DMZs and servers at home. Thinking a Minecraft server.
Discussion
I'm thinking of setting up a Minecraft server at home, because all the online offerings are expensive ($100/mon for something similar to a box I have at home dedicated).
So aside the connection (which is ADSL right now, but should be 1.5GB capable in 12mo I hope), I'm a noob to running exposed servers. Current setups are all behind router with no port forwarding.
I know about DMZ logic, but do I still route via my home router to it? Or should I also budget for a decent switch between my router/modem and the DMZ machine?
Also how does DDos protection fit into it all? Do you really need it, will I just be asking for trouble?
The server will just be literally a whole machine dedicated to disposable game stuff, backed up to it's own dedicated HDD as an image I expect. So isolated in all respects bar using my same home IP address.
Just curious where to start really, if it's going to be a world of pain, a security risk for other machines on my network behind my router, etc.
So aside the connection (which is ADSL right now, but should be 1.5GB capable in 12mo I hope), I'm a noob to running exposed servers. Current setups are all behind router with no port forwarding.
I know about DMZ logic, but do I still route via my home router to it? Or should I also budget for a decent switch between my router/modem and the DMZ machine?
Also how does DDos protection fit into it all? Do you really need it, will I just be asking for trouble?
The server will just be literally a whole machine dedicated to disposable game stuff, backed up to it's own dedicated HDD as an image I expect. So isolated in all respects bar using my same home IP address.
Just curious where to start really, if it's going to be a world of pain, a security risk for other machines on my network behind my router, etc.
The ‘A’ in ADSL is asymmetric, your current upload speed will be significantly less than your download speed, and upload is important for hosting, typical ADSL upload will be less than 20 Mb/s which could be more limiting than you think.
Most networking kit will easily cope with 1 Gb/s (but worth checking it’s all Gb capable, and that your cables do too), so your internet connection is likely to max out long before your local network or ISP supplied router does.
Might also be worth checking what your ISP’s policy on hosting your own services is (and have you worked out how much it might cost use a VPS? That would eliminate a whole host of issues).
Most networking kit will easily cope with 1 Gb/s (but worth checking it’s all Gb capable, and that your cables do too), so your internet connection is likely to max out long before your local network or ISP supplied router does.
Might also be worth checking what your ISP’s policy on hosting your own services is (and have you worked out how much it might cost use a VPS? That would eliminate a whole host of issues).
Mr Whippy said:
I'm thinking of setting up a Minecraft server at home, because all the online offerings are expensive ($100/mon for something similar to a box I have at home dedicated).
So aside the connection (which is ADSL right now, but should be 1.5GB capable in 12mo I hope), I'm a noob to running exposed servers. Current setups are all behind router with no port forwarding.
I know about DMZ logic, but do I still route via my home router to it? Or should I also budget for a decent switch between my router/modem and the DMZ machine?
Also how does DDos protection fit into it all? Do you really need it, will I just be asking for trouble?
The server will just be literally a whole machine dedicated to disposable game stuff, backed up to it's own dedicated HDD as an image I expect. So isolated in all respects bar using my same home IP address.
Just curious where to start really, if it's going to be a world of pain, a security risk for other machines on my network behind my router, etc.
I know very little about Minecraft other than than fond memories of playing it with my son locally a few years ago, but I'd be surprised if you needed to create a DMZ to host a server. I'd also not want to do that on my own network at home!So aside the connection (which is ADSL right now, but should be 1.5GB capable in 12mo I hope), I'm a noob to running exposed servers. Current setups are all behind router with no port forwarding.
I know about DMZ logic, but do I still route via my home router to it? Or should I also budget for a decent switch between my router/modem and the DMZ machine?
Also how does DDos protection fit into it all? Do you really need it, will I just be asking for trouble?
The server will just be literally a whole machine dedicated to disposable game stuff, backed up to it's own dedicated HDD as an image I expect. So isolated in all respects bar using my same home IP address.
Just curious where to start really, if it's going to be a world of pain, a security risk for other machines on my network behind my router, etc.
Might be worth reading this Reddit post
And watching this Youtube vid if you can bear to listen for longer than 10 seconds.
Partially depends on how clever your router is. When I've done stuff like this the switch in the router was able to fully partition things without needing anything external.
I do use commercial grade routers though.
Slapping it into the cloud isn't a bad idea though especially if size & active hours are tightly managed.
I do use commercial grade routers though.
Slapping it into the cloud isn't a bad idea though especially if size & active hours are tightly managed.
I currently have a server on an i7 4770k with 16gb ram and ssds, which is fine for my home server and local Minecraft server with kids etc.
But it also hosts my films, music, family photos, work, backups. And I’m not keen exposing the Java Minecraft process on it to the WWW via port forwarding, while it holds all this other type of content too.
To get a 3950x 8gb ram type machine is $100 a month!
For a 9950x type machine with 2 logical cores and 4gb ram (clearly shared) it’s still $20 a month.
So online/cloud is expensive for what you get, though it’ll also bundle a GUI/setup/admin and appropriate bandwidth.
My isp is currently Zen, not sure what their T&Cs say will take a look.
Agree ADSL will be a no go. It’ll be once I’m on fibre that I go this route.
I suppose I could pay say £100 for a year for something online and see what it’s like. But it’s just sunk capital and serves no other purposes.
But it also hosts my films, music, family photos, work, backups. And I’m not keen exposing the Java Minecraft process on it to the WWW via port forwarding, while it holds all this other type of content too.
To get a 3950x 8gb ram type machine is $100 a month!
For a 9950x type machine with 2 logical cores and 4gb ram (clearly shared) it’s still $20 a month.
So online/cloud is expensive for what you get, though it’ll also bundle a GUI/setup/admin and appropriate bandwidth.
My isp is currently Zen, not sure what their T&Cs say will take a look.
Agree ADSL will be a no go. It’ll be once I’m on fibre that I go this route.
I suppose I could pay say £100 for a year for something online and see what it’s like. But it’s just sunk capital and serves no other purposes.
Will this Minecraft server be for specific people like friends and family?
If so, look at something called "Tailscale" - essentially, it'll create a private LAN over the internet. Incredibly easy to setup - just install Tailscale on all the devices you want to connect to each other (supports basically every OS) and it'll assign all those devices specific IP addresses for that "LAN"
The only confusion that may occur is each device will have two IP addresses - something like 192.x for your "real" internet, and 100.x for your Tailscale LAN. You just need to remember that anything to do with Minecraft (or any other game) needs to connect over the 100.x addreses.
The benefit is, this requires no port fowarding, or concerns over fixing IP addresses. It just works, and it's free! I use it at home (as I'm behind CG-NAT) and it works perfectly for sharing my NAS access without exposing, or paying for a fixed, public IP.
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