New fpsclassico 2024 servers

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New fpsclassico 2024 servers

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just as a small update here reporting that finally as I believe that you could have already noticed at other parts of the site after talks with the provider during the duration of the service it turned out that they actually physically located the secondary server at a small secondary (for them) facility in Karlsruhe instead of their main Berlin one as initially believed which now fully explains the more than competitive, unrealistic for Berlin, latency which actually just being around 150 kms south of Frankfurt, the main connectivity node in central Europe, makes the secondary server now a almost ten out of ten deal taking everything in consideration even by today market offers.

for the rest as I think that you already know the funding was running low lately so this month I've been checking the market for some interesting deals in case it would be necessary to cut some costs/services later on and ultimately ended up coming across and taking a replacement for the main server posted here. as usual for those interested since at the end of the day for the most part you're the ones ultimately paying for these servers as well as for me for future reference here you have now the full documentation and specifications of the this new main replacement server so you can know:

Code: Select all

 21:26:01 up 32 min,  2 users,  load average: 7.98, 6.24, 3.33
CPU:
 core 0:
  thread 0:
   freq: 3699 MHz
  thread 1:
   freq: 3700 MHz
  temp: 57.000℃
 core 1:
  thread 0:
   freq: 3699 MHz
  thread 1:
   freq: 3699 MHz
  temp: 58.000℃
 core 2:
  thread 0:
   freq: 3700 MHz
  thread 1:
   freq: 3699 MHz
  temp: 57.000℃
 core 3:
  thread 0:
   freq: 3699 MHz
  thread 1:
   freq: 3699 MHz
  temp: 58.000℃
 freq: 3700.014 MHz
 temp: 58.000℃
M/B:
 temp (PCH): 34.5℃
 temp (N/B): 29.8℃
 temp (S/B): 27.8℃
RAM:
 DIMM_A2: 35.25℃
 DIMM_B2: 35.00℃
BMC:
 SSB Temp: 37.00 C
 BMC Temp: 38.00 C
 +12.0V: 12.27 V
 +3.3V Vbat: 3.13 V
MEM:
 bios: 713.91 MiB
 used: 1220.84 MiB
 Status: No errors detected
HDD1:
 temp: 37.0℃
 written: 89.07 TiB
 read: 76.27 TiB
 workload: 8.58%
 rate: 110.60 MiB/s
 health: PASSED
HDD2:
 temp: 36.0℃
 written: 37.82 TiB
 read: 3453.72 TiB
 workload: 163.29%
 rate: 123.07 MiB/s
 health: PASSED
LAN:
 multicast: 4161
 rx_bytes: 6.875 MB
 rx_packets: 11.766 Kp
 tx_bytes: 0.985 MB
 tx_packets: 6.626 Kp
and I think that unless I missed something that should be all about the new main server replacement specifications. as can be seen there for other than processing capacity, that is not gonna be used (i.e. you don't need 24 cpu cores in total to not even run a dozen servers at full capacity, I mean, if it comes around as it was the case, be it, otherwise that's not responsible expending/consuming), this new server beats the previous one in pretty much every metric (i.e. processing power per unit, network, location, features etc etc) so as said despite the more adjusted budget this is by no means a downgrade or anything if not actually the contrary. so as noted there this new server is basically a completely intel based late 2010's budget professional small business dedicated server full of extras that to be honest just the extras there alone (i.e. ipmi, dc disks, dual intel nic, ecc ram, you name it) would be worth even more than the entire 28 euros per month budget.

