My new system

[Bozo]

I didn't think it was necessary to run a "server" operating system to run a game server. I set up an XP box as a UT2003 server with no problems.

Bozo :mrgrn:

 

[Mercutio]

The 10 network connection limit imposed by XP would be something of a hinderance for David.

 

[blakerwry]

The 10 network connection limit imposed by XP would be something of a hinderance for David.

As far as I'm concerned winNT is a server operating system. Even if it's been dumbed down and castrated it's still a good base.

Additionally, that 10 connection limit only applies to IIS and other microsoft server daemons. Which means Apache, various FTP programs, and even game servers should run just as well on XP home as they do on Pro or server

 

[Mercutio]

There's the small matter of legality as well, blake. The XP license mandates a maximum of 10 network connections even if there are technical ways around the built in software limits.

For a business, that's not a trivial problem.

 

[blakerwry]

i dont know what you're talking about, there is no 10 connection limit on XP itself.

The 10 conenction limit is with IIS and SMB. Do a netstat -an and you'll likely see hundreds (or thousands) of connections on a box that does file sharing... a box that is just surfing can very easily surpass a measily 10 connections.

I've seen when just openning programs like pc anywhere make a box use 100's of connections.

 

[Mercutio]

Sigh.

License. Remember that thing? On the blue screen? Near the beginning of the XP install process? The one you no-doubt-very-quickly hit F8 to bypass?

I don't remember the exact terms but among other things, XP is supposed to be limited in terms of total number of inbound connections. Another funny clause restricts XP users from running remote desktop software besides what Microsoft gave 'em (i.e. theoretically, you shouldn't use PC Anywhere or VNC, either).

 

[blakerwry]

you may permit a maximum
of ten (10) computers or other electronic devices (each
a "Device") to connect to the Workstation Computer to
utilize the services of the Product solely for File and
Print services, Internet Information Services, and remote
access (including connection sharing and telephony
services).

I take IIS to mean microsoft's IIS. Not Apache or any other "internet service".

 

[ddrueding]

Well, the server is running Win2k3 Advanced Server anyway. I'm not worried about that either way.

My question was, do I need to buy another copy of the game (to get another CD-Key) for the dedicated server? Or can the server be installed with the same CD-Key as one of the clients?

 

[blakerwry]

i know that for halflife the server does not require a CD-Key. In bf1942 on linux I dont think you need a key, but in windows I think you did... either way I dont think you are required to have a unique key(license) to run a dedicated server.

 

[ddrueding]

:mrgrn: When you install UT 2004 and change all the video settings to maximum, a voice says "Holy Sh*t!"....and I'm still geting 100+ FPS

 

[e_dawg]

Hope you haven't left out a crucial element to your tweak't experience: beverages served by candystripers. $3-5 smoothies, bubble tea, cappucinos and lattes... extra revenue stream.

 

[ddrueding]

Hope you haven't left out a crucial element to your tweak't experience: beverages served by candystripers. $3-5 smoothies, bubble tea, cappucinos and lattes... extra revenue stream.

Part of our permit restricts our options here, but candy bars and sodas (Incl, Red Bull and the like) will be available at near cost. Anything to get people to stay longer

 

[Santilli]

Are you doing this in Monterey, or SF?

s

 

[ddrueding]

Are you doing this in Monterey, or SF?

s

243 Foam Street, Monterey, California, United States, 93940

 

[ddrueding]

As part of a $3k+ newegg purchase, here are the specs for my new non-gaming system:

Antec Aria SFF Chassis w/300W PS
Gigabyte 6100 AM2 Mobo
A64 4200+ (65W low-power version)
Scythe Heatpipe Heatsink (if it fits)
2GB DDR2-800 RAM
2x 750GB Seagate SATA HDDs
AzuenTech X-Plosion Soundcard

I'm excited to see how well I can build a fast, quiet, SFF system. I would have next-day'ed the order, but that would have been another $400 :crap:

 

[Buck]

Looks like a fun build. That is a great motherboard. It works so well with different types of systems. You can build a low-end office system with a Sempron 3000 or a high-end system with an FX-62.

 

[ddrueding]

Yep. I'm just stoked to have 1.5TB in my portable desktop...and it still has room for one for drive

 

[Mercutio]

I'm doing a very similar system for my own amusement. I'm using a 939-4800, an x1600 - I want multiple video outs - and only *one* 750GB drive.

 

[ddrueding]

I'm actually considering getting another 750GB in there, just because 2.25TB in a toaster puts a big grin on my face.

 

[ddrueding]

Just short-stroked the first 10GB of a 750 for the OS....that should move

 

[Buck]

I'm itching to assemble a dual Intel Xeon 5160P system. Alas, those buggers are expensive.

 

[Handruin]

I've been working on 3 new systems at work which consist of Dell PowerEdge 2950's with two dual core Intel 5140's @ 2.33 GHz and 16GB RAM each. These new systems are being setup to run ESX Infrastructure 3 with vmotion connected to an EMC symmetrix.

This will be our production environment for hosting internal tools on VM's. If you've worked at all with VM's...the next level being vmotion is very handy in this environment. It allows you to move a VM from one physical machine in real time to another physical machine without any downtime to the end user using that VM...it's really slick.

I manage an ESX 2.5.x setup that has been doing this for the past 3 years. Whenever we need to juggle resource for performance tuning, I can move people's VM's around whenever I want.

