Hosting Basics

Game server hosting explained: how much RAM and CPU you need, ports and port forwarding, ping, storage, backups, logs, mods and growing a player base.

• What game server hosting really costs

  What you are actually paying for in a hosting plan, why the cheapest plan is often the most expensive mistake, how to size a plan properly, and the honest cost of running one at home.

  7 min read · pricing, ram, value · Updated Oct 21, 2026

• Server uptime: what 99.9% actually means

  Uptime percentages turned into real minutes per month, what counts as downtime and what does not, and the difference between the network, the machine and your own server process.

  6 min read · uptime, sla, downtime · Updated Oct 21, 2026

• What is a server tick?

  A tick is one step of the server's simulation. Here is what happens inside one, the usual rates per game, what a late tick feels like to a player, and how ticks relate to TPS, MSPT and ping.

  6 min read · tick rate, tps, mspt · Updated Oct 21, 2026

• Whitelist, password or private: which one do you want?

  Three ways to keep a server to your own group, and what each one really protects you from. Which games support which, and how to pick without locking yourself out.

  7 min read · whitelist, allowlist, password · Updated Oct 21, 2026

• How much bandwidth does a game server use?

  Rough per-player bandwidth figures by game type, what actually drives the numbers up, and why upload matters far more than download on a server.

  6 min read · bandwidth, networking, upload · Updated Oct 21, 2026

• Why single-thread CPU speed decides game server performance

  Nearly every game simulates its world on one thread, so one fast core beats sixteen slow ones. Here is why, how to compare CPUs when picking a host, and which jobs really do use the spare cores.

  6 min read · cpu, single-thread, performance · Updated Oct 21, 2026

• SFTP vs FTP for game servers

  Plain FTP sends your password across the internet in readable text. SFTP does the same job over an encrypted connection, which is why hosts offer SFTP only.

  6 min read · sftp, ftp, files · Updated Oct 21, 2026

• What is a game server control panel?

  A control panel is the web interface that runs your game server: power buttons, a live console, files, backups, schedules and resource graphs, without you ever touching a command line.

  6 min read · panel, console, files · Updated Oct 21, 2026

• What is RCON and how do you use it?

  RCON is a remote console protocol that lets a tool outside your server send admin commands to it. Here is what it is for, which games use it, and why you should treat its password like a key to the server.

  6 min read · rcon, console, admin · Updated Oct 21, 2026

• Dedicated IP vs shared IP for a game server

  What an IP and port pair actually is, why hosts share one IP across many servers, when a dedicated IP genuinely matters, and how a domain solves the same problem for free.

  6 min read · ip address, ports, dns · Updated Oct 21, 2026

• CPU vs RAM: What Makes a Game Server Fast?

  RAM decides how much a server can hold, the CPU decides how fast it can think. Why single-core speed matters most and when extra cores help.

  5 min read · cpu, ram, performance · Updated Sep 24, 2026

• How Often Should You Back Up a Game Server?

  A simple backup plan for game servers: how often to back up for your activity level, how many copies to keep, the 3-2-1 rule and testing restores.

  5 min read · backups, backup schedule, 3-2-1 rule · Updated Oct 5, 2026

• How to Get Players for Your Game Server

  Honest ways to grow a game server community: server lists, Discord, a clear pitch, a good first five minutes, and habits that keep players coming back.

  5 min read · community, players, advertising · Updated Sep 24, 2026

• How Many Players Can My Game Server Handle?

  Player capacity comes down to the game's own cap, how much work the CPU finishes each tick, memory and bandwidth. How to estimate each one.

  4 min read · players, capacity, max players · Updated Sep 24, 2026

• How Much RAM Do You Need for a Game Server?

  What RAM actually does on a game server, a per-game table to size from, what pushes the number up, and how to tell if you picked too little or too much.

  6 min read · ram, memory, server hosting · Updated Sep 24, 2026

• How to Choose a Game Server Host: A Checklist

  A neutral checklist for comparing game server hosts: hardware, locations, panel access, backups, DDoS protection, support, billing and refunds.

  4 min read · choosing a host, checklist, game server hosting · Updated Sep 24, 2026

• Mods vs Plugins vs Modpacks vs Datapacks

  What mods, plugins, modpacks, datapacks and addons are, who has to install each one, and which kinds your game and server software can run.

  5 min read · mods, plugins, modpacks · Updated Sep 24, 2026

• Port Forwarding Explained (and Why Hosts Skip It)

  What port forwarding is, how to set it up for a home game server, why it fails behind CGNAT, and why a rented server never needs it.

  5 min read · port forwarding, router, nat · Updated Sep 24, 2026

• Game Server Out of Memory: The Signs and the Fix

  A server short on RAM stops with exit code 137, logs OutOfMemoryError or Ran out of memory allocating, and freezes for whole seconds at a time.

  5 min read · ram, out of memory, oom · Updated Oct 24, 2026

• TCP vs UDP: Game Server Ports Explained

  What TCP and UDP are, why most games use UDP, and the default ports for Minecraft, Rust, ARK, Palworld, Valheim, CS2 and more.

  5 min read · tcp, udp, ports · Updated Sep 24, 2026

• What Is a Dedicated Game Server?

  A dedicated server runs the game world on its own, with no player hosting it. How it compares to peer-to-peer, listen servers, LAN and subscription worlds.

  4 min read · dedicated server, listen server, peer-to-peer · Updated Sep 24, 2026

• How to Read Server Logs and Crash Reports

  Find the line that matters in a game server log: log levels, stack traces, the first-error rule, and where logs and crash reports live in your panel.

  5 min read · logs, crash report, stack trace · Updated Sep 23, 2026

• How to Test Your Ping Before Picking a Location

  Measure latency with ping and traceroute on Windows or macOS, understand what the numbers mean, and choose the right GuavaHost location.

  5 min read · ping, latency, traceroute · Updated Sep 23, 2026

• NVMe vs SSD vs HDD: Does Storage Matter for Servers?

  How NVMe, SATA SSDs and hard drives differ, which game server tasks storage speed actually affects, and when it makes no difference at all.

  4 min read · nvme, ssd, hdd · Updated Sep 23, 2026

• Hosting a Game Server at Home vs Renting One

  The real trade-offs of running a game server on your own PC versus renting one: upload speed, uptime, power cost, your home IP and hardware.

  5 min read · self-hosting, home server, dedicated server · Updated Sep 23, 2026

About these guides

Game server hosting explained from the ground up, with no assumption that you have run one before. What RAM and CPU actually do for a game server, why single thread speed matters more than core count, what ports and port forwarding are and why a host handles them for you, how ping works, and what storage and bandwidth mean in practice.

These are the guides to read before you buy anything, and the ones to send someone who asks why they cannot just host it on their own PC. They are deliberately game agnostic: once you know how much RAM a server needs and why, every per game guide in the Help Center makes more sense.