Server PC

If the network is the backbone of your scoring system, the computer which will run the server at the competition venue is the brain.

Server PC requirements

For most competitions a reasonably fast laptop PC should be able to serve the application.
When choosing a PC, we will mostly focus on a device which will run stable and reliable.

Hardware quality

The last thing you want, is for your server PC to break down during the competition. First of all we recommend to use a laptop computer as a server, because of its battery. When you have a power break, the laptop will keep running, at least until you manage to restore power. If you don’t want to use a laptop as a server, make sure to look into a UPS set-up.

In this respect, you don’t want to use a PC which running on its last breath. If you’re running a laptop, make sure the battery is actually usable for at least a couple of hours on full charge.
Some other choices with respect to hardware can offer you some extra security, for example SSD drives a less likely to crash than classic HD’s, because they don’t have moving parts.

When buying PC’s, especially for servers, we stick to professional models from well known brands such as HP, Lenovo, Dell or Apple.

A last thing to look for when buying PC for running the server is the input and output ports on the computer. A least you will need a connector for the network cable. You also want to have one or more usb ports to plug in usb keys, printers, etc…
A video out might also be important if you want to use the PC with an extra screen.

Operating System and Installation

The server software can be installed on a range of operating systems (OS). By default, we will provide installers for Windows as well as OS X (Mac). Linux servers will also be supported.

Operating systems for mobile devices, including Android, Chromebook, Windows Mobile and iOS will not be supported.

Installing the server software is straight forward: you download the executable package from the website and save the file to a location where you want to keep it. After downloading, you can start the application directly with the executable.

In order to keep the server running smoothly and stable, you want to make sure that all other software and services which are not needed during the competition are switched off. In the ideal case, you install the software on a clean installation of the PC and only install other packages that are needed for the competition. Note that most other things you need to do during the event, can also be done on a second computer.