Computer Geeks, school me on servers

[makattak]

Or, rather, please point me to the materials I will need to learn to begin my pet project.

With 4 little ones at home, I've had the idea to set up our own game server. I thought it would be fun to have a vanilla WoW server for all of us to play together.

Now, my youngest is less than 1 so I have plenty of time to learn and set this up.

Where should I start the process? I've been reading on all that needs to be done, but I'm assuming there are some basic skills I should have to begin. (For example, I know what C++ is and other tools they indicate I should use, but I've never used them.)

So, with the understanding that I'm a competent computer user, but have no background in coding/programming (unless you count the BASIC programs I was writing in 5th grade... yeah, I'm sure that will be useful) and no computer language in my skill sets.

What skills should I acquire to begin this process? What books/classes should I take? (I'm expecting I have at least 5 years before all my children would be able to enjoy it, anyway, so I have lots of time to learn.)

[RevDisk]

You want Trinity Core. https://www.trinitycore.org/

Most private Warcraft servers use it. Alternatively, I recommend having about a hundred more children and teaching them C++, you'd have a shorter development period for making a WoW clone. 

https://trinitycore.atlassian.net/wiki/display/tc/Installation+Guide

No real programming or server knowledge really required.

As for server hardware.... Uh. There's no definition of what that means. One can easily use any computer as a server. It would be relatively trivial to turn your toaster into a server for around $50. I use a $35 single board computer the size of a deck of cards as a server at work. It has approximately 33% the processing power of my last generation cell phone, which I do not use as a server.

For four or five players, a standard PC would probably be fine as a server as long as you didn't have someone using it. You can get a workstation PC (ie just a high end PC) or something like the HP ProLiant MicroServer for something with better specs. I typically call them "cube servers", as they tend to have a couple of the features of enterprise servers.

EBay is definitely your friend. Last generation or gen before last generation enterprise kit is sold for peanuts. For your networking, just buy a 12 or 16 port Netgear gigabit switch. Maybe spring for a decent router.

[RevDisk]

Besides Trinity, you can also try out other cores

http://vanilla-wow.wikia.com/wiki/Private_Servers

Arcemu
http://arcemu.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=16520

Mangos
http://getmangos.com/
http://cmangos.net/

[makattak]

Awesome, thanks Rev! I'll start reading about the different options.

[GigaBuist]

I don't have any experience with WoW servers but don't imagine they'd take all that much for 4-5 users.

Your biggest hurdle is going to be getting into the realm of compiling your own software, and you don't need to be a coder to do that... just fairly apt at following instructions to the tee.

My rec would be to get comfy with Linux, because that's what this stuff is intended to run on, and spin up a virtual machine you on your desktop or main laptop to get used to it.  Pick a distribution that you see is supported by the WoW server replacements... Debian or RedHat probably. 

You could probably get away with running the "server" as a VM on your desktop forever... presuming you leave the desktop on.  I like VirtualBox for "play" VM stuff like this.  It's free.

I wouldn't know what to suggest for a dedicated server without knowing how much load a WoW server hosting 5 people actually produces. 

[Perd Hapley]

You need help with a server, eh?

https://www.hillaryclinton.com/