Game server hosting glossary

The words you run into when renting a game server, each explained in three sentences. From memory to tick rate, from panels to wipes: what they actually mean, and what they change for your server.

TPS (ticks per second): How many times per second the server recalculates the world. Minecraft targets 20 TPS: below that, time slows down for everyone — blocks break slowly, mobs freeze. Falling TPS almost always means the server is short on CPU or memory, not bandwidth. Read more →
Tick rate: The same idea as TPS, applied to other games: how often the server updates positions, shots and collisions. The higher it is, the more precise the game feels — and the more CPU it costs.
Slots: The number of players who can be connected at once. Depending on the game, a plan is sold by slot or by memory; in the second case the player count is not capped, available memory sets the real limit. Read more →
RAM: The server's working space. It holds the loaded world, entities, connected players and mods. It is the first thing to pick a plan on: too little memory and the server stutters or restarts, however fast the processor is.
DDR5 ECC: The memory fitted in our machines. DDR5 for the generation, ECC for error correction: the memory detects and fixes single-bit errors, which prevents silent save corruption on a server running for months.
NVMe: An SSD wired straight onto the PCIe bus, far quicker than a regular SSD. On a game server you notice it at startup, when chunks load, and above all during automatic backups, which no longer interrupt play.
Anti-DDoS: Filtering that absorbs flooding attacks before they reach the server. Network attacks (L3/L4) drown the bandwidth; application attacks (L7) imitate real players. Game servers, roleplay ones in particular, are common targets.
KVM: The virtualisation our VPS use. Each virtual machine gets its own kernel and reserved resources, unlike containers where everyone shares one system. That is what makes full root access and any distribution possible. Read more →
VPS: A virtual private server: a reserved slice of a physical machine, with its own system, IP address and administrator access. You install whatever you like — a website, a bot, several game servers — at the cost of administering it yourself. Read more →
Game panel: The web interface that replaces the command line: start and stop the server, edit files, install mods, read logs, schedule restarts. NexusPanel is ours; Pterodactyl is the most widespread open-source one. Read more →
Pterodactyl: An open-source game panel, widely used by hosts and large communities. It isolates each server in its own container. Our Pterodactyl VPS ship with it already installed, to run several game servers on one machine. Read more →
txAdmin: The standard administration tool for FiveM and RedM: starting the server, managing resources, issuing bans, scheduling restarts and watching performance, all from a web interface. It comes pre-installed on our FiveM servers. Read more →
Framework (ESX, QBCore): The codebase that turns an empty FiveM server into a roleplay server: jobs, money, inventory, identity papers. ESX and QBCore are the two most common; the choice determines which scripts you can install afterwards. Read more →
Mods and plugins: Two ways of extending a game. A mod changes the game itself and must be installed on the player's side too; a plugin is added only to the server and stays invisible to the client. On Minecraft, Forge and Fabric load mods, Paper and Spigot load plugins. Read more →
Modpack: A set of mods bundled and tested together (RLCraft, All The Mods, Pixelmon…). A modpack eats far more memory than vanilla: count on 6 to 8 GB at least for a comfortable modded Minecraft server. Read more →
Wipe: Resetting a server: the map, the buildings and sometimes player progress are erased. It is the norm on Rust, where wipes set the rhythm of a server, and a community decision on other survival games. Read more →
Crossplay: Playing together from different platforms — PC, PlayStation, Xbox. It depends on the game, not on the host: ARK: Survival Ascended allows it, ARK: Survival Evolved does not. Read more →
RCON: A remote administration channel: commands are sent to the server without being connected in-game. It is what Discord bots and moderation tools use to ban, announce or restart.
FTP / WebFTP: How you send files to the server and get them back: configurations, mods, saves. WebFTP does the same from the browser, with no software to install.
Backup: An automatic copy of the server's files, kept separately. Its value is what it allows: rolling back after a mod breaks a save or after a wrong move. It is an add-on here, billed monthly. Read more →
Dedicated IP: A network address reserved for your server, instead of a shared port on a common address. It makes the connection easier to share and allows services that require standard ports. Read more →
Snapshot: A complete picture of a VPS at a given moment: system, settings and data. Restoring a snapshot puts the machine back exactly as it was, which makes it the safety net before a risky update. Read more →