Windows or Ubuntu Linux for dedicated server host?

[jtpjr]

Hi,

So I was thinking of running my old laptop as a dedicated server host, where I could plug into my router with a Ethernet cable and run servers (minecraft, gmod, etc.) for me and my friends. Now, I upgraded my laptop (Sony Vaio PCG41411) to windows 10 and it runs okay, its just I was wondering that if I changed the OS to Ubuntu Linux 16.04 it would be better for its job of dedicated server host.

Thanks,

jtpjr

[Speshul_]

Honestly I would take a look at centOS 7, its free and is one of the most popular server OSs.

https://www.centos.org/

[deleted_member_030719]

Just now, Speshul_ said:

Honestly I would take a look at centOS 7, its free and is one of the most popular server OSs.

No. CentOS is for newbies. It's better to use Ubuntu or Debian.

 

5 minutes ago, jtpjr said:

Hi,

So I was thinking of running my old laptop as a dedicated server host, where I could plug into my router with a Ethernet cable and run servers (minecraft, gmod, etc.) for me and my friends. Now, I upgraded my laptop (Sony Vaio PCG41411) to windows 10 and it runs okay, its just I was wondering that if I changed the OS to Ubuntu Linux 16.04 it would be better for its job of dedicated server host.

Thanks,

jtpjr

It depends what you're going to be running exactly. I've run Minecraft on Linux and Windows, and I've always found Linux to be a much better choice. I'd prefer recommend Ubuntu 14.04 and Mark2 for running your server. 

[Speshul_]

The reason why a desktop version of Windows is not ideal for servers is because it runs many unnecessary processes in the background that can degrade performance, stability and security. 

[Speshul_]

1 minute ago, Jed M said:

No. CentOS is for newbies. It's better to use Ubuntu or Debian.

 

It depends what you're going to be running exactly. I've run Minecraft on Linux and Windows, and I've always found Linux to be a much better choice. I'd prefer recommend Ubuntu 14.04 and Mark2 for running your server. 

Yes I'm assuming this person is a newbie.

[Canada EH]

Look for a dedicated server Linux distro.

8 minutes ago, jtpjr said:

Hi

 

[jtpjr]

Just now, Speshul_ said:

The reason why a desktop version of Windows is not ideal for servers is because it runs many unnecessary processes in the background that can degrade performance, stability and security. 

True, thats why I was thinking that Ubuntu would be a better bet. My only concern is really with running the valve servers, because its on Linux instead of windows, but I'm sure its not too hard to figure out. Plus windows loves to make my fan in my laptop go from 100% to 0% every 5 minutes

[jtpjr]

Just now, Speshul_ said:

Yes I'm assuming this person is a newbie.

I know how to work Ubuntu, of course im not all that experienced. I really want this to be a bit of a learning process for the Ubuntu OS as well, because in future I would like to setup some sort of dedicated server, but this is a nice starting place

[Speshul_]

1 minute ago, jtpjr said:

True, thats why I was thinking that Ubuntu would be a better bet. My only concern is really with running the valve servers, because its on Linux instead of windows, but I'm sure its not too hard to figure out. Plus windows loves to make my fan in my laptop go from 100% to 0% every 5 minutes

Well valve was really pushing Linux a few years ago so all their games have support and therefore be easy to setup I assume (I haven't done this myself). Also try to get the server release of Ubuntu if you feel confident enough your server will run better.

[jtpjr]

Just now, Speshul_ said:

Well valve was really pushing Linux a few years ago so all their games have support and therefore be easy to setup I assume (I haven't done this myself)

Cool, then that really shouldn't be too hard. IMO, Windows for this laptop is a bit of a waste, my only problem with doing this is driver support, as this is a windows laptop from about 7-8 years ago.

[jtpjr]

Just now, jtpjr said:

Cool, then that really shouldn't be too hard. IMO, Windows for this laptop is a bit of a waste, my only problem with doing this is driver support, as this is a windows laptop from about 7-8 years ago.

Plus the fact that I'm updating drivers now and I'm updating updaters

[Speshul_]

Just now, jtpjr said:

Cool, then that really shouldn't be too hard. IMO, Windows for this laptop is a bit of a waste, my only problem with doing this is driver support, as this is a windows laptop from about 7-8 years ago.

Yeah, not 100% on this but I have played around with Linux distros on older laptops before and never really had any issues. Just be prepared it is a bit of a learning curve if you have never used Linux before.

[Canada EH]

1 minute ago, Speshul_ said:

it is a bit of a learning curve if you have never used Linux before.

I can admit to that. I am so used to Windows and I'd have to google anything I wanted to do, or ask in the Ubuntu forums.

[jtpjr]

Just now, Speshul_ said:

Yeah, not 100% on this but I have played around with Linux distros on older laptops before and never really had any issues. Just be prepared it is a bit of a learning curve if you have never used Linux before.

