Table of Contents
Provided below are estimates on the cluster hardware required for different deployments for an RPG-style game. These estimates are based on historical cluster deployments but will change based on each specific game characteristics.
The following calculations are used to estimate the cluster size for a specific deployment
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Number of Cores for CellApps
The ratio between concurrent connections and CellApps Cores ranges between 100:1 and 300:1.
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Number of Cores for BaseApps
The ratio between CellApps and BaseApps Cores ranges between 6:1 (six times more CellApps) and 1:1 (same number of BaseApps to CellApps).
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Number of Cores for BaseAppMgr, CellAppMgr and DBMgr
One core should usually be used for each of the processes BaseAppMgr, CellAppMgr and DBMgr.
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Number of Cores for LoginApp
One core should be used per LoginApp. At least one redundant LoginApp is recommended.
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Number of Cores for MySQL
At least two cores should be used for the MySQL database.
Assuming a 3:1 ratio between CellApps and BaseApps and taking 8 cores extra for other processes including the MySQL server, The number of cores required to support 5000 concurrent users ranges between 30 and 74. If using 4 cores machines this ranges between 8 and 19 machines.
An example Blade setup would be as follows:
BladeCenter LS20 885051U
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Processor: Low Power AMD Opteron Processor Model 246 (Standard)
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Memory: 4 GB PC3200 ECC DDR RDIMM (2 x 2 GB Kit) System Memory
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IBM eServer BladeCenter (TM) Gigabit Ethernet Expansion Card
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CSI Hard disk drive 1 : 73GB Non Hot-Swap 2.5" 10K RPM Ultra320 SCSI HDD
BladeCenter 86773XU
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Optical device: IBM 8X Max DVD-ROM Ultrabay Slim Drive (Standard)
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Diskette drive: IBM 1.44MB 3.5-inch Diskette Drive (Standard)
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Power supply modules 1 and 2: BladeCenter 2000W Power Supplies one and two (Standard)
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Management modules: BladeCenter KVM / Management Module (Standard)
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Switch module bay 1: Nortel Networks Layer 2/3 Copper GbE Switch Module for IBM eServer BladeCenter
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Switch module bay 2: Nortel Networks Layer 2/3 Copper GbE Switch Module for IBM eServer BladeCenter
A setup with 10 LS20 blades in a 86773XU BladeCenter would cost approx $60k USD.