We’ve started preparations for MysteryLAN 2016 in March. We’ve arranged the location, we’re contacting possible sponsors, getting and configuring the necessary networking gear and getting ready to open up the registration forms!
Last MysteryLAN we were very pleased with the stability and usability of our network setup and we’re trying to improve upon it for the upcoming MysteryLAN! However, this depends a bit on the sponsors and what gear we can find that is affordable. This is a quick overview of last years setup:
Networking gear:
Netgear 1gbit managed switches. As the core of our network these switches tied everything together.
TP-Link 100mbit switches. Every table had a 100mbit table switch, 4 people shared a 100mbit connection.
TP-Link wifi routers. Two routers with OpenWRT, capped and separated from the gaming network for limited wifi access.
pfSense router/firewall. A custom computer with pfSense installed to provide a stable internet connection.
Servers:
Steam caching server. All Steam download traffic was routed through this server. If a download was cached it would provide it from a local SSD, otherwise it lets the participant download it from Steam and cache it locally. This lowered the load on our internet connection and increased the Steam download speed a lot.
Game server. A VM running the game servers. For several games we provided a dedicated server, for example CoD4, CS:GO, TF2, Trackmania, etc.
File server. A VM running the file server. Several free games and updates were stored here for the participants to download.
This setup proofed to be very resilient and we didn’t have any any big network issues. There were some small issues, but it were isolated incidents and fixed quickly.
For upcoming MysteryLAN we will see where we can improve our setup. Suggestions are of course welcome.
For now, let’s all get excited for MysteryLAN 2016!
– The MysteryLAN Crew