Server Admin Discussions and Updates

[AI]

This is a general thread where server administration issues can be discussed and addressed.

Today's Sept 10, 2015 update broke Metamod and Sourcemod for TF2 again.  Here are noticeable issues and solutions discovered so far:

• Metamod failed to start, and thus also Sourcemod for both Linux and Windows servers.
     Solution: Update to snapshot versions: MM 1.10.6-git942 + SM 1.7.3-git5240
     
• Custom Chat Colors plugin stopped applying tags and text colors
     Solution: Update to snapshot versions: MM 1.10.6-git942 + SM 1.7.3-git5240
     
• Hide Players plugin stops hiding explosions
     Solution: Update to snapshot versions: MM 1.10.6-git942 + SM 1.7.3-git5240
     

[Exile]

my admin is missing from the servers

[AI]

Sourcemod admin features will not work without Sourcemod running.  Check to see if the servers have the latest snapshot by typing in console: meta version and sm.  If these does not report the versions, then they are not running.

[AI]

Today's Oct 28, 2015 update broke the TF2Items extension (and possibly also TF2Attributes), and causes server crashes when players join a team.  Here are the solutions found so far:

• Outdated TF2Attributes gamedata: /tf/addons/sourcemod/gamedata/tf2.attributes.txt
     Solution: Update available
     
• Crashing TF2Items extension
     Solution: Update 1.6.3-274

[AI]

TF2Items 1.6.3-274 is now available for both Linux and Windows servers.

An update for SourceMod 1.7 - build 5272 is also available with a patched TF2 gamedata.

[AI]

Note: Never put more than one TF2 server on a VDS with only 1 GB of RAM regardless of player slots (+maxplayers launch parameter).  SRCDS has a nasty habit of building up RAM usage over time, especially with plugins and extensions it can start at 400MB then gradually go up to 700MB+.  Other OS and service processes (i.e. database, web server) on the VDS will also fight for memory.

Symptoms of a server dying due to running out of memory:

• Plugins become unresponsive to commands
• Plugins cannot be found and loaded despite being in the SM plugins folder
• Nobody can chat because the chat processor/colors plugin crashed
• Changing the map crashes the server

Symptoms of a server lagging due to an attempt to mitigate RAM shortage with disk swap space:

• Increased rubber band lag the longer the server is kept up
• Lag spike on player join
• Near 100% CPU usage by the Linux kernel swap daemon (kswapd), which leaves little CPU time for the game server(s)

This is the server memory usage on a Ubuntu VDS with a typical Jump Academy server setup as seen in htop.  This VDS also hosts a web server and database.  Note the total VDS RAM usage in the bar chart at the top leaves no room for another SRCDS instance.




For a baseline, this is the minimal CentOS setup from the Jump-server Starter Kit running SRCDS on the same map only uses about 100 MB less memory.




In both examples, the servers were empty.  Memory use will only increase per in-game player.

[Vexon]

This is more complex than rocket science wtf

[HyperDan]

I just read through it and im like "what".

All I see is like computer directories  and random numbers or some shit like that

[Reich | Jump.tf]

It's probably a lot more simple than it looks. Besides coding the actual jump server n whatnot but the screenshots seem to suggest that it's just like task manager in a sense. But iunno what i'm talking about. I know a bit about computers, but not running a server.

[John]

basically the tf2 servers have a tendency to use more memory as time goes on
there is a limited amount of memory in a computer, and if that memory is all used up, shit starts to happen

programs in a computer will "reserve" a set amount of memory to use, and increase or decrease as needs be. they might not even use all of the reserve memory but it's just a precaution for the program itself

essentially now that the computer is out of memory to distribute, it starts using the hard drive as a source of memory-- as in all that reserved but unused memory will be pushed to the hard disk to leave room for programs that need more memory. this requires cpu power which takes away from the other programs that need it, causing more problems

i've made a horrible explanation and i'm not even sure if i'm correct but i should be 50% correct but AI can tell it how it be

[AI]

That sounds about right.

