i3D.net logo in blue
i3D.net logo in blue

Hybrid game server hosting for multiplayer games with Amazon GameLift Anywhere

i3D.net integrates with AWS GameLift Anywhere
21 August 2024

Amazon announced expanded support for hybrid scenarios with Amazon GameLift Anywhere which allows you to mix bare metal game servers with cloud-hosted game servers using Amazon GameLift. This means you can now use the Amazon GameLift API’s, matchmaking and global game session placement features to seamlessly combine managed multi-location fleets running on AWS with fleets running on i3D.net bare metal.

With GameLift Anywhere, Amazon opened a new chapter for game developers, allowing you to improve your game’s player experience without additional engineering work on the game backend. Both your current and future games hosted on Amazon GameLift can take advantage of the hybrid server hosting strategy with i3D.net’s bare metal, without the need to change your current set-up.

i3D.net is the first bare metal provider to support Amazon GameLift Anywhere with dedicated integration taking care of all the automation requirements such as build deployments, logging, and session authentication for your bare metal fleet within GameLift. This makes hybrid game server hosting as easy as fully managed Amazon GameLift on EC2 instances.

Combining GameLift Managed Fleet with GameLift Anywhere Fleet

Below diagram shows how to expand a GameLift architecture by combining the Amazon GameLift Managed Fleet running on AWS EC2 with the GameLift Anywhere Fleet running on i3D.net bare metal. Both are added as a destination to the same Queue. The Amazon GameLift Queue is configured to place game sessions based on the player latency information received from the backend or FlexMatch. You can configure how to place sessions prioritizing latency, cost, fleet destination or location and can have all four attributes defined in priority order. This allows you to control which compute resources to utilize first based on the parameters prioritized. The same game server build can be used across managed and Anywhere locations. The agent takes care of all the configuration required for the Amazon GameLift Server SDK.

Combining GameLift Managed Fleet with GameLift Anywhere Fleet

Why Hybrid game server hosting?

  • Improve your player experience: Host your game server in a location with the lowest latency possible for your players. The i3D.net network backbone operates with network acceleration and is included with your game servers running on i3D.net bare metal. Also included is advanced DDoS protection which ensures players can access their game session.
  • Increased regional availability: With i3D.net you add an additional 60+ PoPs on top of the 24 Regions and 9 locals zones Amazon GameLift offers, meaning you can have more granular control over which regions you run your game servers.
  • No SDK, or Integration work needed: No need to implement a different SDK in your game server, you continue to use the GameLift SDK and Amazon ecosystem as is.
  • Cost-efficiency: By using a dual vendor approach with the Amazon GameLift ecosystem you can configure how to place sessions prioritizing latency, cost, fleet destination or location, and can define all four attributes in priority order.
  • Redundant Game Server Environments: By combining i3D.net bare metal and Amazon GameLift Anywhere, you increase the fault tolerance of your game. Since you are no longer running capacity within a single provider, you are less prone to run into player-disrupting issues. You can also shift capacity between i3D.net and Amazon if there are issues within a specific provider or location.
  • i3D.net bare metal on GameLift Anywhere is fully automated: The deployment of your game build, the communication and registration with the Amazon GameLift backend, and the token request to start your game servers is all automated.

Getting started with GameLift Anywhere with i3D.net bare metal

There are two simple pre-requisites to start using GameLift Anywhere with i3D.net bare metal.

  1. Set up your GameLift account to support GameLift Anywhere, instructions here:
  2. Set up an i3D.net account. If you don’t have an account, we can set you up with a free test environment with two bare metal servers and CDN to get you started – sign-up here.

Once you’re all set-up with the pre-requisites, follow these step-by-step instructions to integrate your i3D.net bare metal fleet within Amazon GameLift.

In case you have any questions on getting started or adding your i3D.net bare metal fleet into Amazon GameLift, please reach out to us here and we’ll help you to get started.

Main Take-Aways

i3D.net is the first bare metal provider to support Amazon GameLift Anywhere with dedicated integration! Taking care of all the automation requirements such as build deployments, logging, and session authentication for your bare metal fleet within Amazon GameLift. You can seamlessly mix bare metal game servers with cloud-hosted servers using Amazon GameLift, making it as easy as fully managed Amazon GameLift on EC2 instances, allowing you to leverage fully automated hybrid game hosting model, without the need to change your current set-up.

Related Links
View all News

Need help from our Customer Support Team?

Get Support

Sales

USA flag round icon

1-800-482-6910

NL flag round icon small

+31 (0)10 890 00 70

Subscribe to our Newsletter and stay up to date with the latest from i3D.net

Subscribe

Features

Solutions

Products

Company

© i3D.net | All rights reserved.

Twitter Linkedin Facebook-f Youtube Instagram
This site is registered on wpml.org as a development site. Switch to a production site key to remove this banner.