 

[Will Rickards]

Just short-stroked the first 10GB of a 750 for the OS....that should move

okay send the other 740GB to me

 

[Mercutio]

VMWare ESX is I'd very much like to play with. I hear the performance gain is astonishing, and I'm doing a lot with the freebie version already.

 

[ddrueding]

Agreed...I'd really like to play with ESX and vMotion. I have many production VMs on a number of multi-core servers; moving those around and doing better perfomance tuning would be a dream.

 

[Handruin]

ESX takes over your whole box though, so if you're used to workstation/GSX/Server which sits on top of Linux/windows, then you'd have to give in to the fact that your machine is dedicated to ESX server. ESX runs a stripped down version of red hat and then they load their own proprietary kernel to control the hardware. Doing it that way removes a lot of the overhead in making calls through the OS it would normally sit on top of when using anything but ESX server. That's why vmware is somewhat picky about the supported hardware.

I’m also now using hardware with Intel’s Virtualization Technology. I’ve read a few articles about it, but it isn’t 100% clear to me what this marketing term does for ESX (and other virtualization software). So far the only thing I’ve found to be important is how the CPU presents the privilege ring to ESX server. Normally it was done in software which is a slower process. Now Intel gives a hardware-based virtual “Ring 0” to each VM and the guest OS believes it has direct access to the real Ring 0. I don’t know exactly what that means since I’ve never done kernel programming and I also have no benchmarks to prove if it makes any significant difference…but it’s there none the less.

 

[ddrueding]

That is exactly why I'd like to try ESX. I have a bunch of servers where 2003 and VMWare Server are the only things loaded on them; they aren't even a member of the domain and don't have network access. What they do have is a several dozen VMs spread accross 20 cores, 20GB of RAM and 20 spindles (5 boxes). An ideal entry-level implementation of ESX...

 

[Handruin]

Sounds like you could benifit from ESX along with an install of VirtualCenter to manage everything. Unfortunitly ESX isn't a cheap product. The good news is that ESX 3 only charges per CPU, not per core. So a one CPU license covers two cores.

The hard part is that in order for vmotion to function, you need to have a shared volume between all your ESX hosts. Outside of our in-house fibre channel fabrics and all, I don't know how this is done on a smaller scale.

 

[ddrueding]

And there is the rub. There is no way I can justify the cost, considering that Server is free, and behaves the same when everything is working correctly.

 

[Handruin]

I have no first-hand evidence of the performance increase going from Server to ESX. I bet if I was ambitious enough I could ask to test it out on the same hardware...but it probably won't happen because I'm so busy right now with other work.

On a similar VMWare note, I'll be heading out to LA in November for the VMWorld convention. It should be interesting to see what they have to offer.

 

[ddrueding]

I've finished the build for my new rig. Details on the spec follow:

Antec Aria SFF Chassis w/300W PS
Gigabyte 6100 AM2 Mobo
A64 4200+ (65W low-power version)
2GB DDR2-800 RAM
2x 750GB Seagate SATA HDDs
AzuenTech X-Plosion Soundcard

I'm getting no sound.

I've installed Server 2003 x64 R2 on it, disabled the on board sound card, and made sure the Windows Audio Service is "Started" and "Automatic". I'm using the latest version of the 64-bit beta drivers from Auzentech's website. Everything looks fine in the device manager, and winamp can select the correct device in the "output plugins" drop-down. No sounds from anything; windows, the driver test page, winamp, etc. In the driver I have configured it for 2-channel audio and the speaker plug is in the correct port.

Help?

 

[Mercutio]

Did you tell the audio driver that you want analog sound instead of digital?

 

[ddrueding]

Did you tell the audio driver that you want analog sound instead of digital?

Yep. Analog, 2-channel.

 

[Mercutio]

In the Sound and Audio Devices Applet, Audio Tab, is HDA X-Mystique 7.1 Wave listed as your default playback device?

Have you tried a DXdiag?

 

[ddrueding]

"HDA XPLOSION 7.1 Audio Device" is selected and is the only option.

DXDiag shows card detected and audio accelleration at full. Changing acceleration level has no change.

 

[Mercutio]

I'm using Server 2003 here with those same settings and stuff is working fine on my digital output.
Rebooted recently?

 

[ddrueding]

Rebooted recently?

Yep. Quite a few times actually. Which version of the driver are you using? Are you 64-bit?

 

[Mercutio]

Nope. And stupid things like that are entirely the reason why.

 

[ddrueding]

Everything is now stable, and I'm planning on adding another video card. The only thing that worries me is that the HDDs run at 40C.

1) Is this too hot for important data
2) If anyone is familiar with the Aria chassis*, can you suggest any mods to keep them cooler.

*it's tricky to describe; but I'll give it a shot. The drives are hung on either side of the optical drive from one of their long edges. Both large sides of the drives have ~5mm of clearance, and the bottom long edge has about 3cm before you get to the RAM and MB. Directing airflow over the drives seems the best way, but some sort of heatsink attached to the bottom long-edge might help.

 

[Bozo]

Aria case:

http://www.gamepc.com/labs/view_content.asp?id=antecaria&page=4

Still trying to picture the hard drives installed. But I think I got it.

The article mentions a PCI slot fan. Any help there??

Bozo :joker: