How To: setup a dedicated server

Discussion in 'Hosting Help' started by McFly, Jan 18, 2021.

  1. McFly

    McFly Registered

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    I recently picked up rFactor2 (coming from AC) and was frustrated with the process of setting up a dedicated server, so created this detailed guide, that also has an easy way to host on AWS for free.

    Hopefully this saves someone else a little pain:

    https://github.com/afloesch/rfactor2-server-setup

    Let me know if you think it's missing anything.
     
  2. Hazi

    Hazi Registered

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    Wow - great! Thank You.
     
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  3. Corti

    Corti Registered

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    Surely more than one will appreciate this help, great job mate
     
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  4. The Great Apt

    The Great Apt Registered

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    This is an awesome resource man, going to try this out during the week.
    Didn't know you could get 100gig of space for free on AWS.

    Rather silly question, dedi needs to run on Windows; do you need to purchase a windows key for the instance or is this all somehow taken care of on the instance, I'm guessing it;s not running through WINE?
     
  5. McFly

    McFly Registered

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    No worries hope it helps.

    You are correct on not running through WINE. AWS installs a licensed copy of Windows server so you don't have to worry about activating windows. The license cost is covered with the AWS instance cost, and as long as you are running that on instances that are eligible for the free-tier (t2.micro) then you won't pay anything for the instance.

    If you're new to AWS and signup with a new account they should give you tons of free credits, and I think you get the free-tier stuff for up to a year in addition to the free credits they give you. The cloud companies are competing so hard right now they give away tons of free time to new accounts.
     
  6. MB99

    MB99 Registered

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    Thanks so much for sharing this. I created my AWS account, and followed instructions but the stack creation keeps failing and rolling back.. I have used the same names fir all items as per instruction.. tried this 6 times with the same failure every time.. any one else had the same issue?


    QUOTE="McFly, post: 1056098, member: 56598"]I recently picked up rFactor2 (coming from AC) and was frustrated with the process of setting up a dedicated server, so created this detailed guide, that also has an easy way to host on AWS for free.

    Hopefully this saves someone else a little pain:

    https://github.com/afloesch/rfactor2-server-setup

    Let me know if you think it's missing anything.[/QUOTE]
     
  7. David Turnbull

    David Turnbull Registered

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    having same issue just fails and rolls back
     
  8. David Turnbull

    David Turnbull Registered

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    any ideas why it wont work @McFly ?
     
  9. Tom Satherley

    Tom Satherley Registered

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  10. David Turnbull

    David Turnbull Registered

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    yeah it installs fine if its set to us-west-1

    any way to change the template so that it will work with UK region?
     
  11. Brent

    Brent Registered

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    I can confirm I'm having the same issue trying to install on the us-ohio server. Installed it on us-west-1 and it worked great. I'm hopeful the template can be updated to work with other servers.

    Thank you very much for putting this info together @McFly this is awesome!

     
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  12. poida97

    poida97 Registered

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    Great concept, and great documentation too. Sadly I couldn't get it to work in N.California/us-west-1, using the right key pair (also in same region). I hope dev continues, wish I had the skills to help.
     
  13. Tony Raharidzery

    Tony Raharidzery Registered

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    Hello,

    Thanks much for this tutorial.
    I have a problem when i apply the template.
    I have this error S3 error: All access to this object has been disabled For more information check http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/API/ErrorResponses.html

    When I tried to just upload the template file i have this error: Template format error: YAML not well-formed. (line 128, column 65)
    What can i do ?
     

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  14. Automatic707

    Automatic707 Registered

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    Anyone have any luck getting this to work @McFly doesn't seem to be around anymore. I emailed him twice and no response.
     
  15. trichens

    trichens Registered

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    I tried this too with no success. I suppose someone with a bit of time needs to investigate what needs to be done.
    I have a copy of the cftemplate file that @McFly created
     
  16. ebeninca

    ebeninca Registered

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    There's some extra server tools that you can describe in your manual for a more complete experience:

    Live weather plugin:
    https://forum.studio-397.com/index.php?threads/weatherplugin.58614/

    Log analyzer (generate a site with server results including championship manager):
    https://forum.studio-397.com/index....ffline-and-league-championship-manager.48117/
     
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  17. trichens

    trichens Registered

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    OK I've done a bit of digging and it seems that the cftemplate file that we are using loads up an image file that no longer exists - or if it does I can't find it.
    If you want to see what's going on then have a look at the cftemplate file which is written in YAML format.
    Near to the bottom there is a section that creates the AWS instance.
    There is a line
    ImageId: ami-0ae930fa924b34ed3
    This image file doesn't appear to exist
    I'm guessing that @McFly created a server on the AWS system and made an image of this that the script loads up.
    If that was to be deleted then the script won't be able to create a new version.
    I think that if we want to be able to do this we'll have to create a new image...
    Is there any demand for this?

    As to your error @Tony Raharidzery I can't see any errors with the template file.
    I have been playing with a new version which seems to work OK - apart from not finding a valid server image
     
    Last edited: May 30, 2022
  18. jonno

    jonno Registered

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    revive an old thread but has anyone managed to get this to work or does anyone know how to get it to work any other way.????
     
  19. trichens

    trichens Registered

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    I've not looked any deeper into using AWS as I have plenty of spare hardware lying around and a decent broadband connection.
    It would be worth looking at if there was enough interest...
    The rF2 servers are using AWS I believe.
     
  20. jonno

    jonno Registered

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    Yeah i looked at this year or so ago but lost interest thought id have another go. However aws has updated abit since this and thw stack no longer works. I get image does not exist and something is out of date illfigure it out lol
     

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