That's what youtube and these forums are for, lol. I am up to the learning curve, as Linux is an awesome OS, and I want to get into it. I have a raspberry Pi lying around my house somewhere, its just I never really had any purpose for it

[jtpjr]

Anyways, that answered my quiestion. I'll wipe it to ubuntu tonight, and maybe even debian in future, as I need to learn debian for school. Thanks All!

[Speshul_]

Just now, jtpjr said:

That's what youtube and these forums are for, lol. I am up to the learning curve, as Linux is an awesome OS, and I want to get into it. I have a raspberry Pi lying around my house somewhere, its just I never really had any purpose for it

Yeah Linux is a great thing to learn if your up for it, almost all servers in the real world run off Linux. Have fun

[manikyath]

desktop windows (and in honesty windows server as well..) is such a resource hog it's almost hilareous.

 

that said,i have a couple pieces of advice i put in every thread like this:

- DONT host anything public on your home network, if it's for you and your friends it's fine, but dont ever make it more than that if you dont want issues. (ranging from cyber attacks to your ISP shutting you down)

- laptops are bad devices for running 24/7, just keep an eye on it to make sure thermals are in check, a friend of mine modified one of his clousets with two bars so they can be in mid air instead of vaccuuming his desk.

- if you dont need any windows-specific software, linux is the way to go, i suggest the debian tree (debian, ubuntu, and derivatives) for people who are new to this stuff, simply for the MASSIVE amount of information out there about them.

- if you wont be accessing the device trough a graphical interface (be it by opening the lid and accessing it like a laptop, or trough a remote desktop system of your choice) dont run a graphical interface, once again, memory hog.

- if you so much want to have a graphical interface, LXDE is the way to go, if you want something out the box go for Lubuntu and get rid of the services you dont need (like bluetooth).

- DO NOT use ubuntu desktop on a server, it's as much of a hog as windows at this point... (repeating here, Lubuntu )

- look into the screen package for linux, it will change how you think about running servers. (apt-get install screen )

- in terms of minecraft, java 8 is the way to go

- in terms of Gmod, if you're gonna do multiple instances, i can tell you a trick to save large amounts of hard drive space and make updating less of a hassle.

[jtpjr]

2 minutes ago, manikyath said:

desktop windows (and in honesty windows server as well..) is such a resource hog it's almost hilareous.

 

that said,i have a couple pieces of advice i put in every thread like this:

- DONT host anything public on your home network, if it's for you and your friends it's fine, but dont ever make it more than that if you dont want issues. (ranging from cyber attacks to your ISP shutting you down)

- laptops are bad devices for running 24/7, just keep an eye on it to make sure thermals are in check, a friend of mine modified one of his clousets with two bars so they can be in mid air instead of vaccuuming his desk.

- if you dont need any windows-specific software, linux is the way to go, i suggest the debian tree (debian, ubuntu, and derivatives) for people who are new to this stuff, simply for the MASSIVE amount of information out there about them.

- if you wont be accessing the device trough a graphical interface (be it by opening the lid and accessing it like a laptop, or trough a remote desktop system of your choice) dont run a graphical interface, once again, memory hog.

- if you so much want to have a graphical interface, LXDE is the way to go, if you want something out the box go for Lubuntu and get rid of the services you dont need (like bluetooth).

- DO NOT use ubuntu desktop on a server, it's as much of a hog as windows at this point... (repeating here, Lubuntu )

- look into the screen package for linux, it will change how you think about running servers. (apt-get install screen )

- in terms of minecraft, java 8 is the way to go

- in terms of Gmod, if you're gonna do multiple instances, i can tell you a trick to save large amounts of hard drive space and make updating less of a hassle.

Okay, so maybe debian or lubuntu? And also that trick would be nice. Like I said, the only Linux i've ever used before is ubuntu, but I'm up to the challenge. This will STRICTLY be between only me and my friends, and it wont be 24/7 because the fan is earrape

[jtpjr]

6 minutes ago, jtpjr said:

Okay, so maybe debian or lubuntu? And also that trick would be nice. Like I said, the only Linux i've ever used before is ubuntu, but I'm up to the challenge. This will STRICTLY be between only me and my friends, and it wont be 24/7 because the fan is earrape

After looking at both debian and lubuntu, I am torn between which one to go with, do you have any reccomendations?

 

EDIT: After seeing that Debian is more popular and most likely has more solutions, I'm going with debian

[manikyath]

Just now, jtpjr said:

Okay, so maybe debian or lubuntu? And also that trick would be nice. Like I said, the only Linux i've ever used before is ubuntu, but I'm up to the challenge. This will STRICTLY be between only me and my friends, and it wont be 24/7 because the fan is earrape

this is all off memory and it's been quite a while since i messed with Gmod so it'll be a bit vague, but here we go

 

basicly, a Gmod install is X number of gigabytes (iirc, it's quite large) but only a very small amount of that is actually necessary to be unique per server.

