Amazon EC2 for gaming hosting

by Ethr • 8 Mar 2011, 16:47 • Journals
image: comparingpaas

Hello,

I just had a lecture on EC2 and learn things about it which I never knew before. Anyway it seems possible that you can host a game server (plus vent and stuff) on it pretty easily. I was wondering whether anyone was doing this already?

Trouble is I looked into some costing for it and to run a game server for a year (basically a 'small' linux machine) it costs 876 dollars!!! Compared to like 70 from YCN although on this linux machine you could also run vent+webserver and probably other services.

It might be a pretty nice idea (if someone has time/money/knowledge) to make an on-demand game-hosting service much like what quakelive has. Simply charge users per-hour to run a game server then at the start of prac or a match someone can just set one up and then close it down afterwards.

Anyway if you are a bit of a nerd and don't mind giving Amazon you're credit card details (which you already have done if you brought a book) then you can try EC2 for free. You might even be able to run a game server for free off that.... Only lasts for a year though.

Hope everyone is having a great day,

<3 ethr

image: DSC00057+-+Lion+Sunbathing
Comments
9
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mamouth 8 Mar 2011, 16:57
Crazy, you are.
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Tele 8 Mar 2011, 16:58
good idea but it will be hard to make this happen
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TosspoT 8 Mar 2011, 18:11
We use EC2 for some work projects, how do you plan to get around their limited locations? I.e. 75% of their European hosting is in Ireland
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Ethr 9 Mar 2011, 10:19
well being United Kingdom thats no problem for me. It would require some testing to see if pings were acceptable for other EU players. Holland would be a better place. There might be other similar providers though with better locations.
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unblind 8 Mar 2011, 19:14
you'd only make enough money for it to be worthwhile if you were the exclusive owner of the server files for the game you were providing on imo
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Ethr 9 Mar 2011, 10:20
in terms of licensing?

this could be a problem but if you were going to invest in making this happen i'm sure it wouldn't be a problem. There's many hosting companies already, this one would just be on-demand rather than static.
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unblind 9 Mar 2011, 11:42
i didn't even think about it to that level before spotting big pitfalls, eg:
i need a server for 1 hour should i go pay for one on demand or see if i can borrow an idle one from someone who is paying less for one that is avi 24/7 !?

building a profiling system that allows you to meet demands without any delays when people want to buy one (do you keep ALL maps on the server and ALL configs, do you have a preset configuration or let the customer customise etc etc)

moar
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Ethr 9 Mar 2011, 12:07
well for competition servers its easy - just copy the map pool and configs of ESL and CB

for others yeah its a bit harder but i guess you could allow people to have some kind of server profile
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