Small Dedicated Server
A small dedicated server is a dedicated game server sized to what one match needs, often a fraction of a vCPU. Each match gets its own server, started close to its players and stopped when the match ends. It gives games with light simulations, such as co-op, small-team PvP, card and mobile games, server authority and low latency with relay-like resource efficiency.
Aussi appelé
fractional game server, fractional dedicated server, small game server
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How Small Can a Dedicated Server Be?
"Dedicated" describes who owns the match, not how big the machine is. A dedicated server runs headless, without rendering, audio or input, so what is left is the game loop: the simulation, at its tick rate, for the players in that match.
For a 1v1, a four-player co-op session or a card table, that loop is light. Many engines also run game logic on one main thread, so even a busy server gets little from more than one or two vCPUs (vCPU covers sizing).
The size comes from measurement, not from the genre. Profile a headless build with a full match of bots (load testing), then size the server to the peak with some headroom.
En pratique - Aperçus du blog de Edgegap
Points clés de l'article
Serveurs faisant autorité : un seul serveur détient le véritable état du jeu et valide les actions de chaque joueur. Lorsqu'il s'exécute sur une infrastructure qu'aucun joueur ne contrôle, il s'agit d'un serveur dédié, le modèle à la base de la plupart des jeux compétitifs.
Relais : un relais transfère les paquets entre les joueurs qui ne peuvent pas se connecter directement. Il résout les problèmes de connectivité et masque les adresses IP, mais n'exécute aucune logique de jeu, de sorte que la machine d'un joueur reste propriétaire de la partie.
Peer-to-Peer (Pair à pair) : les machines des joueurs se connectent directement, soit à un joueur hébergeant la partie, soit à tous les autres pairs. Il n'y a aucun coût de serveur, mais l'hôte peut altérer le jeu et le NAT bloque certaines connexions.
Perspectives supplémentaires abordées dans cet article
Deux questions distinctes : « qui détient l'état du jeu » (autorité) et « quel matériel l'exécute » (hébergement) sont des choix différents, et un relais ne répond à aucun des deux.
Les relais sont plus sûrs que le P2P brut, mais pas totalement sécurisés : l'hôte peut toujours altérer la partie, et la logique d'autorité est intégrée dans une version que n'importe quel joueur peut décompiler.
Les serveurs dédiés se déclinent en plusieurs tailles : d'un serveur léger de type relais ou multi-salles jusqu'à une simulation complète, chacun conserve l'autorité sur une machine que les joueurs ne contrôlent pas.
Le Peer-to-Peer convient à un ensemble restreint de jeux : les sessions entre amis uniquement et les titres à synchronisation déterministe (deterministic lockstep), sans mode classé ni économie à protéger.
Small Dedicated Server or Multi-Room Server?
Both give each match a server-side referee for a fraction of a vCPU. They get there differently.
Small dedicated server | ||
|---|---|---|
Matches per process | One | Many, one per room |
Placement | Per match, nearest its players | Once, in one central location per region |
A crash affects | One match | Every room on the process |
Engine fit | Any engine, including those built for one map per process | Frameworks that isolate rooms in one process |
Suits | Matches where latency decides the result | Latency-tolerant games |
The trade is shared costs against placement. A multi-room server pays the engine's fixed costs once for every room, but players far from it get worse latency and fairness. A small dedicated server repeats those costs per match, and in return every match runs close to its own players.
Where Does a Small Dedicated Server Sit Among Game Server Types?
Ordered from no server to a full one:
Peer-to-peer: one player's machine hosts (peer-to-peer).
Shared relay service: a platform forwards traffic, and a player still hosts (relay server).
Extensible relay: a relay the studio runs on a dedicated server, with the option to add game logic (LightNet Relay).
Multi-room game server: many matches in one central process.
Small dedicated server: one match per server, placed nearest its players.
Full dedicated server: one match with a heavy simulation, sized in whole vCPUs.
Steps 1 to 3 leave the match on a player's machine. From step 4, a server holds the match: no host advantage, and the match survives any player leaving. An extensible relay that starts running game logic becomes a multi-room server. A small dedicated server is the step for matches that need that authority close to every player.
How Is a Small Dedicated Server Deployed?
Per match. The matchmaker forms a group, the orchestrator picks a location from the players' measured latency, starts the server in a container and returns its address. When the match ends, the server stops.
On Edgegap, the smallest stated size is 0.25 vCPU, with 512 MB of RAM (Edgegap documentation, checked 30 October 2026). Edge Cloud places on-demand servers at the best available location at request time. At scale, Private Fleets run reserved hosts in 58 locations. Either way, stop each server when its match ends.
Un mot de notre sponsor (nous-mêmes !)
La majeure partie du lag provient de la distance, non du code. L'Edge Cloud d'Edgegap est un réseau distribué disposant de plus de 615 emplacements disponibles sur demande, garantissant que chaque partie se déroule au meilleur endroit possible pour ses joueurs. Des tests indépendants sur le trafic d'un studio en direct ont mesuré une baisse de 58 % du temps de trajet aller-retour moyen par rapport au cloud public.
L'avis d'Edgegap (ce n'est que notre opinion, à prendre avec des pincettes !)
Small Is a Sizing Decision, Not a Downgrade
Teams often skip dedicated servers because they picture one heavy machine per match. For many games, the server that match needs is small. Profile it before deciding it is out of reach.
Bloody Bastards, a mobile game with 40 million downloads, moved from peer-to-peer to dedicated servers and a matchmaker, with "zero cheaters since" (Edgegap blog, 2026). Cheating ruins everyone's fun, in a casual match as much as a ranked one, and a server holding the match is what stops it.
Pick small when latency decides the result and the simulation is light. If your matches tolerate a few extra milliseconds, a multi-room server shares more. If the simulation is heavy, the server isn't small, and that's fine too.
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