Build definition and configuration

This article describes the parameters you need to specify when deploying/creating a Virtual Machine (VM)/game server build. A build is created by specifying its build definition and build configuration. Build definition cannot be modified after it’s created. This requires you to select what Virtual Machines (VMs) you want, upload your PlayFab Multiplayer Game Server Build, assets, certificates, and more. Build configuration determines how your game scales across Azure. This can be modified at any time in a build’s life. You can also view the VM build definition and configuration on the New Build page in Game Manager. For instructions, see How to view the New Build page using Game Manager.

Build definition

Build definition is determined by the following list of parameters. For sample values you can use to deploy a simple server, see Walk-through of deploying builds using Game Manager.

Parameter	Description	Usage
Build Name	This is a string used to refer to the build.	Easy identifier for the different builds that you maintain
Virtual machine (VM) selection	A drop-down list of global distributed Azure VMs with different technical specifications	Select the VMs based on what you need—number of cores, RAM, storage, region. For details, see Multiplayer Servers details and price sheet.
Servers per machine	Number of game servers hosted on each VM. The number of cores in the VM is split by the number of servers.
Virtual machine OS	Select Windows or Linux platform.
Container	The container that will host your game server.	For Windows, you can simply select the managed Windows Server Core containers. For Linux-based VMs, see Create and deploy Linux Builds.
Assets	Files you want uploaded on the servers. You can upload multiple assets but one of the assets must contain your PlayFab Multiplayer Game Server Build. All assets combined should be less than 10 GB in size and must be in zip, tar.gz, or tar file type. Each asset has a mount path associated with it. This specifies where it’s mounted in the container file system.	Asset filenames can only contain alphanumeric characters, underscores, hyphens, and periods. You can use C:\Assets as the typical mount path. What this means that PlayFab will unzip your assets and mount it in the container file-system (not the VM) as a folder in the C drive under Assets.
Start command	The command to run when the game server starts, make sure to include any arguments that you need.
Network	Define the port name, number, and protocol (TCP or UDP) to be used for incoming network traffic. Outgoing (or solicited) network flows don’t need to be configured. For more networking information, see Connecting clients to game servers.
Certificate (optional)	Upload certificates for the game server. This is a .pfx (Windows) or .pem (Linux) file containing the certificate to be installed within the container. Certificate names can only contain letters and numbers. No spaces or special characters such as dashes and underscores.	Typically, the certificate for service-to-service authentication is installed through this configuration.
Metadata (optional)	A set of property-values that can be retrieved using GSDK

Build configuration

Build configuration is determined by the following list of parameters. When selecting the virtual machine size and regional configuration, keep in mind the overall usage limits configured for your PlayFab title. For more information, see Accessing increased core limits and additional Azure regions.

Parameter	Description
Region	Select the Azure region where game servers should be deployed. Define the number of standby servers and maximum servers.
Standby servers	How many game servers should be maintained in a “standby state” to handle incoming allocations in the specified region. This should be determined by the maximum allocation rate (allocations per second) for the build, and tuned over time as player behavior changes.
Maximum servers	The maximum number of game servers to operate in the specified region

How to view the New Build page using Game Manager

This is the fastest way to view what’s required when deploying/creating a VM build.

Log into your developer account on PlayFab.com
Go to My Studios and Titles page and select your game title to display the dashboard
Go to Multiplayer > Servers page, select New Build at the top right to create a new build

The Multiplayer Servers feature needs to be enabled in order to access and view the page. If you haven’t done so, see Enable PlayFab Multiplayer Server functionality

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