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MC: New hardware for the AN Server?


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MC: New hardware for the AN Server?
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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2013-04-25, 18:58

I'm thinking about moving us. Right now we are on Lenny, dedicated hardware. However it's older dedicated hardware. It's a Xeon X5260 at 3.33ghz with a FSB of 1066MHz.

Details for X5260:
Code:
processor : 0 vendor_id : GenuineIntel cpu family : 6 model : 23 model name : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU X5260 @ 3.33GHz stepping : 6 cpu MHz : 2000.000 cache size : 6144 KB physical id : 0 siblings : 2 core id : 0 cpu cores : 2 apicid : 0 fpu : yes fpu_exception : yes cpuid level : 10 wp : yes flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm syscall nx lm constant_tsc pni monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr sse4_1 lahf_lm bogomips : 6666.66 clflush size : 64 cache_alignment : 64 address sizes : 38 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
I'm thinking about moving us to Junior which is an i7 860 but in a VM. I can likely overclock the i7 too, though not sure how stable I can make it overclocked. Just haven't played with it much at all. Junior has 16GB of RAM and I would move the SSD into it so that the only thing running in the SSD would be the VM. I would allocate at least 4GB to the game though maybe more if needed. While the clock speed of the i7 is lower, it's a faster and better chip so it would likely run better. Just not sure though. Junior is running Win 7 Ultimate and I'd make the configuration changes to make it more server like without the auto-reboots and such.

Details for i7 860 in a VM on Junior now:
Code:
processor : 0 vendor_id : GenuineIntel cpu family : 6 model : 30 model name : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80GHz stepping : 5 cpu MHz : 2800.340 cache size : 8192 KB fpu : yes fpu_exception : yes cpuid level : 11 wp : yes flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss syscall nx rdtscp lm constant_tsc up arch_perfmon pebs bts xtopology tsc_reliable nonstop_tsc aperfmperf unfair_spinlock pni ssse3 cx16 sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt hypervisor lahf_lm ida dts bogomips : 5600.68 clflush size : 64 cache_alignment : 64 address sizes : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
Here is a comparison site that doesn't do a good job comparing: http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Xeon-X...el-Core-i7-860

I'm always running Junior anyway, since it is my Media Center PC as of right now so changes is power are only going to be marginal. Though pushing the cores will certainly make them consume more than it does idling right now. So what are your thoughts on this?

If I go this route I would then make Lenny my router/firewall again meaning it won't have the issues it's had of needing to be rebooted regularly. Not to mention I can make the rules I need for my other devices.

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.

Last edited by turtle : 2013-04-25 at 19:09. Reason: Added specific CPU details
  quote
billybobsky
BANNED
I am worthless beyond hope.
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Inner Swabia. If you have to ask twice, don't.
 
2013-04-26, 04:01

You've been doing a great job keeping this thing running... Do we have any input from our other IT/CS-related guys? Are there comments from Brad?

Where is everyone?
  quote
RowdyScot
Ice Arrow Sniper
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Great Bay Temple
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2013-04-26, 08:09

Quote:
Originally Posted by billybobsky View Post
Where is everyone?
Can't speak for everyone else, but I've been horrifically swamped, and my MacBook Pro is pretty much dead. I'm posting this from the old G5, which runs like a champ, but won't run MC.

Authentic Nova Scotia bagpipe innards
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drewprops
Space Pirate
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
 
2013-04-26, 08:50

I was on for more than 1.5 hours last night building a road between Magic Mountain and my village.
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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2013-04-26, 18:22

Don't know where anyone else has been. Maybe MC isn't as big a deal to many anymore and they've moved on to other games.

I'm not really worried about my power bill, the current draw isn't really that much. I might even put my Kill-a-watt on there and rate it now that I'm thinking about it.

Since I can mirror the world and we won't lose any data it shouldn't be a big deal to go between the two. Basically we can try the game on Junior and we can go back to Lenny if Junior can't hang. Reconfiguring the SSD would be the "hardest" part.

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
  quote
RowdyScot
Ice Arrow Sniper
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Great Bay Temple
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2013-04-26, 19:18

Still *was* playing MC, but I'm just not having as much time for it with the way life is going at the moment. That will change (both the computer issue and the life crap) pretty quickly, but I won't be able to get on until it does. :/

Authentic Nova Scotia bagpipe innards
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Elysium
Environmental Bloodhound
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Land of ice and snow
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2013-04-26, 19:28

Been the same here. 80 hour work weeks and then three weekends back to back with trips.

Being housebound for the next week it looks like I'll be able to make some progress on my mountain complex. Maybe even start configuring a new Rink of Pain.

Formerly known as cynical_rock
censeo tentatio victum
There is no snooze button on a cat.

