2 questions about dedicated server setup

[seanb]

Hey there. First, thanks to everyone who has helped me get things as far as they are. My system is running, but right now it's running on the same computer i actually play wow on. Surprisingly enough, this isn't a problem. I can play wow on my server, with a handful of friends, and none of us get's an ounce of lag or any other problems.

Of course before too long i want to move the server to another computer and get it on a better line. So i'm going to build a rig for it. The only question i have about that is OS. In the past i've used an XP variant called "MicroXP". It's nice for stripped down office computers that don't need to do much, but need to do it all the time with a minimum of hassles, etc. The only thing MicroXP does not have that i think might be handy is "Scheduler". You can't use any program that relies on the windows scheduler program to run at a specified time, like backup programs, etc. Think i can make MicroXP work for me? If not, what's a stable OS for mangos, an sql server, and everything else i'l need (a C++ compiler)?

My second question is how to keep the server running all the time. Things happen, and programs crash. So far i've never seen mangosd.exe crash, but i'm sure it will sometime. Also, there's the pesky task of restarting the server to allow changes from mangosd.conf to take effect. The .server restart command does the same thing as the .server shutdown command, it just shuts it down (kinda misnamed IMO). Is there a way to initiate a true "restart", and is there a way to watch the process and re-run it if it looks like it's crashed?

Thanks again guys, you've been awesome!

[rilex]

Ugh, I abhor those so-called "optimized" OSes. They're nothing of the sort, and it shows how much the creators of such applications misunderstand memory management and security (usually those are the two things cited for creating these stripped-down installs).

Just use Windows Server 2003 or higher, or any form of Linux. They're all good enough. Hell, even Windows Client will run MaNGOS just fine. Might be best if you get a 64bit version of what ever OS you choose, though.

In Windows, if you want it to run all of the time, you should be setting it up as a Service (mangosd -s install, realmd -s install). You can then modify the service's properties to restart on failure. http://getmangos.eu/wiki/Securing_a_Windows_Installation

By the way, my guess is that "MicroXP" has the scheduler, just not the one you're used to. See if it has the "at" command.

[seanb]

nope, it was ripped out of MicroXP to save on memory or something.

Right now i'm running on Windows 7 x64, and it seems fine with a hanful of people, i just didnt' know if it was going to keep workign that well with many more people. I havn't used linux in 9 years (remember the cartman release of redhat? Yeah, that was the last one i used) so i'm not sure i'm ready to learn that much just yet.

As far as the service goes, i'm going to ask a REALLY noobish question. When i run other programs (like dnetc) as services, they're "invisible" (meaning they don't have a window). If my mangosd.exe is invisible, how do i execute console commands without loging into the game? I'm eventually going to write some php for things like account creation and modification, but until then?

[rilex]

You would need to use RA (I think it is still there; SOAP is now the preferred method to remotely execute commands).

Really, don't write your own account management. It has been done time and time again There are plenty of websites out there already.

[Shock]

Regarding your question about server recovery I recall seeing theres an option when you launch the sever again it checks if the server is still alive and if not closes it.