Starting Your Very First Game Server!
First Server Experience
Hosting your first server can be a hectic and also rewarding time depending on how you pursue it! Hopefully, after this guide, you will be well informed on the basics and must-knows when hosting your very first server. This article will feature the game Rust by Facepunch Studios, however, most aspects can be carried over into many other games. We'll also be featured today by SRTBull's Youtube video which is a great visual aid to help get you started! We will follow the following format below.
- Hosting Methods
- Hosting your own server on your machine
- Hosting from a service provider company
- Recommended Hosts
Hosting Methods
There are primarily two methods when hosting a server which is listed below.
- Seft-Hosted - A PC or server you own yourself that is capable of running a Rust server hosted from yourself.
- Hosting Provider - A company or organization that rents out servers for clients to use.
We will first go over Self-Hosted server hosting as it's the cheapest, but also a good method to get started before fully dipping your toes in.
Self-Hosting Your Rust Server
SRTBull on Youtube if you haven't already heard of it, makes great how-to Rust admin videos that you should definitely check out! In the video mentioned below, he will be going over how to host your very own Self Hosted Rust server on your own pc.
Note: It's not advised to host a public server from your home network. If you plan to do so then be mindful that it can potentially put your home network at risk if you upset anyone or are a target for getting DDoS'd at all.
Host Provider Servers
As mentioned hosting providers offer a service, typically on a monthly payment plan for you to rent out a server of your liking. Hosting companies typically offer two main packages, one is Shared-Hosting, and the other is Dedicated Hosting.
- Shared-Hosting - Basically it's sharing a single machine for multiple people and dividing it up evenly, usually catered for a specific game via a built-in panel. Nobody other than yourself has access to your own server files as the machine is split up through an interactive and easy-to-use panel, typically. This is a great budget-friendly method, especially starting off. ($10-100 per month average)
- MicroCloud Hosting (Blades) - If you're wanting a perfect middle-ground machine that's not overkilling, but also more performant than the shared hosting hardware that is typically limited once you gain popularity then a 'Blade' server would be the best middle-ground machine for all-around use or hosting! It's worth noting that you do have full access to these machines generally and do not share them with other clients. ($80-300 per month average)
- Dedicated Hosting - Grants you full access to the machine yielding much higher performance since you utilize the machine entirely to your own servers. These typically do not come with an easy-to-use panel and the price will be considerably higher than shared hosting. ($100-500 per month average)
What hosting provider do we recommend and why?
Sounding biased here, however, we are extremely confident within our service and network that we do believe we are the most premium server hosting experience out there whilst remaining within a budget-friendly manner for people like ourselves who are hobbyist gamers wanting an affordable game-server hosting option.
What makes Tempest Hosting the best?
Hands down the most innovative and large-scale network out there is Path.net, which is the foundation of the service at which we offer which will ensure that your machine has the best possible DDoS and network protection that you can get. In addition, we only exclusively host all of our hardware in the highest tier data center facilities possible which includes multiple redundancy plans with power, hardware cooling, and overall extremely high uptime on all of our machines due to minimal faults. We are a premium server provider, but the price does follow the quality hosting and customer experience we try our best to offer!