How much do servers cost?

[minibois]

My friend is doing a project at school, where he needs to think of an service to work on and present to his teacher.

He chose a service which makes it able to PSN, Xbox Live and Steam users can play games together.

 

I kind of ran him through how I think that would play out and I told him about how they needed servers to host the data from players from different platforms.

 

Either way, he asked me how much these servers (or facilities would cost), so does anybody know how much server hardware is if you want to host.. Lets say 10.000 people?

I just need some rough numbers, not including the building, but only the server equipment

[DarrenP]

My friend is doing a project at school, where he needs to think of an service to work on and present to his teacher.

He chose a service which makes it able to PSN, Xbox Live and Steam users can play games together.

 

I kind of ran him through how I think that would play out and I told him about how they needed servers to host the data from players from different platforms.

 

Either way, he asked me how much these servers (or facilities would cost), so does anybody know how much server hardware is if you want to host.. Lets say 10.000 people?

I just need some rough numbers, not including the building, but only the server equipment

Nevermind the server infrastructure. the software to do all of that the costs to get running would be astronomical. Nevermind the loop holes you'd have to jump through to actually get off the ground, be it from licensing, and everything else. 

 

For 10000 people to play on a server, you'd need different servers, you have to load balance, and you'd be looking at hundreds of thousands.

[manikyath]

thats not a school project, thats something where a private company would hire IBM for infrastructure, microsoft for software and hundreds of sysadmins.

[minibois]

Nevermind the server infrastructure. the software to do all of that the costs to get running would be astronomical. Nevermind the loop holes you'd have to jump through to actually get off the ground, be it from licensing, and everything else. 

 

For 10000 people to play on a server, you'd need different servers, you have to load balance, and you'd be looking at hundreds of thousands.

This server was suppose to be presented to a big company such as Activision, who would be able to afford it (and make money back from it, because Call of Duty..)

Do you also have some more concrete numbers? Like number of .. Server PC's or whatever? (Not that good with server stuff) and how much those go for?

[minibois]

thats not a school project, thats something where a private company would hire IBM for infrastructure, microsoft for software and hundreds of sysadmins.

The school project is the idea. They are gonna act as if he was going to sell that service/idea to someone like Activision or Microsoft.

(I think they call it shark pool or something like that?)

[DarrenP]

This server was suppose to be presented to a big company such as Activision, who would be able to afford it (and make money back from it, because Call of Duty..)

Do you also have some more concrete numbers? Like number of .. Server PC's or whatever? (Not that good with server stuff) and how much those go for?

I'm for sure not the guy you're looking for. You'd be looking likely in the million+ dollar area ( If you were to buy and not rent). You'd need hundred(s) of server. I'd try contacting a company, and asking them, what game server hosting in the area of 10000+ users at any given time would cost. 

[manikyath]

The school project is the idea. They are gonna act as if he was going to sell that service/idea to someone like Activision or Microsoft.

(I think they call it shark pool or something like that?)

its not a feasable project tho, i have pulled some project magic myself troughout the years, but this is above the head of what a group of students can grasp.

 

also a playstation--xbox compat will never happen, because that'd mean those companies would agree on something, which would be as likely as AMD and intel working on the same motherboards again.

[MblaZe7run]

Nevermind the server infrastructure. the software to do all of that the costs to get running would be astronomical. Nevermind the loop holes you'd have to jump through to actually get off the ground, be it from licensing, and everything else. 

 

For 10000 people to play on a server, you'd need different servers, you have to load balance, and you'd be looking at hundreds of thousands.

Hundreds of thousands is a massive understatement. To have the servers to store the data, host the users, and have enough server houses to host, say, 1000 players across the continent, you're looking at millions. Without licensing.

[minibois]

its not a feasable project tho, i have pulled some project magic myself troughout the years, but this is above the head of what a group of students can grasp.

 

also a playstation--xbox compat will never happen, because that'd mean those companies would agree on something, which would be as likely as AMD and intel working on the same motherboards again.

You.. Do understand he is not doing some IT study? He is doing marketing and he is only suppose to come with an idea.

It was allowed to be as wild as possible, because they are not gonna actually do it. I understand Sony and MS wouldn't want to work together, but this is just a fictional idea of a project.

[manikyath]

You.. Do understand he is not doing some IT study? He is doing marketing and he is only suppose to come with an idea.

It was allowed to be as wild as possible, because they are not gonna actually do it. I understand Sony and MS wouldn't want to work together, but this is just a fictional idea of a project.

in that case, i'll word it differently: 

it'd take this much money.

 

priced out as follows: lets say you buy your servers in bulk, and you pay 20K per 2U rackmount server.

each one of these can probably handle around 500 people if optimised as desired. (some games are better optimized than others, take this with a grain of salt)

10K people => 20 servers, right? no. perfect scaling isnt a thing, and you'll need systems for load balancing, you'll need servers dedicated to matchmaking, translating protocols, etc.

lets say you manage to squeeze this all into 50 servers: 25 for the games, 2 matchmaking servers, 3 end points for load balancing, and the rest is split across the 3 platforms to commulicate with their proprietary tech.

