Server with BS and FC2.0

[korrea]

Hi!.

 

In http://www.escuadron69.net, we've got a dedicated server with all simulators: Lomac, FC2.0, BS, falcon, IL2, etc etc...

 

Today I installed a FC2.0 and if I want run FC2.0 multiplayer and BS, I got this error: "Sorry, only once instance is allowed"

 

Exits a solution for this "bug"??

 

Thanks!.

[Panzertard]

Thats really nothing anyone should try to do - run 2 simulators on 1 machine - even if they are 2 different simulators/servers.

Both instances will fight over resources / CPU.

It's never been tested - and it's not intended to work with two running instances in the same session.

[Distiler]

Well but nowadays, with gazilions of GB of ram, 4-6 cores, 100Mbit outputs, etc. there's no much problem running some servers at the same time, in fact Korrea's server has been hosting 5 simulators at once with success for years. At the end, DCS and FC2 have different licenses so those are different products and should be a way of running both executables at the same time. Perhaps through different users/sessions?

Edited April 5, 2010 by Distiler

[HiJack]

Have you tried diffferent port for the 2 game instances? One 10308 and the other 10309. You can use 10310 as well and I see some servers use 27015 and works it seams.

 

®

[Panzertard]

Well but nowadays, with gazilions of GB of ram, 4-6 cores, 100Mbit outputs, etc. there's no much problem running some servers at the same time, in fact Korrea's server has been hosting 5 simulators at once with success for years. At the end, DCS and FC2 have different licenses so those are different products and should be a way of running both executables at the same time. Perhaps through different users/sessions?

Remember all the talk about "bullet trajectories, world physics" and such - and people complaining about performance in DCS when the heat is turned up?

The main problem is that the DCS/FC engine isnt optimized for multicore - it's still quite a CPU hog.

 

Most other "server applications" are optimzed for todays environment.

Regardless - anyone hosting a primary service, it be Fileservice, SQL, etc - will run just one of these services per host (Physical or Virtual). And here we talk about things that are optimized to run in such envorinment.

DCS/FC cannot be compared to lightweight services such as TS or web for that matter.

 

So not at all recomended.

 

Have you tried diffferent port for the 2 game instances? One 10308 and the other 10309. You can use 10310 as well and I see some servers use 27015 and works it seams.

 

®

No, the "only one instance allowed" comes from the exe or SF I think - it's a process check - not a network limitation.

Edited April 5, 2010 by Panzertard

[Seil]

As a previous server host, and with a high level of knowledge of PC architecture, but understand no experience with LOMAC/BS server hosting here's what I have to offer:

 

Even being that the ded. servers may not be optimized for multicore threading, if you have a beefy enough machine with multicore architecture, you should be able to run multiple processes mapped to different cores with affinity masking.

 

Providing you have enough ram to satisfy the needs for multiple server instances, all will run fine............. most of the time that is..... Here's the issue:

 

With multiple server instances, no matter what software it is, be it Call of Duty, Quake, Counter Strike, ArmA, LOMAC, GTR, any dedicated realtime server....... You will see one instance have a performance hit on another instance on occasion. The number of occasions will vary on how many dedicated servers you're running and what each one is doing.

 

Every time that a server has to load a mission/map or w/e it may be, hard drive access is required and the north bridge bus will be loaded heavily. This means that any other servers running will experience lag, interruptions, connection loss, etc.

 

Basically, what this boils down to, is the need for expensive REAL server based hardware that have much larger bus capacities, larger caches and buffers for north bridge activity and WAAAAAAAAY more RAM than you would ever think you would need in order to bootstrap RAM drives which hold all necessary files to prevent latency hits from HDD access.

 

Now you can build and run whatever you want, but in order for you to be able to run multiple dedicated servers without one interfering with another's performance and vice versa, it is expensive.

 

Real life scenarios for data centers running realtime servers, is more complex than this especially when running 6+ servers on a single box, but this is the main issue.

 

 

-Seil

Edited April 6, 2010 by Seil

[korrea]

Hi!. Thanks for the reply ;).

 

We've got a Intel Xeon quad core, 4Gb Ram, 160Gb HDD, Ati 1300 and windows 2003 Server. This servers is located in one data center in Madrid, with 100Mb/s simetric. The ping is very low.

 

I bought Falcon4, Lomac 1.12b, Il2 1946, Rise of Flight, rFactor and Black Shark for this server. All games are excuted at same time, and all works perfect, with low latencys and nothig of interruptions, connections losts, etc...

 

Yes it's expensive, but it's the price we pay, because the company don't build a dedicated servers, for example, like the rfactor. But, for now, in Escuadron69 some people are donating money to rent a server with these characteristics.

 

And now, when I want run the DCS Black Shark and FC2.0, like the other simulators, I found this bug. Yes, is a check limitation, but there are diferents products with diferent license and I don't understand, why can't run at once???

 

Thanks ;)

[Seil]

From what I understand there is an instance check within the executables. This is something that will probably have to be resolved from ED's side, I could be wrong, but I have as stated before no experience hosting dedicated LOMAC/BS servers.

 

I understand you probably want to be able to run separate scenarios with separate environments for BS and FC2. However when the patch for BS is released, you should only have to run one or the other in order to have a single server for BS and FC2 clients, but I'm sure you already know about this and it isn't exactly what you want.

 

-Seil

[Panzertard]

Hello Seil - we come from the same background, we just have different opinions. :) I work for a server / application hosting company.

 

Korrea - I'll drop a little flag in the bug report system, maybe we can get a resolution for the process-check.

You should get the chance to try to run them at the same time and see if it works out.

[korrea]

Thanks Panzertard!!!!.

 

When multiplayer patch will out, I hope there will be only instance open, BS or FC2. But, I would like separate them for trainings or missions, etc etc...

[Panzertard]

Come to think of it while I was testing - there may be other factors that may prevent this from being possible.

There could be mechanisms like the Input mechanisms for both server that may have a problem co-existing - I mean, if you ever get them to go past the "Sorry, only one instance allowed".

 

But let's see what kind of response we get regarding if this may be supported in later versions or not.

[korrea]

mmmm For my PC it's important input mechanisms, but for a server, there isn't problem with this. In a dedicated server, only want a good CPU and connection...

 

Thanks Panzer for answer and inform about this problem.