bluedragonmc/puffin

BlueDragon's game server manager and queue system.

Puffin

Puffin is BlueDragon's container orchestration service and queue system. It runs in a Docker container with access to the external Docker runtime to create new containers.

Usage

• Clone: git clone https://github.com/BlueDragonMC/Puffin.git
• Configure: see guide below
• Build: ./gradlew build
• Run: java -jar build/libs/Puffin-x.x.x-all.jar

Configuration

Environment variables:

Name	Description	Default
PUFFIN_GRPC_PORT	The port that Puffin uses for its gRPC server.	50051
PUFFIN_K8S_NAMESPACE	The Kubernetes namespace used in all API requests.	default
PUFFIN_WORLD_FOLDER	The worlds folder, as described in the docs.	/puffin/worlds/
PUFFIN_MONGO_CONNECTION_STRING	A MongoDB connection string.	mongodb://mongo:27017
PUFFIN_LUCKPERMS_URL	The base URL used to interact with the LuckPerms REST API.	http://luckperms:8080
PUFFIN_DEV_MODE	Disables Kubernetes service discovery and uses the next two variables as placeholders for K8s services.	false
PUFFIN_DEFAULT_GAMESERVER_IP	If PUFFIN_DEV_MODE is enabled, this is used as the only game server IP address.	minecraft
PUFFIN_DEFAULT_PROXY_IP	If PUFFIN_DEV_MODE is enabled, this is used as the only proxy IP address.	velocity
PUFFIN_INSTANCE_START_PERIOD_MS	The amount of milliseconds in between minimum instance checks	5000
PUFFIN_GS_SYNC_PERIOD_MS	The amount of milliseconds in between game server syncs	10000
PUFFIN_K8S_SYNC_PERIOD_MS	The amount of milliseconds in between proxy syncs	5000
PUFFIN_GAMESERVER_GRPC_PORT	The port used to create gRPC channels to game servers	50051
PUFFIN_PROXY_GRPC_PORT	The port used to create gRPC channels to proxy servers	50051

Tip

If you are running Puffin on the same machine as a proxy or game server without containers or VMs, you will have to change the PUFFIN_GAMESERVER_GRPC_PORT and PUFFIN_PROXY_GRPC_PORT environment variables to avoid port conflicts.

Internals

Services

Puffin is composed of many different services:

Service Name	Description
DatabaseConnection	Connects to MongoDB to fetch player names, UUIDs, colors, etc. Caches responses in memory.
GameManager	Fetches and maintains a list of game servers using the Kubernetes API
GameStateManager	Receives messages from game servers to update the states of the servers' games. Stores the states in a map for other services to access.
K8sServiceDiscovery	Uses the Kubernetes API to maintain a set of proxy and game server IP addresses accessible within the cluster.
MinInstanceService	Ensures that the network meets a minimum amount of joinable instances for each game. Starts new instances when necessary.
PartyManager	Handles creating parties, party chat, invitations, warps, and transfers.
PlayerTracker	Maintains a map of players' UUIDs to their current games, servers, and proxies.
PrivateMessageService	Sends private messages (i.e. /msg) to players on other servers.
Queue	Receives add-to-queue requests and sends the player to the game that's soonest to start.

Events

This is not an exhaustive list.

Initialization

When Puffin starts up, it needs to sync up its state with the rest of the cluster. This involves:

Service	Action
GameManager	Listing GameServer Kubernetes objects
K8sServiceDiscovery	Listing proxies in the cluster and getting player lists from each one

When a player logs in to a proxy

Service	Action
PlayerTracker	Records the player's current proxy server

When a player switches games

Service	Action
PlayerTracker	Updates the player's current server and instance

When a player logs out of a proxy

Service	Action
PlayerTracker	Clears the player's current proxy, game server, and instance
PartyManager	Removes the player from their party. If the leader left, transfers the party to a party member.
DatabaseConnection	Evicts any cached information from MongoDB for the player

Periodic Syncs

Watching resources allows Puffin to be aware of actions happening in real-time, but this does introduce desync issues. Puffin attempts to combat this by periodically syncing information in the following services:

Service	Rate	Task
GameManager	When desync is detected	Fetches list of game servers, their ready states, and current instances.
MinInstanceService	Every 5 seconds	Ensures the network meets our minimum instance requirements.

puffin's Issues

Connect Puffin to Docker

Puffin should be connected to Docker so we can start and stop containers at any time. It will be very useful for pushing updates and managing an online playerbase.

• Monitor container healthchecks to remove failing containers
• Add the ability to start new containers if existing ones are under too much load to create a new instance
• Pass the containerId as an environment variable to every Server container.
• Add the ability to trigger an update on-demand instead of removing it from the properties file and relaunching
• Persist Puffin's state when it restarts, including the queue and map of instances.