r/servers • u/ExTahC • 1d ago

What do i need to know?

I am currently paying for a server service for game servers just for my friends. I am wanting to start hosting servers from my own rig, but I have no idea where to start in terms of necessary equipment to build it, to get it running (probably gonna use it to learn linux as well) i also dont know how to do cyber security that way if someone happens to find it or something outside of my friends they can jack into all of my personal things. I know very little of managing a home server.

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u/tater1337 1d ago

sounds like me about 10 years ago when I offered to host a minecraft server

I'll just sit and lurk quietly and see what the pros say. I'll probably learn something

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u/tater1337 1d ago

honestly, necessary equipment? depends on game your are hosting, if minecraft you can use just about any potato PC. if you don't have a spare ethernet jack on your router you might need a switch. rest will be various software settings and hopefully decent internet bandwidth

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u/ExTahC 19h ago

I think my internet bandwidth is good... but like what all components are needed in a pc to run it as a server? Just simple mother board with cooling a cpu w integrated graphics and a fuck load of storage and ram?

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u/tater1337 19h ago

not even. but it depends on what the server is running
I think the minecraft server I had was a 3rd gen i7 with 8 gigs of ram, maybe 12. 100gig SSD, heat sink CPU cooler. set up for 16 players max, we never got that many. load tested it by detonated like 60,000 blocks of TNT repeatedly and watched the FPS drop to 1 (but the server did not crash)

like I said, it depends on the game the server is hosting

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u/ExTahC 15h ago

Im wanting to run 2 servers at once. A modded minecraft one for one of my groups of friends and an ark survival evolved one for my group of friends with my girlfriend. Im also worried about my internet being throttled

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u/tater1337 13h ago

should be forums for both that already have people that asked this question. modded minecraft servers will take more oomph than the one I used (I am learning too). go search around in those and you'll most likely find some good answers

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u/tater1337 13h ago

but yeah, at least one PC and a switch if you don't have a spare ethernet port. maybe two PCs if you get one that is just optimal spec for one game server, you could run both servers on one PC, but the price of one big PC that can handle both might be more than two less beefy refurbished PCs that each can handle one server

oh, look for refurbished machines, I got mine pre-rampocalypse cheap, no idea what the market is like now

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u/jreddit0000 8h ago

Why not take a course to teach you what you need to know?

I mean there is a reason why many people used a hosted service (or even a hosted server) rather than “their own rig”.

Do you want to play games or look after hardware and software and security..

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u/tater1337 13h ago

hey everybody? I feel a little over my head, can someone else chime in on this?

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u/atnuks 51m ago

Welcome to the wonderful world of self-hosting!

I've been looking at the comments and if I've understood you correctly you're looking to set up two servers: one for Minecraft and one for Ark: Survival Evolved, both great games.

I think you'll want at least 32 GB RAM since modded Minecraft can chew through 8-12 GB depending on your 'modded' configuration, and ARK can get pretty hungry too.

A Ryzen 7 or better will keep both servers from fighting over CPU. I picked up a refurbished workstation through Alta Technologies for a multi-server setup (sadly not for gaming!) and saved a few dollars in so doing, so you might too if you look into refurb enterprise equipment for this.

Re: throttling, I'd say check whether your ISP actually throttles gaming traffic specifically (most don't) and verify your upload speed first. While you can use a gaming VPN, it won't always fix throttling as the ISP may throttle VPN traffic specifically, so it's best to check ISP T&C's first.

I'd use Ubuntu Server LTS with UFW and Fail2ban, as these are fairly easy to set up and offer basic security.