when it comes to the hardware, the motherboard is a intel based mid 2010's server board that even features two integrated intel network card as a bonus. as usual, not stuff that is really gonna be used but a great bonus for the budget. the standout feature of the motherboard and flagship extra of the entire server is the integrated bmc ipmi controller interface that as with the rest of the extras although not strictly needed to operate a server is greatly welcome as it makes server management a lot more easier and efficient and consequently robust overall. quite frankly that's a feature that typically is provided separately from the regular service at prices as high as almost 100 euros for 24 hour of service so have it included out of the box in the base package is definitively a incredible feat. overall a solid intel based motherboard from the Windows 8/Windows Server 2012 generation that quotes more than 1.2 millions hours of mtbf still more than relevant for a small dedicated nowadays. the cpu is a Intel E3-1230 v6 from the server based series Xeon featuring four dual threaded cores (4x2). overall it's a cpu very similar to the previous one (so it should be way more than needed) but obviously from intel instead of amd. both are 14 nm chips however the biggest difference between them lies in the fact that the previous one was rated at 95 watts for eight dual threaded cores (i.e. 6 watts per thread) while this one is 72 for half the size making it potentially up to a 50% more powerful per unit (i.e. 9 watts per thread). this can be seen in the fact that although the previous one could just do the base 3.4 GHz frequency in all cores with higher clocks only limited to smaller burst this one can easily do 3.7 GHz out of the box like no problem in all cores keeping cpu unitary usage not even at 50% when servers full. in that sense another great feature of the server is that it's actually water cooled not even hitting 60 degrees when stress testing it. again yet another non fundamental extra but that it adds yet even more value to the package. the only small downside of the cpu is the lower caches sizes could probably be a bit larger, like twice that, but well given the top class equipped ram that's probably not a problem at all (ex. the ram alone is even faster than the L2 cache of the more than capable secondary server) so the ram is once again another great improvement over the previous server and another standout feature of the server. this time it was sold as ecc and actually received as ecc (i.e. yet another bonus for the budget) unlike the secondary server that ultimately received regular ram and as extra they even over delivered 2400 MHz samsung sticks, the max supported by that cpu/mobo, over the billed 2133 MHz ddr4 which is what ran the previous server for the same budget. as can be read in the specifications the ram are top tier professional grade error corrected 2400 MHz ddr4 sticks. that ram is actually surprisingly good, I mean, the passmark memory result there it's quite similar to the one I get in my own computer with 4 GHz patriot sticks tuned to the max running almost at twice the speed. I assume in that sense intel memory architecture/performance it's probably superior to amd.

as for the storage, there was this same offer with some sort of solid sticks but clearly it was completely sold out around the time of purchase so I just took a regular hdd offer instead (that also went sold out the day after btw) which probably for the use being is just as good if not better as it's very unlikely that you'll get the same kind of top tier sticks as you do with the hdds. so basically the server came with two enterprise data centre class 4 TB hard disks which are pretty much top of the line. once again as with the ram they also over delivered here, the offer was sold and is billed as 2x2 TB however I received twice the size (2x4 TB) for the same prize which just tells about the calibre of this provider hardware (i.e. that's just the "basic" instalment there). contrary to the standard both disks are different here which tells you that these disks have been probably decommissioned from other parts/services of the company like previous servers and/or data arrays. one is a little less than four years old and in perfect condition (for a drive of that calibre) while the other is a little more than four years old and is in a more used/questionable condition with very little write use but with some heavy read use (around 3.5 PB in total which is almost twice the usual 550 TB/Year maximum specified workload) which likely tell that this was previously a heavy downloads/torrent drive (this has been literally serving 250 mbps of data for the last four years straight). in any case considering you received top of the line twice the size you ordered disks there's probably no much to complain here beside giving the size (8 TB in total wtf) clearly this time I raided them for redundancy so it shouldn't be a problem. in that sense the secondary offer it's probably superior in that aspect, nevertheless, these disks here are expected to last at least for more than a year more. in addition to all that as bonus these disks even feature transparent encryption at rest and even enhanced security beyond that in the case of the secondary disk that is superior to the primary one in the embedded controller. once again, nothing really necessary per se but always good to have for extended functionality. as a curious detail is interesting to note that all those along with the secondary server hard drives are legacy 512 native sectors disks contrary to the more usual 4k advanced sector disks typically seem in more consumer oriented products probably for extended reliability as well as migration/compatibility with other technologies like solid disks that typically operate at that old sector size.

and I think that should probably the most remarkable about the hardware, as I said, a solid improvement over the previous server at a even more adjusted budget. probably the only downside in the hardware section is the lack of any gpu whatsoever to render some videos too, had not been because of that and then this server could probably even replace all the rest given the circumstances if necessary. as noted in the specifications, unfortunately in that aspect the server just features a display adaptor (not really a "gpu" by today standards) from the nineties embedded in the bmc (comparable to that of a psx) equipped with just 16 megabytes of memory that it's obvious that for other than accessing the bios along with other similar basic server management tasks as it's intended to is incapable of anything else. as I often said, it's obvious that by that budget you just can't have it all, it's what it's and quite frankly it's already a lot more than what should for the budget, but a lot, not a little more, a lot more. anyways I assume that for that I'll just stick to the secondary server which is still nevertheless also another great and solid offer to keep.

