Ephemeral: an opinionated client side server manager for Minecraft
Ephemeral is an opinionated client side server manager for Minecraft. Its goal is to make it affordable for individuals and small groups to run a Minecraft server in the cloud. It provides an interface and pre-configuration to allow the startup and shutdown of Amazon EC2 (preferably spot instances) from within the game. Meaning you don't have to pay for a server when you're not playing!
1 AWS Billing Disclaimer
Amazon Web Services cost estimataing can be complicated, Make sure you read all the documentation here and for AWS so you understand how Amazon Web Services works before you attempt to use this mod. I have done everything I can to make any expected charges known to you, but ultimately I cannot be held responsible for any unexpected charges on your account.
That out of the way, here's what you can expect in general terms. There are multiple components in play together to make this work smoothly.
- EC2 Spot Instances (the main compute power).
- ElasticIP Addresses (so you always have the same IP).
- EC2 Block Storage (for persisting your Mincraft game between sessions).
The EC2 instance is the piece that can be started up and shutdown on demand with this mod, and should constitute the majority of the cost. But in order to make the process seamless, the ElasticIP and EC2 Block Storage must persist when the main computer is terminated. This isn't free, however its very inexpensive.
2 EC2 Spot Instances
The purpose of this mod is to reduce cost, and take advantage of a type of cloud server that Amazon Web Services offers called a spot instance. These are usually very cheap servers (in the area of a penny per hour for something that can run a Minecraft server) however they essentially require automated deployment to be used successfully.
There are some catches with Spot Instances. You should ready the description from Amazon, but in summary you are bidding on a server, not outright paying for it. You set a maximum you're willing to pay for the instance, but if there are no spot instances available and somebody is willing to pay more then you, your instance may be shutdown (with a 2 min warning) so it can be provisioned to the higher bidder.
3 How Will It Work
At a high level, each time you startup your cloud server, a new computer is created and your public IP address is associated to that machine. The machine boots from a pre-configured hard drive that includes all the system tools to run Minecraft, it also attaches your EC2 Block Storage drive as a second disk and mounts it to /minecraft. Once the server is booted, a service starts, and maintains the running of Minecraft from the /minecraft share, so all data (world files, mods, configs etc) never leave your Block Storage disk.
When you're done with the server, you terminate it (or you set default timeouts for automatic termination). On termination the server shuts down, disconnects the public IP address, and the Block Storage drive (with all your data) and then is destroyed.
4 Work In Progress
This project is a very early work in progress, as such its not intended for use on a live server. Large portions of it are incomplete.