By Daniel D Dwase

Dedicated servers such as counter strike are offered by game server providers. With this service, you lease the entire server - you do not share it with anyone.

This is important because you get to do with the server as you please. A counter strike dedicated server, as the name implies, is a game server dedicated to the game, Counter Strike.

Counter Strike is a popular online multi-player game. Other games that rank highly in the popularity chart are Call of Duty, the Battlefield series, and Unreal Tournament.

With game servers, crucial info related to the game such as the scores and the rules of the game are accessible from the servers.

Advantages of a Counter Strike Dedicated Server

There are several advantages of using a dedicated server for Counter Strike. The main advantage is that you get high performance levels, meaning you will enjoy your game so much more.

With a counter strike dedicated server, the web hosting company provides you with an operating system of choice and the hardware you require. For an extra fee, you can get a server administration service as an add-on.

Although dedicated servers are more expensive compared to virtual or shared servers, you will benefit if you have a lot of traffic, meaning when you are playing Counter Strike with many people. With this server, there is no interference from other websites.

With these servers, you have an unlimited use of software. This allows you to game in whichever way you want. Since the server is dedicated, there is no risk of cyber crimes such as identity theft.

With shared servers, a hacker only needs to log into one computer in the network to access the other computers.

Disadvantages of a Counter Strike Dedicated Server

The greatest disadvantage of a counter strike dedicated server and other dedicated servers is the high start up cost.

This is because you have to pay the setup cost yourself - this cost can be enormous because you have to pay for hardware, software and labor.

There is also a high maintenance cost since these servers need employees to man them every day. With shared hosting, you get to share the set up and administrative costs with other users.

Requirements for a Counter Strike Dedicated Server

Specific system settings are required for optimum performance of counter-strike dedicated servers.

You should have an operating system that supports your application - ask the hosting company you are considering what these operating systems are.

Counter strike servers can be customized to meet your specific needs. If you are using Windows, after installation of the program, you will go to drive C.

You will find a dedicated server program called hlds.exe. This will use 112.5MB of your disk space and Counter Strike takes 115.8MB. You therefore need to have this space available on your hard disk.

For optimum performance, counter strike dedicated servers should be at least 64-Bit Dual Core, they should be ping boosted to get 100 tick rate, the ECC (Error Correction Codes) Ram should be at least 4 Gigabytes, there should be online chat support, the hard drives should be high speed and big enough for your needs, it should come with phone support, etc.

The network should be advanced and the hosting company should use top tier bandwidth such as Internap bandwidth.

The server should come with a powerful control panel and there should be a function to stop and start the server with one click, a function to install popular mods with one click, a Full FTP (File Transfer Protocol) Access to the server through the control panel, and the control panel should give you an option to re-install the server at will.

Choosing a Game Server Provider

You will only enjoy playing Counter Strike on a dedicated server if you choose your game server provider carefully.

Failure to choose carefully could lead to problems such as a lot of server downtime, lack of customer service, etc. The game server provider should provide all the necessary features. These include free oral communication, free support, web hosting, etc.

You should 'shop around' for a server provider with these services. You should go for a server that has the services you need and not the one with most services.

Consider the charges by these server providers as well. You should note that although it is said cheap is expensive, just because a server provider is expensive does not mean the company is better.

Again, you should 'shop around' to get the best prices. However, do not allow the prices to compromise the quality. Check the quality of the features carefully. Go for a server provider that allows you to test the server for a certain amount of time.

Compare as many server providers as possible because from the laws of probability, the more server providers you look at, the greater your chances of getting good counter strike dedicated servers.

There are companies that claim to be server providers but are just fronts for criminal activities. Some promise more than they can deliver in terms of quality and capacity and some are not even game server providers.

You should do thorough research on the companies you are considering. Go for well known companies that have a reputation to uphold. If you go for an unknown company, you will not even know where to go in case you want to take legal or any other action.

Although some small companies that provide counter strike dedicated servers have servers that are of a high quality, many such companies do not have the capacity and resources to offer customer support.

Go for a company that offer customer support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, all year round. A good way to find a good server provider is to ask for customer testimonials.

This way, you will get unbiased information on the effectiveness and the efficiency of the counter strike dedicated servers of such providers. Better still, you could get recommendations from friends, colleagues, neighbors, family, or other persons you trust.

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