Minecraft server on older hardware?

[iFargle]

Well, I've been hosting a Minecraft server on my desktop for ~ a year now. First it was on a Q9550 and 8GB RAM on Vista / 7, now it's on an i7 2600k with 16GB RAM, so it's always had quite a bit of power to spare. I've gotten to the stage where I'm turning my computer off every night and am looking to move the server to an older low powered computer of mine.

Hardware: 80GB Seagate HDD, Core 2 Duo E8400 @ 3Ghz, 512MB DDR2 1066 (I think) RAM, and an ATI / AMD X300 video card. It will be running Ununtu / Slackware / other Linux-based OS from the command line to be as efficient with what little power / space I have as possible.


I'm wondering if anyone has hosted a MC server on 512MB? I typically see ~5 people on my server, maybe max of 10, with around 30 unique players. Mostly me and my friends play. My server is set up right now with five worlds: Survival, nether, the_end, Flat (creative), and Creative (creative). I have like 15 plugins installed.. I forgot which ones exactly. Essentials, MultiInv, MultiVerse, Lockette, PermissionsEX, Dynmap, Mobile Admin, among others.

Think it's possible? Five worlds on such a small amount of RAM might not be very wise. I'm going to begin testing today when I get home. Ubuntu is already installed on the hard drive, it's just a matter of setting up ssh for remote management (it will be headless and in a different room than my current "server") and any Java runtimes I need (I don't think Ubuntu 11.10 comes with them installed by default, does it? I've installed ubuntu-restricted-extras, it's probably in there).

I'm hoping I can get another 512MB stick from work from one of the discarded machines. I have a 2GB stick laying around I need to try.. However, the board says DDR2-800 whereas the stick is DDR2-667. It's still worth a try

Thanks for any replies!

 

[patonb]

I think you need more RAM... But i think/pretty sure the rests fine.

And the 667 ram will be fine

 

[Yami]

That's way better than you need for an MC server, except of course you should have 1GB minimum plus 100MB per player (very roughly).

 

[MindoverMaster]

I did it for a time, using a simpler system to yours, but with 2GB RAM. You should be fine.

 

[Yami]

I've used my laptop as an MC server before, and just a 1.3GHz Pentium dual ULV (w/ 4GB).

 

[Mischa]

yeah like everyone else said, just upgrade the ram and it'll run fine. 512mb is like the minimum requirements for vanilla so id try and get 2gig because of the plugins, although Yami id agree its qbout 100mb a player. The pvp server I play on has a ton of plugins (not just small plugins like lockette etc.) and we usually get at least 80 players anywhere up to 110 on 16 gig ram.

Not sure how accurate this site is but, here you go.

Can I host a Minecraft Server?

 

[iFargle]

"You can host a maximum of 4" hmm.. I'm willing to test that! lol well if it's laggy I'll go out and buy some RAM.. too bad the required RAM for this board is deathly expensive.. comparatively anyway. 16GB's in this new system cost me under $100. 4GB in this old one is ~$50 on sale I'll start working on this when I get home. I'll let you guys know how it goes. Thanks

 

[iFargle]

Update: It's working! Running Mint (it's what I had on my memory stick at the time) 10 with 1GB RAM. 5 worlds might be too many though. Going to reset it and make it solely a survival server for now, at least until I buy a more powerful one