Regular Usage Pattern

Running 24x7 or not

Depending on your situation vs. the AWS Free Tier, you may choose to run your server :

• either 24x7 (especially during the first year, while your total AWS monthly cost is $0)

• or on-demand, only when needed (if you want to drastically optimize costs later on)

The drawback of starting/stopping or launching/terminating your server on-demand is that the public IP address will change at every startup, and you'll have to :

• do "Edit Config" with the OpenVPN GUI to enter the new public IP

• and communicate the new public IP to your players so they know where to connect

Remember that FG Alias and Test Connection are not functionnal with our setup.

This would be the regular usage pattern when running the server only when needed :

1. Launch new instance from Launch Template and note the Public IP of the new server

2. OpenVPN GUI :

   1. Edit Config (to enter the new server Public IP)

   2. Connect

3. Give the new server Public IP to your players

4. ==> Fantasy Grounds game session <==

5. Disconnect OpenVPN

6. Terminate the instance

As you can guess, the management of the changing public IP can become a pain, especially if the server is shared with other GMs (see following sections) and has to be started multiple times a week...

This can lead you to trade some cost optimization for ease of use and run you server 24x7, even when you are out of the Free Tier bounds - be sure to check the cost minimizing techniques I mentioned earlier : Amazon Web Services - Minimizing AWS costs when you step outside the Free Tier