Dedicated Game Servers: What are They?

Coping with lag, slow loading times, or dropped games can quickly turn any online gamer’s experience into an unpleasant one. 

Thankfully, there’s a tool that online gamers can use to eliminate these issues entirely during online multiplayer games: a dedicated gaming server.

A dedicated server in gaming is a personal, fully distant server that may host games for the server admin (a player who sets up the dedicated server) and all distant clients who hook up with the server. Using this kind of private game server, gamers gain access to a reliable, stable, and fast connection to even probably the most memory-intensive online multiplayer games—all without having to share server resources with other web sites or applications.

If you happen to’re latest to the concept of dedicated hosting, this guide is here to assist by uncovering the facility of dedicated gaming servers. We’ll also compare dedicated gaming servers to traditional online multiplayer game hosting models.

As well as, we are going to show you how to determine if a personal game server is correct for you, in addition to teach you learn how to select a dedicated gaming server hosting provider. 

Many online multiplayer games default to one among two different hosting models—client-server hosting or peer-to-peer (P2P) hosting. Most often, each could cause a lag-ridden or non-customizable gaming experience. But these issues might be remedied by taking a more energetic role in managing a gaming server. 

In a client-server hosting model, gaming servers (either shared servers or dedicated servers) are run by the primary host. The host is commonly the sport publisher or console manufacturer, and this host manages all individual player connections. 

While this configuration works for many players, it lacks control and leaves players vulnerable to server issues the primary host could experience. 

In a P2P hosting model, an area client (player) who began the sport or has the bottom latency plays the role of host for all other distant clients. With this configuration, the host-player uses their computer or console to host an area version of the sport. 

It’s crucial that the host’s device have enough memory, processing power, bandwidth, and a solid Web connection to maintain the whole game running easily for all clients. If the host player has a weak device or a poor Web connection, the sport will experience lag, glitches, or crashes.

With a personal game server, counting on a client-server or P2P hosting model becomes a thing of the past. These dedicated servers provide more memory, processing power, bandwidth, and storage capabilities than other hosting models. Additionally they ensure players at all times have enough server resources to run any game fluidly.

Identical to other hosting models, a dedicated gaming server handles all hosting duties for a game. This includes keeping the sport in sync for all players connected to the server and managing many necessary facets of the sport, reminiscent of player:

• Locations.
• Activities.
• Interactions.
• Loadouts.
• And more.

Dedicated gaming servers also manage in-game facets reminiscent of physics, rules, and scores.

It’s necessary to notice that dedicated gaming servers don’t run the sport engine, in order that they don’t require a graphics card (GPU) to render anything. As a substitute, these private game servers utilize high amounts of CPU and RAM to help client devices with what to render and when. Which means client devices still manage facets of the sport like graphics, sound, and game controls.

For instance, when knowledgeable hosting provider hosts your private game server, you don’t need to worry about hardware costs, server cooling, server monitoring, or security risks. As well as, you gain access to higher bandwidth options, which ultimately provide a greater gaming experience.

A number of of probably the most common advantages of hosting online multiplayer games on a dedicated gaming server include:

When hosting with a dedicated gaming server, the server admin gains total control over the gaming experience, including:

• Defining the operating system. 
• Selecting the processor and amount of RAM. 
• Setting bandwidth speeds.
• Establishing the sport configuration and rules.
• Determining who can enter the sport (dedicated gaming servers might be private or public).
• Booting players who break the foundations or have a high ping rate. 

Because they’ve advanced hardware, high levels of RAM and CPU, and powerful Web connections, dedicated gaming servers enhance overall game performance for each player involved. These servers ensure there’s never any lag, glitches, lost data, or crashes during gameplay. 

And, as mentioned earlier, high-ping players might be faraway from a session by the server admin to maintain things running easily and fairly for all players.

Dedicated gaming server hosting solutions provide 24/7 server monitoring, which suggests the sport is at all times available to players. Most dedicated server providers feature backup generators to make sure game availability in case the local grid goes down. 

Server admins also don’t must worry about their server overheating during high traffic demand, as robust hosting solutions offer advanced cooling systems of their data centers.

