How much bandwidth do you use?

[maksam]

I'd like to get a rough estimate on how much bandwidth you use, so id be happy if you answer the following questions.

 

• How much Bandwidth do you use per day and per month?
  
• How many game servers do you host and how many slots are they typically?
  
• How many different games do you currently run?
  
• What are the three top games that you know to be a Bandwidth guzzler?
  
• How often is your dedi busy?
  

 

If you think you can answer a few on VOIP then please do.

 

• Do you host VOIP also?
  
• How many slot VOIP servers do you host?
  
• How freqently are they busy?
  
• How much Bandwidth do you use per day and per month for VOIP?
  

[KingJ]

Bandwidth usage for a server serving around 100 players is around 5-7mbit/second for us. Monthly bandwidth is around 800GB total

The game i've noticed that nicely spikes my bandwidth graphs when it has a full load is CSS 100 tick, presumably due to the amount of data it has to send.

Not sure what you mean by "busy"

 

We do host TeamSpeak, but with 0 customers (Seems nobody wants paid teamspeak) so I can't give any bandwidth stats for this.

 

Our servers either have a 2TB or 3TB bandwidth limit, which is the lowest our providers offer. We simply don't need the extra bandwidth.

 

I've attached a bandwidth graph of one of our servers and the number of reported players. The bandwidth shows from 1st Jan Midnight to now, the players from 1st Jan Midnight to 2nd Jan Midnight, so make sure you match the scales.

[Dan M]

Our providers offer 4TB as standard,we use around the same as KingJ on each node.

[Creed3020]

KingJ, in that second screenshot you posted a graph with total players. How did you get that graph?

[JasonF]

Report >> Game Server Reports >> Game Server Stats

[KingJ]

Report >> Game Server Reports >> Game Server Stats

 

Then select DC, select Server and leave Game Server at "All Game Servers"

[SickPuppy]

Our servers average 5 Mbps billed on the 95%. Do some research on the different bandwidth options available.

 

Don’t get bandwidth and transfer confused.

 

Transfer is a limit of how much data you can send and receive. They are sold as 2000 GB or 4000 GB or 4TB which is just another way of saying 4000 GB. This is not bandwidth. These are all transfer limits. You need to be careful because you can purchase 4 TB of transfer and have a 1.5 Mbps bandwidth limit.

 

Bandwidth is the measurement of how fast you can send and received data and it is expressed in Mbps. In most cases metered bandwidth is better than unmetered bandwidth.

 

Unmetered bandwidth, that sound great right, all the bandwidth you can use. Unmetered bandwidth has a cap if you purchase 5 Mbps unmetered when you reach that 5 Mbps you are either capped or hit with a high overage fee.

 

With metered bandwidth you generally pay for what you use. Most metered bandwidth accounts will allow you to burst above the amount of bandwidth you purchase. We use several different companies and purchase 5 or 10 Mbps burstable to 100 Mbps. The amount of usage is calculated on the 95%. We have monitored our servers and for about 4 or 5 hours on Friday and Saturday they can peek to 25 Mbps. What helps is the fact that for the remainder of the week the bandwidth usage is less than 1 Mbps.

[KingJ]

Just to help the OP, "95th Percentile Billing" which is what SickPuppy appears to be charged on is a way of billing you for your maximum bandwidth usage in the month, but ignoring any spikes.

 

It makes a list of all your transfer rates in Megabits/sec and orders them from high to low, it then chops off the top 5% and charges you at the value of the 95th percent transfer rate.

 

For example, if our servers had a constant 5mbit/sec usage for 95% of the time, but we had a few spikes from server moves, installs or player influx we would be charged for 5mbit/sec of bandwidth. However, if we used 1mbit/sec for 80% of the time, then 5mbit for 15% of the time we would still be charged for 5mbit of bandwidth.

 

The graphs in my original post show my bandwidth usage, the red line is the 95% percentile, you can see how it cuts off all the spikes in bandwidth usage.

 

Most providers on the low end are transfer-based billing, you really only get the option of 95th percentile when coloing.

 

I prefer the transfer-based billing myself as it's much fairer for me. If you get the option between unmetered 10mbit or 4TB of bandwidth by the way, take the 4TB of bandwidth, even if you maxed your connection on 10mbit you'd only use 3.2TB

[SickPuppy]

I prefer the transfer-based billing myself as it's much fairer for me. If you get the option between unmetered 10mbit or 4TB of bandwidth by the way, take the 4TB of bandwidth, even if you maxed your connection on 10mbit you'd only use 3.2TB

 

Again this is the most common mistake made, 4TB is not bandwidth it is a transfer limit. You can't compare Bits to Bytes. Bits are used to measure bandwidth; Bytes are used to measure transfer. Unmetered bandwidth is capped metered bandwidth allows you to burst up to a set limit usually 100 Mbps.

 

Make sure you understand the bandwidth limits placed on your 4TB of transfer. Most providers will cap you at 100 Mbps because they want you to exceed your transfer limit and have to pay overage fees. However, there are companies that will sell you 4TB and restrict your bandwidth. They will place you on a 10 Mbps connection. The problem is that the bandwidth demands on you server during peek hours will need to exceed that limit. A few of our servers will peek above 25 Mbps and on a few occasions even get as high as 85 Mbps.

 

I agree with kingJ it is easier to track network usage by monitoring transfer. Bandwidth usage is a little more complicated. Generally you will get transfer limits when renting dedicated servers but some Colo companies will offer you both options.

[Creed3020]

Then select DC, select Server and leave Game Server at "All Game Servers"

 

Thanks. I have never seen this option before and it is really quite informative. Not sure how I could have missed it but wow I really wish I hadn't.