beside the hardware when it comes to the provider/network as noted there they are as well top tier and another great improvement (and reason) to update from the previous server. by the far the biggest flaw of the previous provider was the lack of IPv6 connectivity whatsoever and although I had managed to bring some IPv6 connectivity to it in the form of a external free service at the end of the day you get what you pay for (i.e. nothing) and the reality is that the IPv6 connectivity in that machine was down most often than not. although not critical, that's not ok nor acceptable by any late 2010's standards that mandate dual stack connectivity at all times let alone by year 2020+. just that fact alone, without even involving any budget/improvements, justified the change alone, now this new server has "perfect" (meaning as as good the IPv4) IPv6 connectivity as it should ever be. moreover when it comes to the network/connectivity once again these guys are far superior to the previous provider. not only they are iso 27k certified that they are pretty much everything else in the book certified as can be seen there so you can expect probably one the highest levels of service and availability in the business comparable to amazon, google, azure and the likes. even the location, significantly closer to Frankfurt, and the latency that rather than improving with the time it was slowly decaying there should as well be generally improved.

finally for the operative system I installed some up-to-date fedora 39 with all the latest updates over just a 2 TB raid there (instead of the whole array therefor leaving some spare space in case of need for the future) that should more than do the job at least for the time to come and as bonus I as well updated this web server along with it (the secondary server will probably follow along the way once I finish setting up and mirroring everything at some point for further improvement). and I think that should then be all with this report by now as said a nice update I think for the time being over the previous service and a good four euros per month cost reduction that although nothing dramatic it's always welcome nevertheless (that's like a bill less at the end of the year). so that should be it, from what I saw I believe that more or less people is gonna keep supporting this to some extend so I assume that then there should probably be no need to cut (meaning downgrade, which again this replacement now make a downgrade path a lot more versatile since this server now can do a lot more things than just hosting games) any services in the short/mid term so this should continue to run as-is likely for another season.
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Re: New fpsclassico 2024 servers

Post by adminless »

ok as most of you I guess that already know is usually during the summer times when I typically do server maintenance/updating as that's when the workload is lower. initially this year I only planned to do some minor updates, nothing "major", since I was mostly happy with the current servers and setup as I believe that they were working good so initially I had only replaced the main server with a better deal as already documented in a previous post that I guess that I'll now move here to have this better organized. unfortunately as I think that you also already know the previous secondary server experienced a series of technical issues during this time that ultimately resulted in a death hard disk and a server parked for service that consequently forced me to have to rent this new server that I'll document in this post to make up for the failure and ultimately to consequently have to restructure pretty much the whole thing for this new season/year.

as usual for reference for those interested or just curious about it (as well as mostly documentation for me) here are the technical specifications for this "new" replacement server:

Code: Select all

 14:18:28 up 1 day,  5:53,  2 users,  load average: 4.77, 4.49, 4.04
CPU:
 module 0:
  core 0:
   freq: 2575 MHz
  core 1:
   freq: 2299 MHz
 module 1:
  core 0:
   freq: 2598 MHz
  core 1:
   freq: 2300 MHz
 module 2:
  core 0:
   freq: 2599 MHz
  core 1:
   freq: 2300 MHz
 module 3:
  core 0:
   freq: 2585 MHz
  core 1:
   freq: 2300 MHz
 freq: 2599.866 MHz
 temp: 41.2℃
 watt: 63.8W
M/B:
 temp (LAN): 49.0℃
 FAN 1 (Fan): 10404 RPM
RAM:
 DIMM1A: 30.50℃
 DIMM2A: 30.00℃
BMC:
 System Temp: 29.00 C
 CPU Vcore: 0.95 V
 CPU DIMM: 1.50 V
 +12 V: 11.98 V
 +3.3 V: 3.24 V
 +3.3VSB: 3.24 V
 VBAT: 2.30 V
MEM:
 bios: 416.64 MiB
 used: 4089.53 MiB
 Status: No errors detected
HDD1:
 temp: 32.0℃
 written: 36.41 TiB
 read: 60.39 TiB
 workload: 3.39%
 rate: 95.19 MiB/s
 health: PASSED
HDD2:
 temp: 33.0℃
 written: 25.99 TiB
 read: 38.46 TiB
 workload: 2.27%
 rate: 98.13 MiB/s
 health: PASSED
LAN:
 multicast: 1829519
 rx_bytes: 22.448 GB
 rx_packets: 70.64 Mp
 tx_bytes: 20.562 GB
 tx_packets: 39.80 Mp
as seen there the server is overall very very similar to the previous secondary one that broke but a generation newer and from a proper server line up instead of a "regular" desktop/workstation one that at least should assure the fit for the purpose at hand (there) that is running a reliable 24/7 remote server. as noted there the server is just a small phased out amd based machine from the mid 2010's ideal for web hosting and other similar network intense services or even as a small kvm root hypervisor machine as infrastructure server. as seen in the original advertisement posted there these sold in the mid 2010's by the first hand provider at a 40 euros/month price which back then it was probably just a average deal. I got these now after being phased out by the first hand provider a decade later through a reseller at a very competitive reduced price of only 19 euros/month. quite frankly, any sort of fully fledged dedicated servers bellow the 20 euros/month tag (under normal circumstances) are pretty much unheard of (yeah you can get some machines bellow that price but all of them missing something, like disks [ex. nas storage], network [ex. no IPv4/NAT], cpu [ex. netbooks/arm], location [ex. Oceania] etc etc not a fully fledged capable server let alone a enterprise class one at the heart of Europe) so I'd say that this is probably the best deal around right now for the use being here.

