Hosting Prerequisites

Before you can run a Honse Farm server, you'll need to prepare three essential components:

1. a domain name
2. VPS (Virtual Private Server)
3. Cloudflare account.

Virtual Private Server (VPS)

Your server needs a Linux VPS to run the Honse Farm Docker containers. The most critical resource consideration is bandwidth.

Resource Profile:

• CPU: 2-4 cores sufficient for most deployments
• RAM: 8+ GB recommended
• Storage: 100 GB+ depending on user count (the mods will all be saved)
• Bandwidth: This is your primary constraint

HonseFarm's server software itself is not resource-intensive. However, Mare Synchronos synchronizes character appearance data, including modded assets. Upload and download traffic will be your primary bottleneck, especially for servers with active modding communities.

Recommended Hosting Providers

We recommend two providers that offer unmetered bandwidth, making them ideal for Mare Synchronos hosting. OVHCloud allows from growth (moving from a small VPS to a large one over time), where Hetzner is just offering raw performance.

OVHCloud

OVHCloud VPS Configurator offers VPS instances with unmetered bandwidth starting around $10/month. Their network infrastructure is robust and handles large data transfers efficiently.

Advantages:

• Unlimited bandwidth on all tiers
• Competitive pricing
• Global datacenter locations
• Strong DDoS protection at the network level

Hetzner

Hetzner Dedicated Root Servers provide dedicated servers with unlimited traffic at excellent price points. Even their entry-level servers start around $40/month and offer significantly more resources than VPS options elsewhere.

Advantages:

• Unlimited traffic on all servers
• Exceptional price-to-performance ratio
• Located in Germany and Finland (good EU coverage)
• Dedicated hardware for consistent performance

Operating System

Honse Farm supports any modern Linux distribution with Docker support. We recommend:

• Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (best documentation and community support)
• Debian 12 (stable and minimal)
• Rocky Linux 9 (RHEL-compatible for enterprise environments)

Our installer will detect your distribution and configure Docker accordingly for the most part.

Domain Name

Your Honse Farm server requires a domain name for TLS certificate provisioning and federation discovery. You can use any domain registrar works. If you don't have a domain yet, popular options include Namecheap, Porkbun, or Cloudflare Registrar.

You will need to create 3 subdomains for your domain, and point them to your VPS Ip-address before starting the installer.

• server.yourdomain.com
• cdn.yourdomain.com
• admin.yourdomain.com

Cloudflare Account (Strongly Recommended)

While technically optional, we strongly recommend running your domain through Cloudflare for free for several critical reasons:

DDoS Protection Security Features Performance Zero Cost

Setting up Cloudflare is straightforward:

1. Create a free account at cloudflare.com
2. Add your domain and update your nameservers at your registrar
3. Create the subdomain DNS A records as described in "Domain name"
4. Make sure the request is proxied (orange cloud icon).

Once you have your domain, Cloudflare account, and VPS ready, proceed to Server Setup Guide to begin the installation process.