Running a server on Windows ?

(Fenris) #1

I’m looking for hints on running my ET server on Windows, so far I’ve run it on Linux and it worked very well (the ET server I mean), however my rather limited knowledge of Linux itself made it hard to manage the box, so I wanted to try using Windows instead.

My problem now is that I don’t seem to be able to get the right priority to the ET server (or it may be something completely different…), what I mean is that task manager (or perfmon for that matter) says I’m usually using at most about 10-15 % CPU, and some 0,3% of my bandwidth (10 mbps), but still the server behaves laggy to other players, I’m usually fine which is natural since I’m sitting approx. one decimeter from it :banana: but I also get very heavy lagspikes from time to time. (The “yellow” ones it it says anything?)

To compare the ET Linux server worked fine on a P3 700Mhz, with 256 MB Ram and an Etherlink 10 Mbps card connected to a 10 Mbps hub, and then directly to my ISP via gigabit backbone, the Windows ET server is a Celeron 2,4 Ghz, 512 MB, but still 10 Mbps network, i.e. as I see it even poorly configured it should at least behave comparatively with the lesser machine ?

Anyone with experience on Windows who could give me some ideas where to look I’d greatly appreciate it !

(Lekdevil.NL) #2

What kind of Windows are you using? 2000, XP, 2003?

You’ll have to find out what causes the lag spikes. A good place to start is to look at the services that are running and turning everything off that you don’t need. Open a command prompt and post the output from the “net start” command if you need any help.

You can elevate the priority by starting the server with:

start /abovenormal et.exe +exec server.cfg blah blah blah

or:

start /high et.exe +exec server.cfg blah blah blah

However, you should clean up you services first.

HTH.

(Fenris) #3

Currently Windows XP, but if any other is better I’ll just have a go at that, but remember CPU load claims computer is mostly idle. (http://billskirnir.servegame.com/bilder/usage.jpg)

Yes well I’ve already stopped a whole bunch of services I do not need (and a few I do need, just to test…:)), therefore currently running is :
Stuff I need (in some cases probably…) : Apache, MySQL, Windows firewall, Automatic Updates+Bits (patching), DHCP client, DNS client, Event log, Logical Disk Manager, Network Connections+NLA, NoIPDuc, RPC, SAM, Event Notifcation, Task Scheduler, Terminal Services. FTP, antivirus
Stuff I’m not sure about : Com+, Computer Browser, Shell HW Detection, SSDP, TCP/IP NetBios Helper, Telephony, PnP, RAS Manager
Stuff I don’t need that keeps starting itself regardless of…:slight_smile: : Fast User Switching, Help and Support

A few other things done :
Optimized for system cache and background apps, set a fixed pagefile to prevent using resources on growing/shrinking the file, disabled file&printer sharing and client for MS networks (i.e. only running TCP/IP), excluded ET folder from virusscanning

(Lekdevil.NL) #4

Take a look at this to find out which services you can disable: http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm.

XP should be fine, provided it’s configured properly, of course. It’s possible that the MySQL/Apache combo causes CPU lag when responding to queries. Try running the ET server on high priority to see if that helps.

(Sauron|EFG) #5

There’s a “feature” in Windows 2000 Terminal Server that limits CPU usage for applications (can be disabled per application with a registry entry). I don’t know if Terminal Services in XP does the same thing though, and unfortunately I seem to have lost my Google skills. :frowning:

(Fenris) #6

Well, main problem is that it’s hard to disabled many more of the non-essential services since they all have these dependencies which if disabled will cause the network to also be disabled or something equally nasty :slight_smile:

Sauron, thanks for the tip, I’ll do some searching, if you happen to remember pls let me know, but aren’t you thinking of the QoS bandwidth limit ? If not this could be something since the CPU is not fully used. I’m not 100% certain on this but I doubt the Apache/MySQL would “steal” too much resources since they’re hardly used (they serve a) my “diary” and b) webdownload for ET, which btw has a tremendous performance :D)

Would you think hardware enough for the task of running at least ET ?
(I could of course just try disabling the sql/web/ftp services again)

Anyone else with experience of running ET (server) on Windows and in that case what version of Windows ?