and basically run the whole thing if possible.

Thanks ahead for the info yo!
Tim

[Tim]

Also, if it makes more sense, I could split the server into multiple servers with a virtualizing hardware-level OS, and then operate potentially quite a few Minecraft servers. I've no idea the best ways to do things basically

[davidmccann72]

1GB of memory for 10 users

There is not much out there offically on the server stuff execpt for personal user experiences.

www.minecraftforum.net is probbly the best place to go.

[supamario00]

to split the server would require you to get multiple downloads of the server programs and attachments.

to actually administrate it is not too hard because the server program allows you to communicate through the line of command coming through IE: say <whatever you want> and it pops up in game in purple.

this also allows you to ban, pardon, give op privileges, take op privileges, spawn things, and many other properties.

I am currently running one out of hamachi (a way that works with my modem): 5.216.180.246 (please join)

[bgeorge]

You should be easily be able to host around 100 users if not more with those specs.

One thing a lot of people miss when it comes to hosting Minecraft servers is the disk I/O. Since Minecraft saves are composed for a large amount of tiny files, the I/O though put could be a limited factor on a large map with a lot of users.

In terms of bandwidth, I don't really have a per user estimate, but I use about 40GB/month total for a 10 user server.

[Bwana]

Hey Tim!

Glad to hear you're interested in starting a HUGE Minecraft community!!

Regarding your questions, I'll do my best to answer them to the best of my ability:

1. What kind of resources does Minecraft use?

I typically recommend at least 2GB of RAM and a multi-core CPU (at least Dual-core) for a good server. What's a good server? I'd say a 20 user server. Now there are multiple factors that come into play that could alter the performance of your server:

a. Map Size - I've found that the bigger your map gets, the more performance declines. We've found this problem on one of our older maps. As users create and explore, the Minecraft server software writes "chunks" of data. This writes many tiny files on your filesystem, and can generate heavy disk I/O as well as CPU load under heavy conditions. We've gotten around this problem by installing a mod that limits the map's borders. (By the way, Minecraft allows for infinite map creation)
b. Modifications/Plugins - We were fond of a server modification called hMod and it proved to add additional overhead. We liked it because it gave us features that Minecraft could not, such as: user whitelist, grief/destruction protection, and block spawning for "fun mode" servers. Unfortunately, the more "plugins" we added, the more performance seem to suffer. When creating a Minecraft server, you need to be aware of such mods. Right now, we're testing a modification called Bukkit (Bukkit.org | Bukkit Forums) which is very similar to hMod but is supposed to be much lighter on resources and more modular.
c. User Count - Obvious, but it needs to be stated. As more and more users join the server, and create, the map size gets larger while Minecraft has to handle more activity. This is mostly memory driven, but does have some CPU implications.

2. Could that box run a good Minecraft server?

Why yes it could. Recently, we conducted a massive "load test" if you will on the top tier Amazon EC2 server. This thing has:

Cluster GPU Quadruple Extra Large 22 GB memory, 33.5 EC2 Compute Units, 2 x NVIDIA Tesla “Fermi” M2050 GPUs, 1690 GB of local instance storage, 64-bit platform, 10 Gigabit Ethernet

EC2 Compute Unit (ECU) – One EC2 Compute Unit (ECU) provides the equivalent CPU capacity of a 1.0-1.2 GHz 2007 Opteron or 2007 Xeon processor.

We were able to get 50 people to join one night and it performed VERY well. We were able to bring it down however, by using a mod called the "Low Orbit Ion Cannon" which in essence, created a massive amount of TNT on the map. Once the TNT exploded, CPU levels on the server shot through the roof, but memory was fine. I found that in this particular (non-scientific) test, the main bottleneck was the CPU for that version of Minecraft server.

That doesn't answer your question, but it does give you an idea of what that kind of box can do. Minecraft's software changes often and so does the performance, so it's kind of moving target.

3. How much bandwidth per month (up/down)

I don't have hard numbers, but I can safely say, with 100 users or so, you won't go over 1TB of TOTAL bandwidth of month. In my experience, I've never gone over 500GB of TOTAL bandwidth with a 24 user server. That 500GB number included map downloads from the web server (which were around 1-2GB in size)

Sorry, I don't have a breakdown of upload and download.

[Nghtmr9999]

I know quite a bit about Minecraft and love playing it. I am totally down for a Multiboxing Minecraft server, but you may want to consider a whitelist like Bwana has for his servers. You also might want to consider hmod(?) as that provides you a rich feature set for tweaking server settings.

[Tim]

Hey Bwana thanks for the post! What do you use for your actual servers, not Amazon systems, right? Seeing your results based off of Amazon timeslicing isn't too helpful in determining specs

I would think this system should be able to handle 20,000+ concurrent users, based on knowledge of other MMOs and what their specs are, so I would think 20k users wouldn't be out of the park. But then again I have no idea how efficient Minecraft is.

Basically if I could somehow get these types of stats:

• Avg network usage per block of users. Eg for every 10 users, 100kbit/sec outbound, 50kbit/sec inbound to server.
  
• XYZ MB per block of users
  
• XYZ CPU for XYZ size of map and users, etc

I'm trying to really determine the exacts of what I could do with this type of hardware.

Thanks

[Tim]

Originally Posted by Nghtmr9999

I know quite a bit about Minecraft and love playing it. I am totally down for a Multiboxing Minecraft server, but you may want to consider a whitelist like Bwana has for his servers. You also might want to consider hmod(?) as that provides you a rich feature set for tweaking server settings.

Actually I'd just have somebody else admin it and take care of it I'd just provide the server, website, let a huge minecraft fan handle the rest.

I'm basically thinking of uses if I decide to get a new system to encode videos, not sure if I'm going to do that, just like to know the options because I prefer to not be too wasteful.

[supamario00]

Originally Posted by Tim

Actually I'd just have somebody else admin it and take care of it I'd just provide the server, website, let a huge minecraft fan handle the rest.

I'm basically thinking of uses if I decide to get a new system to encode videos, not sure if I'm going to do that, just like to know the options because I prefer to not be too wasteful.

mmmmmm besides the obvious users, who else are you aiming to play on it? and also how would you spread the word? from what Ive experienced they dont rank your server on the list until it meets requirements, mine has been up for a week straight and it is still unranked.