Create an Amazon GameLift Anywhere fleet - Amazon GameLift
Before you startCreate a custom locationCreate an Anywhere fleetAdd a compute to the fleetStart a game server

Create an Amazon GameLift Anywhere fleet

This topic describes how to create an Amazon GameLift Anywhere fleet. With an Anywhere fleet, you can use core Amazon GameLift game session management features while hosting game sessions with your own compute resources. Create an Anywhere fleet for your on-premises hardware or other cloud-based resources.

Anywhere fleets are commonly used alongside Amazon GameLift managed fleets in a hybrid hosting solution. They also provide useful test environments when developing a game for hosting with Amazon GameLift. See these topics to learn more about when and how to incorporate Amazon GameLift Anywhere fleets into a game hosting solution:

Because Anywhere fleets are self-managed, setting up a fleet requires some additional work. To get an Anywhere fleet ready to host game sessions and players, you need to complete the following tasks:

Before you start

Before creating an Anywhere fleet, do the following tasks. For more detailed guidance, see the Development roadmap for hosting with Amazon GameLift Anywhere or Development roadmap for hybrid hosting with Amazon GameLift.

  • Integrate your game server code with the Amazon GameLift server SDK version 5.x (or higher). You don't need to complete all game integration tasks, just those required for a game server build. A common practice is to set up your local machine as an Anywhere fleet and use a command line interface to test your game server integration (see Set up local testing with Amazon GameLift Anywhere). You can incorporate additional components (such as an Amazon GameLift enabled game client) as your develop them.

  • Package your game server software for installation onto your Anywhere fleet computes. The package should include your integrated game server build and all support software needed to run your game server.

  • Decide whether to use the Amazon GameLift Agent with your Anywhere fleet. The Agent is an on-compute process management tool that automates some of the key tasks related to managing server processes and computes for use with Amazon GameLift. For more information, see Work with the Amazon GameLift Agent.

Create a custom location

Create a custom location to represent the physical location of your compute resources. When creating an Anywhere fleet, you must have at least one custom location already defined. You can create additional custom locations and add them to an existing fleet at any time.

To create a custom location

Use either the Amazon GameLift console or the AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI) to create a custom location.

Console

In the Amazon GameLift console, use the navigation pane to open the Locations page. Choose Create location to open the Create dialog box.

  1. In the dialog box, enter a Location name. As a best practice, use a name that describes a meaningful location for a set of compute resources. It might be geographic locations, a data center name, or other location identifier. Amazon GameLift appends the name of your custom location with custom-.

  2. (Optional) Add tags to your custom location. Each tag consists of a key and an optional value, both of which you define. Assign tags to AWS resources that you want to categorize in useful ways, such as by purpose, owner, or environment. Choose Add new tag for each tag that you want to add.

  3. Choose Create.

AWS CLI

Create a custom location using the create-location command. Provide a location-name value, which must start with custom-. As a best practice, use a name that describes a meaningful location for a set of compute resources. It might be geographic locations, a data center name, or other location identifier. 

aws gamelift create-location \
    --location-name custom-location-1

Output

{
    "Location": {
        "LocationName": "custom-location-1",
        "LocationArn": "arn:aws:gamelift:us-east-1:111122223333:location/custom-location-1"
    }
}

Create an Anywhere fleet

Create an Anywhere fleet for a set of compute resources that you own. A new Anywhere fleet starts empty; you add computes to the fleet by registering them.

On creation, a new Anywhere fleet quickly moves through fleet statuses from NEW to ACTIVE. You can add computes to the fleet after it reaches ACTIVE.

To create an Anywhere fleet

Use either the Amazon GameLift console or the AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI) to create an Anywhere fleet.

Console

In the Amazon GameLift console, use the navigation pane to open the Fleets page. Choose Create fleet to start the fleet creation workflow.

Step 1 Choose compute type

Select the Anywhere option and choose Next.

Step 2 Define fleet details

In this step, specify some key fleet-wide settings.

  1. Fill out the Fleet details section:

    1. Enter a fleet Name. We recommend using a fleet naming pattern that makes it easier to identify fleet types when viewing lists of fleets.

