The config looks pretty good.  You didn't mention what OS it's running on though.  That might help, as well as whether you're running any other programs or services (web or ftp servers) on the same box.  What speed hard drive?  Which SonicWall model are you using?  I have a GX-250 and a Pro-VX (which are both great) but when I run a game server I usually strip it down of uneccessary services, service/security patch it and then just run it out in front of the firewall.  I'm no guru on game lag, but I've used SonicWall and Cisco firewalls and each time the stateful packet inspection overhead seems to add to everyone's overall pings.  It looks like you have plenty of bandwidth, but how good is the quality of the lines?  I had a T1 with one company a few years ago and it sucked.  Never got the advertised amount of bandwidth and it wasn't smooth - it always fluctuated.  We switched to Sprintlink and all was perfect (no I don't work for Sprint).  Anyway, I'd also try increasing the hunkmegs to 128 and review this post:

Server Setup

Sorry I don't have a definetive answer for you, but it could be a lot of possible things, including the mod itself.

God luck.

Quote (BeachBum @ Nov. 14 2003, 3:03 pm)

The config looks pretty good.  You didn't mention what OS it's running on though.  That might help, as well as whether you're running any other programs or services (web or ftp servers) on the same box.  What speed hard drive?  Which SonicWall model are you using?  I have a GX-250 and a Pro-VX (which are both great) but when I run a game server I usually strip it down of uneccessary services, service/security patch it and then just run it out in front of the firewall.  I'm no guru on game lag, but I've used SonicWall and Cisco firewalls and each time the stateful packet inspection overhead seems to add to everyone's overall pings.  It looks like you have plenty of bandwidth, but how good is the quality of the lines?  I had a T1 with one company a few years ago and it sucked.  Never got the advertised amount of bandwidth and it wasn't smooth - it always fluctuated.  We switched to Sprintlink and all was perfect (no I don't work for Sprint).  Anyway, I'd also try increasing the hunkmegs to 128 and review this post: Server Setup Sorry I don't have a definetive answer for you, but it could be a lot of possible things, including the mod itself. God luck.

Thanks for the honest reply and sorry I forgot to mention that I am running Win2K Server SP4 bare bones. Server Performance set to "Foreground Applications" and we have set the sof2mp.exe priority to HIGH in the task manager.

No FTP WWW SMTP - nada nothing but a SOF Server and the overhead of the OS.

Hard Drive is a ATA 133 IDE 80 GB drive.

We are using a 230 Sonic Wall - and the server is behind the firewall. Maybe you can tell me how or if the DMZ port could be used in this instance to "bypass" the state full packet inspections.?.?.? Got any ideas?

The quality of the lines are good. At any time I can run a test on them (during the day with considerable VPN load) and still get 3megs up and down. Which make me happy as we plan on using our private/pratice/scrimage/match server on that conneciton as well.

I will check out the hunk megs thread and make a change if it seems relavent.

Thanks a million,

Brent AKA =TX=Knuckles in SOF

(I added this to my origional post)

Here is a pic of my lagometer - that shows something spiking. This happens failry frequently about every minute or so.
Can you tell me what this graph is trying to say?

Bump


Cmon guys! NE1 else have some input here?

I'm going to do a brain dump for you here:

Try setting the priority to AboveNormal, as those spikes might be win2k kernel memory swaps. If CPU usage is high, Windows will have to fight the sof2 process to perform the swap.

You can try adjusting the swap size in System Properties > Advanced > Performance Options.  

Also, adjust the MTU/MSS settings in the registry to match your connection parameters.  (See speedguide.net for calculators & patches)

If your firewall is running on the same machine, make sure it has >= the priority that the sof2 process does.  Running this machine in the DMZ is probably be the best option, but can invite a whole world of security issues.

There is a tool called 'Contig.Exe' which I use to defrag my sof2/base folder nightly, though it may improve load times - I don’t think its the culprit here.

Have you tried spying on the Performance monitor console in win2k?  This can give you a good indication of what’s happening during those spikes.  Network Interface, SOF2MP.EXE, Memory Reads/Writes, and HD activity are a few objects you'd want to take a look at.

Hope it helps,
-SuB

I think the spikes relate to packet loss.  Assuming that the cause isn't on your client end (i.e. everyone gets the same spike simultaneously), then something is causing the lag either on your game server or on your T1s.  If it's happening in a verifiable pattern (every minute) then you should be able to track it down.  As _SuBsTaNc3_ indicated, check the performance monitor for clues.  If you're not running the game server as a service and can see the console, look for "hitch warnings" that correspond with the packet loss events.

Even though you've done bandwidth tests on the lines I think it's still possible that some process or server on your network is sucking up bandwidth.  Is there anything that you have running that would be scheduled to check for updates on the Internet?  Like virus scan server, windows update, etc?   Have you tried monitoring the T1 line with a bandwidth meter like MRTG or Cybergauge?

In performance monitor, I'd check the %processor time counter as well.  Compare it with the HD and Sof2.exe activity.

You could also try this tweak to improve performance.

I know I'm throwing a lot of ideas and "what ifs" at you, but the fact that this problem is reproduceable and repeats in a pattern means to me (IMHO) that it should be able to be tracked down and fixed.

Good luck!

Ps. My experience with the firewalls and game servers is that it raised the overall pings, but didn't cause random spikes.  If i pinged 50 to my server when it was out in the open, I might ping 70 or 80 behind the firewall, but it was still a smooth ride.

Hay.. how about the logging method?  Are you using buffered/append/sync/no logging?  I noticed when that sync/append seemed to give me lil lag bouts during writes.  Buffered waits until cpu/network usage is low & then does a write.

gg,
-SuB

Is there a magic number of clients where your spike  seems to generate?  It looks like u have plenty of bandwith... but i had similiar problems with my server.. What I did to correct was this... Open up your windows task manager (performance graph) and see what your cpu usage rate is(during the spike and normal)..
Before my changes my cpu processor would goto 100% every minute or so... like you describe..
I increased my hunkmegs to 150 my zonemegs to 64 ---
Now I have No spikes my cpu usage stays in the 8-17 Range and I have a overall better server:)
I troubleshot these problems and reversed the changes to absolutely confirm these adjustments,
Hope this helps you