Windows 2022 Server

Does anyone know if the rF2 Dedicated Server runs normally on a Windows 2022 Server without issues? We have rented a new WIN2022 server to migrate from our existing WIN2016 version and have the following problem.

After a period of time, possibly when the Practice session switches to Qualifying when nobody is actually on the server, any running rF2 Dedi servers on the WIN2022 server disappear from both the Steam Games Servers list and the rF2 Online Community Servers. When then checking the Win2022 server via RDA they are still running and mysteriously then reappear in Steam/rF2 immediately afterwards. When they are visible it is possible to join and race on them as normal.

Weirdly the visibility of the running rF2 servers can be triggered by joining the WIN2022 server via RDA and also by connecting via browser to our also running rF2 Log Analyzer program.

The rF2 servers have been configured with exactly the same ports used on our current Win2016 Server and have worked without issues of this type for several years.

 

That sounds like the network card is being "turned off" due to inactivity.
EDIT:
There's an option to "Allow the computer to turn off device to save power" for network interfaces.
And "Allow this device to wake the computer"
Are these set?

 

Thanks will check.

In the meantime I found these posts. Are they still relevant?
https://forum.studio-397.com/index.php?threads/rfactor-2-extended-server-list.74636/
https://steamcommunity.com/app/686810/discussions/0/3819663388888900456/

 

Check directly on the Server if it works properly.
Is the process still running ?
Is the overlay management available ?
Is r2la or any other plugin responding ?
If no users are in the servers, there are "unexpected" behaviours. Like Practice > Quali > Restart event instead of Warmup > Race after.
No player = No Warmup or Race and event is restarted.
I can also imagine that Steam is not updating often empty servers. Always check locally.

 

Yes

Yes

What is this?

Yes

Sessions advance through Practice, Qualifying & Warmup and then Practice again when nobody is on the server

So how do users find & join the server if Steam is not updating its lists?

 

There is an url to manage the spectator mode, but i can't remember the port. It's web url in json config if i remember well.

For Steam, it can't refresh all servers every 10 milliseconds, so there are some optimizations. In game, there is a list request to Steam and there can be some delay to show your specific server.

If eveything is right locally, don't worry too much.

In doubt, you can use the fast connect url steam://run ...

 

The rF2 servers running on our WIN2016 machine consistently show in either Steam server lists or within rF2 Community servers, but the one/s tested on the WIN2022 machine behave differently with visibility disappearing from those lists, apparently when the session advances from P to Q.
When the server is not showing it is still possible to join it from https://simracepackages.lima-city.de/rF2server/ or by adding command options to the Steam/rF2/Properties/Launch Options.

Not an ideal solution for an online organisation such as ours.

 

If your run an organization you need something like r2la or else.
Here is mine :
http://rf2.dedicated.danrazor.net:8080/
There is a Join link if you search a bit

And ask users to add your servers to their favourites. It helps a lot too.

 

We have our own website and race system database and only use r2la as an information tool.

When the server visibility goes AWOL it doesn't appear in favourites either.

 

No change with power saving on/off in network card settings

 

Does nobody else run rF2 Dedicated on a WIN2022 server?

 

I've not tried this but... I can download the install iso and try it out on a spare server.
I believe Microsoft allow perhaps 30 days to test it.

 

Mine is on 2019 edition.
Do you run the dedicated as a service or with the GUI ?
It can be the user session that closes the connexions in a certain delay after the user disconnects.

 

OK.
So I now have a Windows Server 2022 device running a dedicated rF2 server with a simple mod.
It has practice, qualifying and warmup sessions set.
Started the GUI program and checked it appeared in the https://fun4all.lt/serverlist/v2/rF2.php server list.
There are NO AI cars setup and NO real users connected.
Put a password on so no-one can connect.
Have then disconnected from the server.

Rechecked the server listing several times and server always showed in the list OK.

Logged back onto the Windows Server and checked it had been running OK...
Uptime 22 mins 17secs and was running the qualifying session so has moved from one session type to another.

There would appear to be no built-in issues using Windows Server 2022 as far as I can see.

If I logoff / sign-out then the rF2 server process is killed of course.

 

I wouldn't use the GUI unless you keep the session open to your server and it stays always on focus.

Use nssm to launch your server as a service with no GUI.

The GUI is useful to setup the server, but once everything is set, run it in background with the +oneclick option (No GUI or anything will appear, only the background process will run).

 

Using NSSM and running as a service works OK if you have multiple rF2 server instances?
Never tried doing that so another experiment for this week...

 

Yes it works, just create a service for each instance with +profile switch.
I already had 5 services for 5 different server, player, player2, player_race, etc.
If you run hundreds, maybe it's not a good choice to use services, just use pure tasks in task scheduler.

 

A slighty different, but related, question.
I've got servers running Windows 10 Pro; should I be thinking of using Windows Server instead?

 

Both can do the same activities.
Server is often lighter and dedicated to background tasks and not heavy user softwares.
Prices and licenses types are probably different.

 

The servers show up 100% of the time in either https://fun4all.lt/serverlist/v2/rF2.php or https://simracepackages.lima-city.de/rF2server/ but they disappear from the Steam Community Servers list after a while. We access our WIN2022 server via Remote Desktop as it is a hosted server, so WIN2022 is always running whether we are connected via RDA or not.

Did you check in Steam after say 1hr to see if it was still showing there? I'm not sure if the session length is relevant, but as a test we set ours to a 5min Q, no Warmup & 2 laps race, so it recycles the sessions quickly.