 

so for example the executable doesnt need to be unique, neither do the stock content files, and some other stuff.

 

but things like config files, custom content (you'd have different content loaded on a sandbox than on for example prop hunt), and eventual saves need to be unique.

 

so what you do is have a "master" instance that is controlled by the steam updater thingy.

 

the "slave" instances that are the actually running copies have all the static files "symlinked" from the "master" (i'll have to go dig up scripts for this, it may just be better i set up some Gmod instances on my new rig, needs to be done anyways ), and each "slave" instance has a local copy of the files they need to be unique, and the folders of custom content.

--

so. off memory, my master instance was something like 27GB, but by doing the file management clever every slave instance was only ~500MB depending on the custom content.

math:

one instance = 27GB + 500MB instead of 27GB

two instances = 27GB + 1GB instead of 54GB

three instances = 27GB + 1.5GB instead of 81GB and so on.

 

and with some clever scripting, you can basicly make this a modular system that scales infinitely.

------

and on the debian or lubuntu question i'll keep it very simple:

 

- lubuntu if you want to have a desktop interface

- debian (without a desktop interface) if you're okay with using the terminal only.

 

if you're a bit scared to "jump in" chances are lubuntu is the safer bet, because the debian installer is also rather confusing

[jtpjr]

1 minute ago, manikyath said:

this is all off memory and it's been quite a while since i messed with Gmod so it'll be a bit vague, but here we go

 

basicly, a Gmod install is X number of gigabytes (iirc, it's quite large) but only a very small amount of that is actually necessary to be unique per server.

 

so for example the executable doesnt need to be unique, neither do the stock content files, and some other stuff.

 

but things like config files, custom content (you'd have different content loaded on a sandbox than on for example prop hunt), and eventual saves need to be unique.

 

so what you do is have a "master" instance that is controlled by the steam updater thingy.

 

the "slave" instances that are the actually running copies have all the static files "symlinked" from the "master" (i'll have to go dig up scripts for this, it may just be better i set up some Gmod instances on my new rig, needs to be done anyways ), and each "slave" instance has a local copy of the files they need to be unique, and the folders of custom content.

--

so. off memory, my master instance was something like 27GB, but by doing the file management clever every slave instance was only ~500MB depending on the custom content.

math:

one instance = 27GB + 500MB instead of 27GB

two instances = 27GB + 1GB instead of 54GB

three instances = 27GB + 1.5GB instead of 81GB and so on.

 

and with some clever scripting, you can basicly make this a modular system that scales infinitely.

------

and on the debian or lubuntu question i'll keep it very simple:

 

- lubuntu if you want to have a desktop interface

- debian (without a desktop interface) if you're okay with using the terminal only.

 

if you're a bit scared to "jump in" chances are lubuntu is the safer bet, because the debian installer is also rather confusing

That makes sense, I'll probably run vanilla to begin with, and then I'll see about adding mods.

[Sintezza]

I wouldnt go for plain ubuntu indeed since the Unity desktop is pretty heavy on resources.

I would rather go with something like Xubuntu, or Lubuntu.

Debian would even work better, but the problem with Debian is that it isnt realy noob friendly from the get go.

 

[jtpjr]

Just now, Sintezza said:

I wouldnt go for plain ubuntu indeed since the Unity desktop is pretty heavy on resources.

I would rather go with something like Xubuntu, or Lubuntu.

Debian would even work better, but the problem with Debian is that it isnt realy noob friendly from the get go.

 

I'm halfway through the debian installer, so yeah...

[Sintezza]

6 minutes ago, jtpjr said:

I'm halfway through the debian installer, so yeah...

Well installing Debian isnt realy an issue.

Installing third party software that isnt supported by them in their repo´s is a diffrent story for a new user.

Ubuntu based distro´s are a bit easier to work with, in the sense that they have a build in package manager which allows you to easaly hookup third party ppa´s.

For example if you need Oracle Java, you could install that easaly right from terminal or the gui package manager by hooking up the java webupdate ppa on ubuntu based distro´s.

On Debian it will be a bit more of a challange.

[JefferyD90]

On ‎11‎/‎12‎/‎2016 at 6:53 PM, Jed M said:

No. CentOS is for newbies. It's better to use Ubuntu or Debian.

 

It depends what you're going to be running exactly. I've run Minecraft on Linux and Windows, and I've always found Linux to be a much better choice. I'd prefer recommend Ubuntu 14.04 and Mark2 for running your server. 

the OP is a newbie...  Otherwise he wouldn't be asking.