as for the hardware itself, this time the whole machine is a proprietary branded blade server from the server line up of top class manufacturer supermicro (a unit) instead of a main desktop/workstation repurposed as a dedicated server (like the now third spare web server) or just a third party server made up of different assembly parts (like the main server). apparently the whole thing (and likely along with the racks and rest of the back office infrastructure) just came like this from the factory. as already commented not really that I care about the brand or anything like that (what I do really care about is the hardware mostly) but at the end of the day when you deploy a server like this you at least have the assurance from a entire chain of production that the machine will be fit for the task at hand of running a 24/7 reliable server and that it will work as intended. in the other case such assurance relies in you (or worse the provider in this case) and that in the long run tends to show as can be seen which is why these kind of branded servers are typically billed as a extra so that's definitively a good plus for this server. as already commented in terms of overall hardware/performance the server is just a small improvement over the previous secondary server, nothing dramatic here. the previous server was a AM3 2.8-3.3 GHz six core 16 GiB DDR3 1333 MHz based machine and this one is AM3+ 2.3-3.3 GHz octa-core 16 GiB DDR3 1600 MHz based machine instead. in practice after using both these days it's basically just as fast as the previous secondary server or up to around a 25% faster depending in the workload, as said, just a small update. the cpu is branded as a octa-core by amd but in reality is split just in four modules that then feature two computing units each that then share some resources between them so it's not truly a real octa-core cpu in that sense (it depends in the actual workload) thus care must be taken when scheduling the different tasks to maximize its performance. at least the stand out feature of this cpu is that each of those modules feature 2 MiB of dedicated L2 cache for a total of 8 MiB of L2 cache which is a unusual amount for this kind of mid/low-tier cpus. for the frequency it seems that for up to 50% cpu usage (i.e. four cores) it locks at 2.6 GHz, considering the previous one was rated at 2.8 GHz and very rarely (if ever) it boosted (i.e. no need/"pressure") and giving the improved micro architecture (i.e. higher instruction/performance per clock) that's just what you need to run these servers. I mean, you just can check the monitoring pages for the servers these days, for the use being this server has just been working pretty much on par with the main one despite any technical comparisons between them. I think that that's the only benchmark that really counts here at the end of the day. for the rest about the hardware it's also a great improvement from the previous secondary server that not only the chipsets are newer (series 700 vs series 800 now) and dedicated (unfortunately no 3d gpu here either) that they are are also from a server line up instead of a regular desktop one. as already explained, not that it really makes a difference but at least you have a assurance from the manufacturer that the chipsets should have been designed and tested for 24/7 operation and server use and that therefor they should not just die at some point like that. as already figured out in the previous secondary server at the end of the day it doesn't matter if you attach some state of the art disk into some sata port of a motherboard, if the southbridge dies and/or malfunctions, you're done so that's not something that should be just overlooked and/or taken for granted like that. additionally although not as important this one do come with ECC memory as advertised in the deal and not with regular memory instead as was the case with the previous secondary server despite it claimed otherwise. in line with the rest of the stuff although not really as important/relevant for the use being, it's still always great to be able to get some memory errors before the entire system gets potentially corrupt/breaks so at least you might have a chance to do something about it in time. I mean, I wouldn't pay a extra for that (as it's typically the case) but I think that it's also great to have it included in the deal.

