Win 2008r2 unmanaged server optimization

[chaosportal]

So up until now I've been on a managed linux vds, the 2nd tier offering:

- Two full, dedicated HT CPU cores (Nehalem or better)
- 2048 MB of RAM

I ran CS:S, TF2, L4D2, and Minecraft. I don't have a lot of concurrent players, its mainly a small group of friends 5-8 that all get together on one of those 4 games each evening. When I look at my server status I typically have 500-800mb memory available with everyone playing.

Today I rented a new Windows 2008r2 unmanaged vds with the same hardware specs. I installed the same games and got them all running. The windows machine is showing only 300mb memory free and that's with no players connected at all.

Is there anything I can do to optimize the memory usage of my game servers ? Or is this just an example of Windows not being as good at managing the RAM (or using more RAM for the OS than Linux does).

Any input is appreciated.

[TimeX]

Have you checked the task manager to see where the RAM is being used and if it is the game servers using it? It may just be one of the servers that is using up so much RAM, and knowing which one will help you focus on the direct cause.

[Edge100x]

Make sure to look at RAM *available* and not RAM *free*, as that trips a lot of people up. It's the available number that matters.

[chaosportal]

It's definitely RAM available. When I said free, I meant available.

Looking at task manager this is the current memory usage (with no players logged into any server)

TF2 265m
L4D2 242m
CS:S 80m
Minecraft 244m

My task manager currently shows the following.

Total : 2047
Cached: 585
Available: 586
Free: 13

I dont have any other apps or services running and no one is logged in to any games. I fear I will have trouble if more than just a couple people get logged into Minecraft.

[TimeX]

Depending on what sort of mods those servers are running, the numbers don't look too out of whack. All but the Minecraft server won't go up much as users connect, but the Minecraft server could. You will certainly want to keep an eye on the RAM usage for each server.

[chaosportal]

I just have Sourcemod installed on them. Other than that they are vanilla.

Like you said, im going to have to watch it closely. I figure I'll end up having to upgrade to the 3gig server.

[TimeX]

The big one to worry about with plugins/mods then would be the Minecraft server. Minecraft alone can eat up resources, but some plugins can make it go nuts pretty quick.

[rustydusty1717]

Only thing you can do to get your memory a little lower is going through your services on msconfig and turn off things you won't need. Most are very small, but they do add up after a bit. Got all my 2008 R2 machines to run with only 350Mb of ram doing this.

[TimeX]

Good point Rusty, I did the same on my 2008 R2 install and brought it down to about the same point by disabling any services not needed (which can also increase security a bit).

[rustydusty1717]

It's about the only way to get memory lower on 2008 R2. Out of the box it isn't too bad, but there's always room for improvement.

[turtsmcgurts]

Good point Rusty, I did the same on my 2008 R2 install and brought it down to about the same point by disabling any services not needed (which can also increase security a bit).

Is their a list of services that are safe to be disabled? In the next few days i'm not going to have too much free time to be able to look up each individual service, otherwise I would do this myself.

[.=QUACK=.Major.Pain]

I am running the same setup with Procon, L4D2, Minecraft, TS3 and Garry's Mod.
We see the same issue, with as little as 172MB available some times.

Minecraft is a hog. With 2 players on it right now, it's running at 1090/1024 somehow.
This is for the kids, and they want their plugins. lol
I secretly remove some here and there, but not much improvement.

[Edge100x]

As far as system services that can be disabled, start with "lanmanserver" (aka the "Server" service). That's the biggest one to worry about. Beyond that, you'd mostly have to go through them one at a time to find the ones that you don't need.