    2. Provide a short Description of the fleet.

  2. Set these optional Additional details as needed. You can update these fleet settings later.

    1. When creating a fleet for production or pre-prod testing, use this setting to specify a per-hour Cost value for the fleet's computes. Amazon GameLift can use this information during the game session placement process to select hosting resources based on cost.

    2. If you want to combine metric data for this fleet and others, specify a Metric group name. Use the same metric group name for all fleets that you want to combine together. View metrics for the metric group to see the aggregated data.

  3. Add optional tags to your custom location. Each tag consists of a key and an optional value, both of which you define. Assign tags to AWS resources that you want to categorize in useful ways, such as by purpose, owner, or environment. Choose Add new tag for each tag that you want to add.

  4. Choose Next to continue the workflow.

Step 3 Select custom locations

In this step, identify the physical location of the computes that you plan to add to this fleet. You can specify one or more locations now, and you can add or remove locations later as needed.

  1. In Custom locations, select one or more locations for the fleet's computes. The list includes all custom locations that have been defined in your currently selected AWS Region. To define a new custom location that you want to add to the fleet, choose Create location.

  2. Choose Next to continue the workflow.

Step 4 Review and create

Review your settings before creating the fleet.

When you're ready to deploy the new fleet, choose Create. Amazon GameLift immediately begins the fleet activation process, assigning a unique ID and placing the fleet in NEW status. You can track the fleet's progress on the Fleets page.

AWS CLI

Use the create-fleet command to create a fleet of compute type ANYWHERE. Provide a name and at least one custom location. Amazon GameLift creates the Anywhere fleet resource in your current default AWS Region (or you can add a --region tag to specify a different AWS Region).

The following example request creates a new fleet with the minimal required settings. Replace FleetName and custom-location with your own information. 

aws gamelift create-fleet \
--name FleetName \
--compute-type ANYWHERE \
--locations "Location=custom-location"

Example response

{
    "FleetAttributes": {
        "FleetId": "fleet-2222bbbb-33cc-44dd-55ee-6666ffff77aa",
        "FleetArn": "arn:aws:gamelift:us-west-2:111122223333:fleet/fleet-2222bbbb-33cc-44dd-55ee-6666ffff77aa",
        "Name": "HardwareAnywhere",
        "CreationTime": "2023-02-23T17:57:42.293000+00:00",
        "Status": "ACTIVE",
        "MetricGroups": [
            "default"
        ],
        "CertificateConfiguration": {
            "CertificateType": "DISABLED"
        },
        "ComputeType": "ANYWHERE"
    }
}

On creation, a new Anywhere fleet quickly moves to fleet status ACTIVE. You can add computes to the fleet after it reaches ACTIVE.

Notice that the response doesn't include the fleet locations. You can retrieve full fleet details by calling describe-fleet-attributes and describe-fleet-location-attributes.

Add a compute to the fleet

To add a compute resource to a fleet and get it ready to host game sessions, do the following tasks:

  • Register the compute with the fleet. Registration tells Amazon GameLift what physical hosting resources are part of the fleet.

  • Request an authentication token for the compute. Each game server that runs on the compute needs this token to connect to the Amazon GameLift service. Authentication tokens are temporary and must be regularly refreshed.

Note

If you're deploying your game server software with the Amazon GameLift Agent, you can skip this step. The Agent automatically registers each compute and maintains a valid authentication token for the compute. See Work with the Amazon GameLift Agent.

You can register a compute and request an authentication token by using the AWS CLI or making programmatic calls to the AWS SDK for Amazon GameLift. These actions are not available through the Amazon GameLift console.

As a best practice, we recommend automating both of these tasks by adding a startup script to each compute. The startup script automatically calls both the register-compute and get-compute-auth-token commands. You can also automate tasks to regularly refresh the auth token throughout the life of the compute and deregister the compute on shut down.

Each of the startup actions returns compute-specific values that you need to store on the compute. When a game server process launches on the compute, it must pass these values as server parameters when initializing a connection with the Amazon GameLift service (see ServerParameters in the server SDK reference). We recommend that you set these compute-specific values (or their stored locations) as environment variables. If you're using the Amazon GameLift Agent, this task is handled for you. The compute-specific values are as follows:

  • register-compute returns a value for GameLiftServiceSdkEndpoint. Set this value to the webSocketUrl server parameter.

  • compute-auth-token returns the authentication token. Set this value to the authToken server parameter.