Swapping not only heavily consumes CPU but it also increases the delay in fetching memory because a disk read is significantly slower than from RAM.  If a program needs that part of memory but it is on the disk, it will freeze up until the OS finishes fetching it.  This is why your PC lags when it's running low on RAM.

If the server does not even have swap enabled, however, there is no extra leeway and programs will just crash from failing to allocate the memory it needs.

[AI]

Today's Oct 12, 2016 update appears to have broken a few Sourcemod plugins.  Here are noticeable issues and solutions discovered so far:

• Server crashes when the first player joins or using a plugin command
     Solution:  Update Sourcemod to the latest 1.8 snapshot
     Solution:  Update gamedata files or disable plugins that depend on these files, such as tf2.items.txt and tf2items.randomizer.txt

/tf/addons/sourcemod/gamedata/custom/tf2.items.txt:

Code: [Select]

"Games"
{
"tf"
{
"Offsets"
{
"GiveNamedItem"
{
"windows" "473"
"linux" "480"
"mac" "480"
}
}
}
}

/tf/addons/sourcemod/gamedata/tf2items.randomizer.txt:

Code: [Select]

"Games"
{
/* Team Fortress 2 */
"tf"
{
"Offsets"
{
"CTFPlayer::EquipWearable"
{
"windows" "428"
"linux" "429"
"mac" "429"
}
}
}
}
Note: At the moment, Sourcemod's gamedata auto updater attempts to replace tf2.items.txt with an older version that crashes the server.  To avoid this, place the gamedata inside a folder called custom inside the gamedata folder, i.e. gamedata/custom/tf2.items.txt, and reboot the server.  This copy will be used instead of the one in gamedata/tf2.items.txt.

Edit: The updated tf2.items.txt gamedata is now pushed through Sourcemod's auto updater.  The workaround mentioned above should now be removed to allow for future updates.

[AI]

Today's Nov 2, 2016 update appears to have broken a few Sourcemod plugins.  Here are noticeable issues and solutions discovered so far:

• Server crashes when the first player joins or using a plugin command
     Solution:  Update Sourcemod to the latest 1.8 snapshot
     Solution:  Update gamedata files or disable plugins that depend on these files, such as tf2.items.txt and tf2items.randomizer.txt

/tf/addons/sourcemod/gamedata/custom/tf2.items.txt:

Code: [Select]

"Games"
{
"tf"
{
"Offsets"
{
"GiveNamedItem"
{
"windows" "474"
"linux" "481"
"mac" "481"
}
}
}
}

/tf/addons/sourcemod/gamedata/tf2items.randomizer.txt:

Code: [Select]

"Games"
{
/* Team Fortress 2 */
"tf"
{
"Offsets"
{
"CTFPlayer::EquipWearable"
{
"windows" "429"
"linux" "430"
"mac" "430"
}
}
}
}
Note: If Sourcemod's gamedata auto updater attempts to replace tf2.items.txt with an older version that crashes the server, youc can avoid this by placing the gamedata inside a folder called custom inside the gamedata folder, i.e. gamedata/custom/tf2.items.txt, and reboot the server.  This copy will be used instead of the one in gamedata/tf2.items.txt.

[AI]

On March 14, 2017 a TF2 update was released with internal changes that required new gamedata for Sourcemod to work properly.

Most servers with Sourcemod versions 1.8 and higher should have the new gamedata automatically downloaded upon a server restart, but Sourcemod 1.7 appears to have difficulty starting.

Solution:  Update to the newest stable Sourcemod 1.8 build from https://www.sourcemod.net/downloads.php?branch=stable

[Larry]

March 14 update prevented my Ubuntu server from starting up even without sourcemod.
The following fixed it for me.

sudo apt-get install libtinfo5:i386 libncurses5:i386 libcurl3-gnutls:i386