Building Your Own Bot Server: Epilogue

Last time we concluded a series on building your own bot server. I went over in detail how one can use ESXi to use as the “main operating” system and running virtual machines of the bots underneath. Some people have asked me if they need a separate machine for running just the bots themselves or could the same machine be also utilized for personal usage.

It's not so much a silly question. I know in my situation, having a machine totally dedicated to running bots would attract the attention of my wife and the kids. Some people may not have the space to devote for even one extra beige box.

The answer to that question really depends on the intended uses of the user in question. If the intended uses are surfing, email, and casual gaming, then another virtual machine can be created to function like an entry level system today. Performance should not be a major issue as most of these tasks are not processor or memory intense. Although it has been my experience that many of these Flash-based games, especially the ones on Facebook, are resource hogs and should be either avoided or planned for.

The same advice that one would give to one purchasing a computer also applies when designing virtual machines: more memory is generally a good thing.

The downside of course is that dedicated gaming is not possible. VMware creates virtualization technology for business purposes and has not dedicated the resources to properly implement DirectX. While Magic Online runs under VMware, most other games simply do not. The classic gamers want VMware do make it possible to run older games like Diablo II but VMware hasn't complied with this request yet.

Next time we'll delve into another topic. I've not decided what that shall be yet.

For those who have left comments, I do read them but through some odd quirk, I am unable to respond to any of them.