AWS CLI

The following instructions describe how manually submit each request using the AWS CLI.

To register a compute

Call register-compute to register a compute. Identify the ID of the fleet to add the compute to. Provide the following compute information: a meaningful name, IP address, and location. The compute's location must be a custom location that's already associated with the fleet. If you want to use a different custom location, use the Amazon GameLift console to update the fleet or call the AWS CLI command create-fleet-locations to add a custom location to the fleet.

In the following example, replace the placeholder values for your compute and fleet. The fleet-id value is returned when you create an Anywhere fleet. You can retrieve full fleet details by calling describe-fleet-attributes and describe-fleet-location-attributes.

aws gamelift register-compute \
    --compute-name HardwareAnywhere \
    --fleet-id arn:aws:gamelift:us-east-1:111122223333:fleet/fleet-2222bbbb-33cc-44dd-55ee-6666ffff77aa \
    --ip-address 10.1.2.3 \
    --location custom-location-1

Example output

{
    "Compute": {
        "FleetId": "fleet-2222bbbb-33cc-44dd-55ee-6666ffff77aa",
        "FleetArn": "arn:aws:gamelift:us-west-2:111122223333:fleet/fleet-2222bbbb-33cc-44dd-55ee-6666ffff77aa",
        "ComputeName": "HardwareAnywhere",
        "ComputeArn": "arn:aws:gamelift:us-west-2:111122223333:compute/HardwareAnywhere",
        "IpAddress": "10.1.2.3",
        "ComputeStatus": "Active",
        "Location": "custom-location-1",
        "CreationTime": "2023-02-23T18:09:26.727000+00:00",
        "GameLiftServiceSdkEndpoint": "wss://us-west-2.api.amazongamelift.com"
    }
}

To request an authentication token

Call get-compute-auth-token to request a valid authentication token. register a compute. Identify the fleet ID and compute name.

In the following example, replace the placeholder values for your compute and fleet. The fleet-id value is returned when you create an Anywhere fleet. You can retrieve full fleet details by calling describe-fleet-attributes. To find compute information, call list-compute with the fleet ID to see all computes that are registered to the fleet.

aws gamelift get-compute-auth-token \
    --fleet-id arn:aws:gamelift:us-east-1:111122223333:fleet/fleet-2222bbbb-33cc-44dd-55ee-6666ffff77aa \
    --compute-name HardwareAnywhere

Example output

{
    "FleetId": "fleet-2222bbbb-33cc-44dd-55ee-6666ffff77aa",
    "FleetArn": "arn:aws:gamelift:us-east-1:111122223333:fleet/fleet-2222bbbb-33cc-44dd-55ee-6666ffff77aa",
    "ComputeName": "HardwareAnywhere",
    "ComputeArn": "arn:aws:gamelift:us-east-1:111122223333:compute/HardwareAnywhere",
    "AuthToken": "0c728041-3e84-4aaa-b927-a0fb202684c0",
    "ExpirationTimestamp": "2023-02-23T18:47:54+00:00"
}

Start a game server

After you've created an Anywhere fleet and added one or more computes to the fleet, you're ready to start running your game servers.

Step 1 Install your game server software

Get your game server build and all dependent software installed onto each compute in your Anywhere fleet. The game server build must be integrated with Amazon GameLift server SDK version 5.x (or higher) with the minimum required functionality to communicate with the Amazon GameLift service.

Step 2 Get your computes ready to run a game server

Ensure that each compute is registered and has a valid authentication token. If you're using scripts to manage these tasks, make sure that the scripts run on each compute before starting any game server processes.

If you've deployed the Amazon GameLift Agent with your game server software, make sure that the Agent executable launches.

Step 3 Launch a game server process

Run an instance of your game server executable on a compute. If your game server build is properly integrated, the game server process calls the server SDK action InitSDK() with a set of valid server parameters. When the server process is ready to host a game session, it calls ProcessReady().

Note

If you deployed your game server software with the Amazon GameLift Agent, you can skip this step. The Agent automatically launches game server processes based on the runtime instructions you provide.

You can monitor progress by viewing server process metrics for activating and active server processes. See Amazon GameLift metrics for fleets. If your game server process fails to initialize, verify that the process is retrieving the right server parameter values for the compute it's running on.