Security is a crucial aspect of hosting on a dedicated gaming server. Fortunately, many hosting providers invest a fantastic deal of resources into advanced cybersecurity measures reminiscent of:

The server admin also controls who can log into the sport, making it easy to discover unknown distant clients trying to realize access.

A dedicated gaming server offers many benefits that other hosting options cannot provide typical online game players. This is very true for many who play online games featuring high workloads, reminiscent of for those who desired to create a dedicated Minecraft server. Other games that profit from a dedicated gaming server include:

• Counter Strike.
• Ragnarok.
• Fortnite.
• PUBG.
• 7 Days to Die.
• Valheim.
• Ark.
• DOTA 2.
• Killing Floor.
• Arma.
• Terraria.
• Factorio.

Virtual private server (VPS) hosting is a virtual server environment inside a dedicated server. When using a VPS to host a video game, a server admin is granted access to a dedicated portion of the server’s resources.

For instance, if a VPS has 10 GB of RAM, a server admin might only get 2 GB out of the ten GB of server resources dedicated to them, while the remainder of the resources are reserved for other users. In essence, a VPS is very like renting out a portion of a personal game server. 

For a lot of, choosing VPS is a sufficient solution that gives a greater gaming experience than hosting on a totally shared server. Nonetheless, for those who’re an avid online gamer who wants enough processing power to handle high workloads, a dedicated server is the correct alternative.

At the very least 16GB of RAM is required to play modern multiplayer games, and more for those who plan on multitasking. Which means you’ll most probably have to begin out with a hosting provider’s strongest VPS plan. If you happen to need more RAM to make sure a smooth gaming experience, a dedicated server can offer you that flexibility. 

While a dedicated gaming server comes with quite a few benefits by way of performance and other areas, it also comes at a better price than other hosting solutions like shared or VPS cloud servers. This stays true no matter for those who arrange your personal dedicated server at home or rent one from a hosting provider. 

Choosing a dedicated server setup at home means you’ll need to speculate in expensive hardware and equipment, in addition to higher energy bills for those who plan to make your server available to the general public. Running a physical server also means the server admin is accountable for cybersecurity and hardware and software maintenance, which suggests a high level of technical ability is required.

If you happen to plan on renting a dedicated gaming server from a hosting provider, lots of the back-end costs of running a physical server are eliminated. Nonetheless, the monthly fees for these servers are typically higher than other hosting solutions, and security add-ons like DDoS protection can add to costs as well.

Justifying these higher server costs is simple for avid gamers, gaming communities, and developers of all sizes. But for less tech-savvy beginners or those that don’t play often, inexpensive hosting solutions are likely a greater, more wallet-friendly option.

When selecting a dedicated gaming server hosting provider, there are a lot of aspects you need to consider ensuring it aligns along with your gaming goals, including:

• Compatibility: Certain games have higher workloads than others, which suggests the dedicated gaming server configuration you select should be robust enough to handle them. As well as, search for a hosting provider that permits you to easily scale up or down your server resources. 
• Top-Tier hardware: The hosting provider you select should offer industry-leading hardware, reminiscent of solid-state drives (SSDs), high-speed RAM, and advanced processors. 
• Reliability: Server uptime is essential when selecting a hosting provider. Be certain to search out out uptime guarantees so that you won’t need to take care of downtimes or game crashes. 
• Usability: As a server admin, your hosting provider should give you a simplified and streamlined user interface that permits you to change your server configuration quickly. 
• Security: Advanced security must be a prerequisite for the hosting provider you select. Search for dedicated gaming server hosts that provide things like DDoS protection and robust firewalls. 

If you happen to’re searching for a personal game server provider you may trust, Liquid Web can show you how to take your online gaming experience to the subsequent level. With fully customizable dedicated server hosting—in addition to real-time monitoring and 100% Power & Network Uptime Guarantees—you gain access to a managed dedicated server solution that can support your gaming needs at a price you may afford. 

Plus, with add-on services like server backups and DDoS protection, you may rest assured your data stays protected.