 

this is 20K*50=1 millon dorrars. (dorrars will be the used currency, as all these numbers are mostly a guesstimation)

 

on top of that, you'll need a datacenter to house these servers in, you need network equipment, uplink, DDoS protection, sysadmins, a janitor, etc.

i'm not going to dig into these numbers, as these vary a lot from location to location.

 

NOW the big bill comes: the software.

 

on top of the fact all your servers will need custom made software to handle information from 3 COMPLETELY different endpoints, you will need to license with these endpoints, you will need testing, testing again, monitoring, patching of bugs, etc etc.

 

i simply will not even start to claim i can grasp what a project like this would cost, or if it would even be profitable in the end.

 

it's a really interesting idea, but there is no company in the world that'd be mental enough to even consider trying this.

[minibois]

-snip-

Thanks for the info and estimates, I (and m friend) do appreciate it

[manikyath]

Thanks for the info and estimates, I (and m friend) do appreciate it

i expected a rant for the silly picture, but that's pretty much it, glad i could help.

[Footy]

My friend is doing a project at school, where he needs to think of an service to work on and present to his teacher.

He chose a service which makes it able to PSN, Xbox Live and Steam users can play games together.

 

I kind of ran him through how I think that would play out and I told him about how they needed servers to host the data from players from different platforms.

 

Either way, he asked me how much these servers (or facilities would cost), so does anybody know how much server hardware is if you want to host.. Lets say 10.000 people?

I just need some rough numbers, not including the building, but only the server equipment

 

So if all your doing is acting as a relay/translation server then you can think a bit more simply.

 

If you say a cpu can handle 20 concurrent users (115mhz each) you can build a 1U server with 2x18 core cpus for about 10K USD (handling 720 users)

10000/720 = 13.8  (so 14 servers 140K USD)

 

Lets say each user uses 20KB/s (160kbit)

720 = 112.5 mbit

10000 = 1.56 gbit

So you need 2gb of external bandwidth and a switch that can handle 10GB uplinks and 1GB downlinks

lets say a 3048 - ~7K USD

 

Firewall (2GB spec)  5525-x  ~6-7k USD

Load balancer 2000s 5gb spec ~12k USD

Internet 2Gbit in a DC ~1k/month

 

Rack, power and cooling ~1k/month

so....

140+7+7+12 = 166k capex and 2k/month

allocate 10k for wires and other unexpected things like isp install fees

[minibois]

So if all your doing is acting as a relay/translation server then you can think a bit more simply.

 

If you say a cpu can handle 20 concurrent users (115mhz each) you can build a 1U server with 2x18 core cpus for about 10K USD (handling 720 users)

10000/720 = 13.8  (so 14 servers 140K USD)

 

Lets say each user uses 20KB/s (160kbit)

720 = 112.5 mbit

10000 = 1.56 gbit

So you need 2gb of external bandwidth and a switch that can handle 10GB uplinks and 1GB downlinks

lets say a 3048 - ~7K USD

 

Firewall (2GB spec)  5525-x  ~6-7k USD

Load balancer 2000s 5gb spec ~12k USD

Internet 2Gbit in a DC ~1k/month

 

Rack, power and cooling ~1k/month

so....

140+7+7+12 = 166k capex and 2k/month

allocate 10k for wires and other unexpected things like isp install fees

Thanks man, this was exactly what my friend was looking for

Prices for every cost.

[manikyath]

Thanks man, this was exactly what my friend was looking for

Prices for every cost.

while this is very in depth indeed, it does not contain the cost of software, staff and the gameservers themselves.

 

because be honest, MS isnt gonna let PS4 players on their gameservers, or the other way around.

 

its a REALLY good cost calculation for the backend tho.

[minibois]

while this is very in depth indeed, it does not contain the cost of software, staff and the gameservers themselves.

 

because be honest, MS isnt gonna let PS4 players on their gameservers, or the other way around.

 

its a REALLY good cost calculation for the backend tho.

I already talked about how Sony and Microsoft wont collaborate.. Or even collaborate with someone who wants to make a service like this.

But it's just a fictional thing.

[manikyath]

I already talked about how Sony and Microsoft wont collaborate.. Or even collaborate with someone who wants to make a service like this.

But it's just a fictional thing.

the thing is, if you host the gameservers and do the heavy lifting, they just might...

 

and if your friend can bring a concept that may fuse two completely walled off markets thats possibly feasible, that'd be a really interesting speech, wouldnt it?

 

EDIT: slap a catchy name to it, figure out how it could be profitable, A+ gained.

[Footy]

while this is very in depth indeed, it does not contain the cost of software, staff and the gameservers themselves.

 

because be honest, MS isnt gonna let PS4 players on their gameservers, or the other way around.

 

its a REALLY good cost calculation for the backend tho.

Thanks,

Yes I don't really do software, but I do my fair share of hardware

Wish I could show you pictures of my work yesterday but you know NDAs n stuff

[MooCow]

Tens to hundreds of millions for hardware, software and people to set it all up.