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andrijastepic asked

Questions regarding server quota, setup and plan, prior to game release

Greetings!

I am creating a game in UnityEngine, with 1v1 matches, hosted server builds on playfab.

Matchmaking, joining, gameplay is working.

We are approaching our release moment, and I have a few questions to clarify the server count settings.

Information:

1. When creating a new build setup (under Multiplayer -> New Build), I can choose:

a) a virtual machine differing in the number of cores (2/4/8/16)

b) Servers per machine (1 or more)

2. When editing an existing build information (under Multiplayer -> existing build), I can setup server count per region:

a) Target standby (0 or more)

b) Maximum (0 or more)

Questions:

1. Is the 1.b "server" equal to "uploaded server game build"?

2. What is the maximum of servers per machine (1.b) I can set?

3. What is the recommended number of servers per machine (1.b)?

4. How could I test/profile what number is "ok" for servers per machine (1.b)?

5. Under 2. Servers by region - is TargetStandby limited by Maximum?

6. Under 2. Servers by region - is Maximum limited by 1.b) servers per machine or are new machines allocated dynamically if for example I have 2 servers per machine (1.b), and I setup Servers by region maximum to 5, will I have 5 machines with 2 server game builds each if 10 players go into matchmaking? (or please explain if I described any part of the setup incorrectly)

7. As I currently understand, our limit of total maximum server game builds (until we request quota increase) is (24cores/number of cores set in 1.a) * servers per machine in 1.b = which could be at maximum 24/2 * value1.b, is this correct? (and value1.b maximum question is question 2)

8. Can you explain the difference between "servers per region" setup of 2 standby + 2 maximum, and 0 standby + 2 maximum?

a) from my understanding, 2s+2max would keep 2 servers active at all times, and their uptime would be measured into our mothly cost

b) from my understanding, 0s+2max would keep 0 servers active at all times, and would not start up any servers when the need occurs (when players request matchmaking)?

c) from my understanding, 1s+2max would keep 1 server active at all times, and if players attempt to matchmake, they would succeed, but what if another pair of players attempts to matchmake, would another server instance be started (up to a maximum of 2?) and a second pair of players would succeed in matchmaking but with more wait time? d) which approach for standby+maximum do you recommend?

9. We currently have PlayFab Core Services package I have read abount other server versions on the following pages:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/gaming/playfab/features/multiplayer/servers/billing-for-thunderhead

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/gaming/playfab/features/multiplayer/servers/multiplayer-servers-detailed-price-sheet

a) in which plans are they included?

b) when i go to https://developer.playfab.com/en-US/r/s/[studio id]/recommend-plan, I can see only Current usage, Current plan and Recommended plan and other plans are listed on https://playfab.com/pricing/ - but there are no details on which plan allows which server variants from the above links (multiplayer-servers-detailed-price-sheet) can you provide more details on that?

Thank you for your time,

Regards,

Exordium Games

Matchmaking
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Xiao Zha avatar image
Xiao Zha answered

>> 1. Is the 1.b "server" equal to "uploaded server game build"?

Yes, the “server” is the game server instance runs from your "uploaded server game build".

>>2. What is the maximum of servers per machine (1.b) I can set? 3. What is the recommended number of servers per machine (1.b)? 4. How could I test/profile what number is "ok" for servers per machine (1.b)?

There is no recommended number of server per machine. You have to test it out by yourself. You can refer to this thread: How to know how many servers per machine on a single Virtual Machine. - Playfab Community.

>>5. Under 2. Servers by region - is TargetStandby limited by Maximum?

Yes, the TargetStandby is limited by Maximum.

>> 6. Under 2. Servers by region - is Maximum limited by 1.b) servers per machine or are new machines allocated dynamically if for example I have 2 servers per machine (1.b), and I setup Servers by region maximum to 5, will I have 5 machines with 2 server game builds each if 10 players go into matchmaking? (or please explain if I described any part of the setup incorrectly)

The Maximum is the maximum number of game servers to operate in the specified region. And When maximum is set to 5, it means there will be at maximum 3 VMs with 6 server instances running (maximum server/servers per machine) = VMs needed).

>>As I currently understand, our limit of total maximum server game builds (until we request quota increase) is (24cores/number of cores set in 1.a) * servers per machine in 1.b = which could be at maximum 24/2 * value1.b, is this correct? (and value1.b maximum question is question 2)

If you mean “maximum server game instances”, then it’s correct.

>> Can you explain the difference between "servers per region" setup of 2 standby + 2 maximum, and 0 standby + 2 maximum?

Server won’t active if you are not request server instance. 2s+2m means there will be 2 server instance stay in standby status wait for player to request. If there is no standby, server will start from cold, which will take a longer time to get prepared for players to connect.

>>9. We currently have PlayFab Core Services package I have read abount other server versions on the following pages: a) in which plans are they included? but there are no details on which plan allows which server variants from the above links (multiplayer-servers-detailed-price-sheet) can you provide more details on that?

Multiplayer Server charges not based on the plan you mentioned. As you can see here: Billing for PlayFab Multiplayer Servers 2.0 - PlayFab | Microsoft Learn, Server service is charged based on the core hours and network egress.

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andrijastepic avatar image andrijastepic commented ·

Hi Xiao Zha,

thank you for your time and clarifications.

A few more questions:

1. So per your answer for 0s+2m: the servers would start eventually and players could enter a matchmaked match?

2. Do you have a time estimate of how long it would take - at least for "start from cold" side, not accounting game startup time?

3. Can you explain what would happen if I have 1s+2m, and a pair of players is playing a match on the 1 standby server (which then became active server) - and a second pair of players requests a match - would the second server "start from cold" with the same wait time as in question 2. above this one?

Thank you

Regards,

Exordium Games

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Xiao Zha avatar image
Xiao Zha answered

>>1. So per your answer for 0s+2m: the servers would start eventually and players could enter a matchmaking match?

No, players could not enter a matchmaking match if you set 0 standby server. In addition, by" If there is no standby, server will start from cold, which will take a longer time to get prepared for players to connect." I mean that the standby server is consumed to 0 instead of being set to 0 from the beginning. When you set standby to 0, you cannot request any server instance.

>>2. Do you have a time estimate of how long it would take - at least for "start from cold" side, not accounting game startup time?

The time for a game server starts from cold is dependent on the size of assets which will be load when the server transition to initializing. You can refer to Lifecycle of a multiplayer server - PlayFab | Microsoft Learn for more information.

>>3. Can you explain what would happen if I have 1s+2m, and a pair of players is playing a match on the 1 standby server (which then became active server) - and a second pair of players requests a match - would the second server "start from cold" with the same wait time as in question 2. above this one?

Since you have 1s+2m, and there is a pair of players using the 1 standby server, which means now the number of standby servers is 0, so PlayFab Server will start a new server from cold, and that is the game server the second pair of players will be connected to. The wait time is the same as in question2.

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andrijastepic avatar image andrijastepic commented ·

Hi Xiao Zha,

thank you again for your time and clarifications.

The answers are as we expected.

Regards,

Exordium Games

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