Server Diagnostics & Analytics Tools

Two questions come up on every server: why is it slow, and is anyone actually playing? Different tools answer them.

A profiler samples what the server is doing and reports which parts of the tick take the most time, down to individual plugins and methods. spark is a widely used profiler that works on servers, clients and proxies and produces a report you can open in a browser or share with a developer. Run it while the problem is happening, not afterwards.

Analytics records player activity over time: logins, play time, new players, retention and server performance trends, and shows it in a web interface. Plan is a plugin built for this and supports a range of server software, including proxies, so a network can be viewed as a whole.

The two are complementary. Use the profiler when the server is slow now and analytics to understand how your community behaves over weeks. Analytics tools store personal data such as player names and sessions, so publish what you collect in your rules and limit who can open the dashboard.

How do I share a profiler report? spark uploads a report and gives you a link, so you can show it to a plugin developer or a volunteer helping you.

Is player analytics allowed under privacy rules? That depends on where you and your players are. Tell players what you collect, restrict access and delete old data. Take legal advice if you run a commercial network.