So far our discussion of game servers has centered on permanent game servers: that is servers that are (more or less) intended to be running and available indefinitely. In this chapter we will cover temporary game servers: servers that have a specific start and end time. GameCreate not only has full support for such servers but provides an easy to use "self-service" interface for players to create temporary servers.
What Are Temporary Servers
Temporary servers have two distinguishing features from permanent servers:
Temporary servers have a definite start and end time. For example, a temporary server may run from 7:00pm to 9:00pm.
Temporary servers can be created (or "booked") by the general public; no special permission is required to create such a server.
If that second point has you worried, it is important to know that the ability to create temporary servers needs to be explicitly enabled by an administrator. GameCreate manages a pool for each game of hosts that can be used to create temporary servers for that game. Each game's pool of hosts is empty until an administrator allocates one or more hosts to that pool.
In GameCreate, games are allocated to one or more hosts on which users can create temporary servers. This allocation does not need to be exclusive: permanent servers may be created on a host also allocated to temporary servers.
Allocating a Host for Temporary Game Servers
To allocate one or more hosts to a game to be used in the creation of temporary game servers, visit the game's Overview page and click the Temporary Servers link.
Accessing the Temporary Servers Self-Service Interface
Once you have allocated one or more hosts to a game, it is time to let players create temporary servers. GameCreate features a easy-to-use "self-service" interface available at ![[WWW]](/wiki/gamecreate/img/moin-www.png){kind=small}
http://yourdomain.cc.gamecreate.com/bookings/ . From here, players can:
Create an account (if they do not have one)
View a calendar of temporary servers that have been booked by themselves or other players: if your game service is popular, this feature is invaluable to allow players find an available booking time
Create a booking for their own temporary server
Modify or view details for bookings they have made
The Self-Service interface uses the same user accounts as the main GameCreate administration area - in particular, this means if you choose to use GameCreate's external authentication feature, players can login with their account from your website.