Server Test & Basic Server Questions

[Hellboy]

OK, I'm already to host my first Dom3 game, and my server should be all set and ready to go, but I would like to test it from outside my firewall. If someone could just upload their pretender, let me start the game, and then run the first turn, that would be awesome. This should just take a few minutes of your time. I'd like to do this today, in the next hour or two, if possible.

Server Stats:
24.22.140.14 1024 Game is in EA, so you need to upload EA pretender


Secondarily, I have a few questions on Dom3 Servers:
1) I've got this on a dedicated Windows XP box, I have cable for access, which is technically DHCP. My firewall is set up correctly (I hope), and last I checked, w/ cable access you could generally get away w/ pretending like you have a static IP (since it was actually a rare event for them to change your IP address). Does this sound like a reasonable configuration for a Dom3 server?

2) Is it still the case that cable providers change your IP address quite infrequently? And am I correct in thinking that, for Dom3 purposes, if they do, all I have to do is let all the players know the new IP address?

3) Any other big "gotchas" I ought to know about before starting the game on my server? (I do know to set the master pw)

4) My next step will be to set up a linux server on another old PC I have laying around - anyone care to point me at a good place to get started w/ Linux? I have done Linux before but I think its been 6yrs+

Is Red Hat still a good way to go (I don't mind paying for the CDs - my priority is to ease the learning curve, and the pain of installation)? I did try linux.org, and I found 404s left and right on all their installation docs...

[Meglobob]

EA Atlantis pretender uploaded, no probs AFAIK.

[Hellboy]

Meglobob said:
EA Atlantis pretender uploaded, no probs AFAIK.

Cool - just 1 more step, I've started the game, please see if you can get in and run your first turn.

Thanks!

[llamabeast]

I think it's true that they change your IP address quite rarely, I read that recently.

I think you can also use something like dyndns.org, which will give you a static IP address which points at your own IP address, so if your IP address changes it doesn't matter. Whether this is worth it or not, I'm not sure.

[Meglobob]

Yep, worked fine.

I am not sure about the answers to your questions, however, so I will leave that to someone else.

[Hellboy]

Meglobob said:
Yep, worked fine.

That's the main point - server all tested & ready to go, now!

Thanks, again.

[Gandalf Parker]

Terrel said:
1) I've got this on a dedicated Windows XP box, I have cable for access, which is technically DHCP. My firewall is set up correctly (I hope), and last I checked, w/ cable access you could generally get away w/ pretending like you have a static IP (since it was actually a rare event for them to change your IP address). Does this sound like a reasonable configuration for a Dom3 server?

pardon my old-guy lecture mode.
The internet works like this. You have a physical address (IP) and a word address (domain). In my case I have www.dom3minions.com which is pointed at 63.199.8.158 and game.dom3minions.com pointed at 63.199.8.157. The IP is good to use when your software is slow at, or confused about, looking up an address. But the word address is generally better because if something goes wrong I can always quickly point game.dom3minions.com to a different physical address.

With cable your ip and word address both change anytime your cable modem hangs up and redials (resets) which might be good for months or change 3 times a day. Some sites lke dyndns setup an easy way for you to stay updated so that a word address such as terrel.dyndns.org can always point to the physical address of your machine even if it changes.

I could do the same creating a terrel.dom3minions.com but its probably easier to do a dyndns thing unless someone just really likes the address.

2) Is it still the case that cable providers change your IP address quite infrequently? And am I correct in thinking that, for Dom3 purposes, if they do, all I have to do is let all the players know the new IP address?

Yep you can go that route also.

3) Any other big "gotchas" I ought to know about before starting the game on my server? (I do know to set the master pw)

You might create a batch file (or script) to restart the game. People tend to ask to have the game variables changed such as 24 hours to 36 hours, or turn off the auto-host for a weekend that someone is out. If you have lots of game-features then its easier to bring down the game, edit the file, and rerun it to be sure and have things like master password, port number, rename, logging, etc all the same as it was without trying to remember it. And it makes it easy to start a new game a few months later by just changing a couple of items.

4) My next step will be to set up a linux server on another old PC I have laying around - anyone care to point me at a good place to get started w/ Linux? I have done Linux before but I think its been 6yrs+

www.dummies.com? Seriously start with the dummies books before letting anyone talk you into getting something like an O'Reilly book.

Is Red Hat still a good way to go (I don't mind paying for the CDs - my priority is to ease the learning curve, and the pain of installation)? I did try linux.org, and I found 404s left and right on all their installation docs...

I jumped off of RedHat years ago. It seemed like they were trying too hard to replace windows as a desktop machine. And had the same pros and cons. Too many toys added too quickly which created too many holes to have to worry about someone breaking into.

Since I dont worry about it being a great desktop machine (I still use WinXp for my desktop and gaming) I go with something that is a nice easy stable server. Personally I use Debian (I buy the CDs from gnu.org because Im willing to pay to support open source). But Johan (the dom3 programmer) is now using Ubunto which might save you some of the headaches like I just had where debian didnt upgrade libraries quite as fast as ubunto did. Ubunto is also a good linux, stable, and built to be used by non-gurus. It has a desktop, and a server, version (I like that rather than a try to do it all in one vrsion).

[Hellboy]

Gandalf, I expected you would reply w/ some useful info - Thanks!