Last edited by Elysium : 2013-04-27 at 11:34.
  quote
709
¡Damned!
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Purgatory
 
2013-04-27, 11:14

Me three. Crazy busy over the last weeks, but I'm hoping to get on a bit this weekend.
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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2013-04-27, 23:50

Well, steps have been made to virtualize our world. I am currently running a copy from a little bit ago in a VM on the new machine. Thing is it's on the HDD which is nothing like the SSD it's on now. I port forwarded the 25566 to the game server on it.

So, if you'd like to log in just to say you did, go for it. It'd be nice to see how it responds before going on an SSD. I'm tempted to buy a new SSD just for it, but having a hard time justifying it.

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
  quote
turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2013-04-28, 11:47

FYI, test world (FTB copy from last night) with lots of TNT. Something in the area of thousands but I laid them by hand and then set them off. Here is a video where I also put the server "top" and Process Manager for the PC in the background. Go fullscreen to see the details, I did record/upload in 1080p.

Short version, load went up as high as .58 but then dropped quickly after. This is the with VM set to 4GB of RAM and 1 core, two threads. Still on HDD too so the chunks didn't load really fast. If you guys want to get on there and just play, I'll set you to creative mode so you can have a blast putting it through some paces. Let me know.

Edit: did an even larger load of TNT

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.

Last edited by turtle : 2013-04-28 at 14:35.
  quote
delphi
Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Charleston, South Carolina
 
2013-04-28, 15:47

Cool. Now that is an old school quarry.
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drewprops
Space Pirate
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
 
2013-04-28, 16:46

Wow! That's pretty good performance - so the question is, what would it look like on a VM with an SSD? (right?)


...
  quote
turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2013-04-28, 22:00

Even faster on an SSD since disk access would be much faster. Chunk data would load and respond better. Thing is I don't have a good way to test. If I were to pull the SSD out of Lenny, I'd have to wipe it to format NTFS for the Win7.

The thing about those videos is that all the world stuff that's been on is still on. Any thing that acts as a world anchor keeping a chunk alive when I copied the world is still in this test world. Granted, for testing reason I boosted my personal stuff, but that's so I can have unencumbered fun.

The best part of the tests is that the PC didn't flinch during the massive detonations and the load in the CentOS VM was well within normal ranges. It being on an SSD would likely help even more since there would be no IO bound issues holding up the load.

The nice part of the VM is that it's mobile. You can move the VM to any machine. This means putting it on an SSD simply means moving the VM files to the SSD. Also, this means that anyone with player can run this MC world. So many perks to a VM. In this case, I use VMware Workstation to make it.

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
  quote
turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2013-05-10, 23:26

So good news everyone! For just about a week now the MC server has been running in a VM on Junior and holding strong. This is also on a 7200 RPM HDD. Some time this weekend I'm going to repurpose Lenny and move the SSD to Junior. The VM is going to go onto Junior and the VM will run entirely on the SSD.

I didn't say anything other than some testing with SpecMode because I wanted to see how it handled it without people "looking for problems". I've been looking for them personally and not found any yet. The move to the SSD will be pretty painless, though will cause the VM to be shutdown during the move. It's a small price to pay for progress though.

I haven't heard from Brad during this either, so I can't say we've been able to consult on this one. He still has access to the VM and overall control of it, FYI.

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
  quote
drewprops
Space Pirate
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
 
2013-05-10, 23:53

I hope that Brad is doing well, in that place he's in.
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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2013-05-11, 15:52

I'm in the process now of clearing everything from the SSD in Lenny and hope to get it in place tonight in Junior so I can put the VM on it.

There's going to be a number of other tweaks that will be needed for moving the backups and such. Storage is limited in the VM where there was much more room for backups on Lenny. This means moving and removing outdated backups.

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
  quote
turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2013-05-12, 16:42

The move to the SSD has been completed on the new hardware. I still have some more tweaks to do, but this shouldn't impact the game's performance since the move has been done. I do have a few updates due for VM Workstation, but I'll get to that another time.

Enjoy!

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
  quote
Elysium
Environmental Bloodhound
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Land of ice and snow
Send a message via AIM to Elysium  
2013-05-12, 17:58

Thanks for you hard work as always, T.
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billybobsky
BANNED
I am worthless beyond hope.
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Inner Swabia. If you have to ask twice, don't.
 
2013-05-14, 12:18

Quote:
Originally Posted by drewprops View Post
I hope that Brad is doing well, in that place he's in.
gah! Too many months gone...
  quote
turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2013-05-14, 19:50

Yeah, it's been a while. I'm trying to hold out on doing much else with the server because of things that he is great at. Really, I'm sure we can push the line with some of the mods we haven't had on the new machine.

I do hope all is going well either way. I've PMed him, might text him soon.

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
  quote
drewprops
Space Pirate
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
 
2013-05-14, 23:40

I'm writing a song about him



...
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RowdyScot
Ice Arrow Sniper
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Great Bay Temple
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2013-05-15, 00:07

I miss Brad, too, but I know he's done some things to intervene when I've PMed. He saved my bacon several times over with various issues before my MBP died.

Authentic Nova Scotia bagpipe innards
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