again, as with the main server, this server features all the same remote management capabilities that you typically only get with high end servers so that should minimize any potential downtime and recovery as much as possible. in that aspect in case someone wonder the long term intel server support and bios are superior but in terms of remote management the supermicro solution is even better and more powerful so that's a huge bonus for me to operate and maintain these servers and that should result in better service. when in comes to the network that's the stand out and flagship feature of this offer, that's top notch. not only the server feature two intel based gigabit cards (i.e. just in case one breaks) attached to the internal gfx pcie bridge operating at 5 GT/s (which is highly unusual) that it even delivers a best effort 1 gigabit unmetered connection located in Dusseldorf right at the heart of Europe. that's as good as you're gonna get in that aspect and that totally outclasses the previous secondary server and it even beats the main one there so you can be totally sure that the network won't be a bottleneck here. in case the ip and the location ring a bell to some around here, it's interesting because this server I got through a reseller it actually comes from the server provider of the previous main server I was running here just a few months ago until the deal stopped being as competitive (as can be seen) and I replaced it with the current main server so once again I think that the quality and performance should come with it as well in that aspect (I mean, the previous main server ran directly there without any problems for a year).

as downsides, you have the disks and once again the lack of any sort of real "gpu" beyond just a "display adaptor" to remotely manage the server and little else (i.e. light work). as with the main the server the latter is to expect from this kind of product, that's what it's, a dedicated headless remote server not a desktop, so there's really nothing to complain about (that's what you got) and as a plus this one even looks a bit better and more clear than the intel one which is also welcome. as for the disks the server features two used 1 TB Toshiba enterprise class regular magnetic disks. the disks are some more than four years old (in line with the age of those of the main server) but at least they have very little use to them (just a few percent of the estimated enterprise class workload) beside needless to say they are also raided for redundancy in case one of them fails so I think that in that aspect there should not be any problem either, not at least one that could not hopefully be solved, I mean. in terms of performance these disks were just average back then so nowadays they are mostly mediocre. anyway when it comes to the disk I do care a lot more about reliability than about performance, nobody cares about some flashy cutting edge disks that die out of nowhere just like that, beside even despite that the server just boots faster than the previous secondary server and pretty much almost as fast as the main one so again that's not even really a problem either. as usual you just can not expect to have it all for that budget, matter of fact, that's a lot more than it should for the budget. as for the system, it's just the usual up-to-date latest system image I pretty much maintain and use in all these servers. in this specific case it's a exact clone of the main server with the only difference being the boot mode (legacy bios in this one, modern uefi in the main one).

and I think that's all with this "new" replacement server report, as said, overall it looks like a very solid deal and server and it's great that it even cuts some costs (it costs around ten euros less per month than what the previous server costed) without sacrificing service (again although not dramatic this is still a improvement over the previous service) so hopefully this new 2024 dual server setup will stick at least for another year or so. for the rest now I was really messed up since none of these servers can produce video (i.e. I would just have to resort to produce video here locally, in my desk, which is not a real long term solution) but hopefully I got one of those offers you can't refuse for the previous secondary server (75% off for 12 months) following the failure that I obviously took in the blink of a eye so I also put this week that previous secondary server to work now as web server and development/testing/backend workstation instead which is actually more in tune with it's specifications and to how it's actually being billed at the moment and decommissioned the previous cloud web server and router accordingly (the main reason to run that server was its network but in the recent months it wasn't even as good as it used to be anymore so it was no longer even worth the money [i.e. in best case scenario it just cut like 1 or 2 msecs at best over this new setup, that's not worth the money]). as for the costs, since there's really no guarantees there and it's mostly a extra (everything could now perfectly run in just the two "main" servers) I'll actually pay for the workstation server out of my pocket as hopefully at the current price that's something I can comfortably afford without problems and I'm sure I'll put it to good use/come (to me) handy that means that this new setup downs the total costs for these services to 50 Euros/month (including the domains) which as I started saying I think that it's a great cut and now a reasonable/realistic budget to run this.

finally as usual with this kind of reports I would like to finish, first, thanking everyone around for the funding received during this period that allowed to mostly directly provide these services, great job, and, second, reminding everyone around of the costs both technical (as can be seen) as well as economical of keep providing these services every month over the years. make sure that it's only possible thanks to such funding that these services keep operating like this therefore if you have read this far and you would like them to continue doing so I'd really encourage you to support them with any amount you want/can afford. remember that you can directly send money for these services at the paypal@fpsclassico.com paypal address or through the paypal.me/adminless link if you have a paypal account or through the paypal.fpsclassico.com link otherwise (i.e. plastic card).
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