Introduction to Hosting:
Picking a server, OS, choosing hardware, and setting up the server is no easy task for the beginner so I decided to create. this guide to help beginners understand what to look for and what it means.
First lets start with four principal hardware components, what they do and why they matter:
First lets start with four principal hardware components, what they do and why they matter:
CPU:
The CPU, or Central processing unit is the component that handles all the instructions given to it by the program. This program is your OT server(TFS). It matters most when you have a very script intensive server like a war server where there a great deal of things happening every moment or when you have hundreds of players.
RAM:
RAM, or Random Access Memory is volatile memory used by the computer to store information needed on a moments notice for processing.RAM is important because when you start your server, the map and all the scripts get loaded to it and if you dont have enough empty memory at first you will get errors telling you that the server could not allocate or that the server is out of memory. This will often result in crashes. Large RL map server usually require at least 6 or 8 GBs of free ram to start, more is recommended to have the serer running with many players, this does not mean you need to run out and get 128GBs of RAM, thanks pointless overkill.
HDD:
HDD or Hard disk drive is the component used for storage, unlike RAM it is not volatile, this means that once the power goes off, the data saved on it will persist indefinitely. The hard drive matters because all the queries that get executed pass through the hard drive one way or another, so whenever you save the server the HDD gets used alot, and if you have 1000 players that need saving it will require some decent hardware for sensible times. For servers that rely alot on queries(war server for example) a fast hard drive is best. SSDs are the successor to HDDs and they are very fast, but can be expensive.
Network:
While this is not a component of the actual server(the network card is the component that handles the network) it is probably the most important component. This is the link between the server and all your players. If it is slow, all your players will suffer.A large amount of players will necessitate a greater speed to have as much latitude as possible for all the players to get acceptable ping.
Operating systems. Why do they matter and which is the best option?
Operating systems are an intermediary between you and the hardware. There are many operating systems to choose from and here I will go over a few of the most common ones and I will give me recommendations below.
Linux:
You will often hear that Linux is the best OS for hosting servers and this is very true. Linux in its minimal configuration allows for servers to run un-hidered because the operating system is so streamlined. Setting it up can be a bit tricky if you are new and getting used to using it with the console is also a bit complicated for beginners. Once you get used to it you will find that it is very easy to use.Linux comes in a number of "flavors" I'll give a bit of a description of them here starting from the main OS going to the ones that are based of them.
Debian:
Debian is my personal favorite for hosting servers because it is commonly used and has alot of information on internet. It does not release updates so often so if you plan on having a server running for a long time it is a good option since you will not have to update it all the time and the software it comes with has been proven to be stable after many tests.Ubuntu:
It is a derivative of Debian. It has a slightly faster release cycle and most things that are done in Debian can be done in Ubuntu in exactly the same way. I personally dont like it because of its privacy invasions(sending data to amazon without consent), its departure from GNU philosophy and because its owner(canonical) is a corporation that tries to exploit you and make money from you without you knowing.Red Hat Enterprise Linux:
This is an Enterprise operating system and you will rarely, if ever see it in the OT community.CentOS:
CentOS is a copy of RHEL with the only difference being the logos and name. It is a distro that focuses on stability so they rarely update software unless for security fixes or small enhancements. It is a good alternative if you prefer to use itFedora:
Fedora is Red Hat's playground. It has a very fast release cycle and you will always get new features and software. Official support for it expires after 18 months, compared to CentOS' support that expires after 12 years.Windows:
We all know it and we all use it or have used it at least once. Servers usually offer the Windows server line of products instead of the desktop version. There is not much difference between the server version and the desktop version. its mostly a fee security enhancements, managing programs and easy of access for server features.The problem with Windows servers is that it always incurs extra costs and can be tricky to set up properly(use xampp is not considered setting it up, not to mention insecure and just bad practice)
My recommendation:
Debian 7 if you will use an old revision like TFS 0.4 and CentOS 7 if you want to use TFS 1.1.
VPS vs Dedicated Server
VPS:
A VPS or Virtual Private Server is a virtual space of a physical server allocated to a person. Thes servers tend to loose some performance because they are not real hardware and the server must emulate its instructions. also, sometimes a same server can have many VPS and this could hinder performance even more.Types of VPS servers:
Sometimes you will see that a server uses OpenVZ or KVM. These are different approaches to the VPS.KVM fully virtualizes everything. The entire OS and its execution is emulated in a closed off environment. While this is most secure it can cause a bit of a performance penalty, however with dotays hardware its minimal.
OpenVZ offers an enclosed environment and filesystem however it is just a "quarantined" area of execution and all the instructions still go trough the kernel to the physical hardware, thus there is no performance penalty. This however is limited only to Linux.
Dedicated server:
Getting a dedicated server is like renting a physical computer, plain simple. All of it is yours to use as you desire, you get all the raw performance of physical hardware.If you have anything to add let me know in PM and if you would like to correct something let me know in PM.
tl;dr: I dont care, read the text and stop crying.
this host not for beginners and i wanted to host from SYS but they got 250 MB connection only 
