Server Config Settings

Instance

Multiple instances are supported. Each instance has its own node in the config file.

Setting	Type	Photon Default	Config Default	Description
AckSendingDelayMilliseconds	Long	5	–	How long the server waits before sending an ACK, allowing it to piggyback onto a data packet. Doesn't increase latency.
AOInitialQueueSize	Long
AOMaxConsecutiveOperations	Long
AppDataInactivityTimeout	Long			A timeout for the application (managed code) if it doesn't get any data, as opposed to low-level (native code) keep-alive pings.
DatagramSocketAllocatorPoolSize	Short	–	–	Number of datagram sockets kept in the pool for later reuse. Trade-off of speed vs resources.
DatagramSocketMaxConsecutiveOperations	Short
DatagramSocketMaxPooledBuffers	Short
DataSendingDelayMilliseconds	Long	5	–	How long the server waits to accumulate more data before sending. Larger = fewer datagrams but higher latency.
DefaultPacketThrottle	Long
DisplayName	String	–	LoadBalancing (MyCloud)	Optional display name for this instance, shown in Photon Control.
DumpType	Full, Maxi, Mini	Full	–	Type of crash dumps: "Full", "Maxi", or "Mini". Less info but less disk space from first to last.
EnableInstanceCounters	Bool	–	–
EnablePerformanceCounters	Bool	–	–	Determines whether performance counters are enabled. Requires suitable privileges for shared memory segment creation.
EnableTotalCounters	Bool	–	–
EncTypesAllowed	ALL\|CLEAR\|CBC\|GCM	ALL
ENETBufferAllocatorPoolSize	Long	–	–	Number of ENet buffers kept in pool for reuse. Trade-off of speed vs resources.
LogFileLocation	String	–	–	Sets the path for logfiles. Can be absolute or relative to PhotonSocketServer.exe.
LogFileName	String	–	–
LoggingEnabled	Bool	–	–
LogUnimportantExceptions	Bool
MaxDumpsToAttemptToProduce	Long	10	–
MaxDumpsToProduce	Long	10	–	Maximum number of dump files written. New ones can be written if old files are moved/deleted.
MaximumRetransmitTimeout	Long	0	–	Maximum retransmission time. 0 = feature is turned off.
MaximumTimeout	Long	30000	30000	Maximum time before an ENet peer's lack of response causes a timeout disconnect. Determined dynamically per peer based on RTT.
MaxInboundQueuedDataPerPeer	Long
MaxMessageSize	Long	–	512000	Max bytes for a UDP, TCP or WebSocket message. Exceeding disconnects the client. Can be overridden per listener.
MaxQueuedDataPerPeer	Long	163840	512000	Max reliable data a peer can queue. Once exceeded, future reliable sends return an error code.
MinimumRetransmitTimeout	Long	200	–	Minimum retransmission time. Low-latency peers may be delayed. Reduces server load.
MinimumTimeout	Long	5000	5000	Minimum time before an ENet peer timeout disconnect. Determined dynamically per peer based on RTT.
Name	String			Instance name.
PacketThrottleAcceleration	Long
PacketThrottleCounter	Long
PacketThrottleDeceleration	Long
PacketThrottleEnabled	Bool	–	–
PacketThrottleScale	Long
PacketThrottlInterval	Long
PacketTraceRingBufferSize	Long
PeerMaxPooledBuffers	Long
PerPeerMaxReliableDataInTransit	Long	16384	51200	Max reliable data in-flight (bytes) before queuing. Once reached, future reliable data is queued.
PerPeerTransmitRateLimitKBSec	Long	256	256	Max data (reliable + unreliable) per second in KB. When reached, reliable data queued, unreliable dropped.
PerPeerTransmitRatePeriodMilliseconds	Long	–	200	How often the transmit rate limit is checked. Smaller = smoother; larger = less resources.
PingIntervalMilliseconds	Long	–	–	How often a ping is sent when no data flows. Larger = less server load. Defaults to ENet standard 500ms.
ProduceDumps	Bool	TRUE	–	Enable or disable crash dump file creation.
ReportOnJob	Bool	–	–	Determines if Photon is running inside a Win32 job object and reports on imposed limits.
RoundTripThrottleMultiplier	Long
RTTACKAdjustmentTimeout	Long	0	–	When set, uses last retransmit-timeout (fast resend) instead of ×2 if peer received data during this period. 0 = off.
SchemaValidationFailureIsFatal	Bool			Set to false to prevent schema validation errors being fatal during startup.
ShutdownTimeout	Long	60000	–	Timeout (ms) before forcibly killing the Photon process on shutdown. Minimum value is 60000.
StreamSocketAllocatorPoolSize	Short	–	–	Number of TCP sockets kept in pool for reuse. Trade-off of speed vs resources.
StreamSocketMaxConsecutiveOperations	Short	–	–
StreamSocketMaxPooledBuffers	Short
TCPBufferAllocatorPoolSize	Long	–	–	Number of TCP data transfer buffers kept in pool for reuse.
TCPBufferSize	Long	–	–	Size of buffer for TCP data transfer. Doesn't restrict message size. Ideally slightly more than average message size.
UnreliableQueueTimeout	Long
UnsequencedFragments	Bool	FALSE	–	Fragmented messages for non-reliable data will be sent as Unsequenced.
ValidateSchema	Bool			Set to false to prevent schema validation errors being detected at startup.

IOPool

Handles all I/O operations: datagram sending/reception, TCP read completions, etc. Can also handle ENet protocol operations if ENetThreadPool\OnlyDispatchTimers is "true".

Setting	Type	Photon Default	Config Default	Description
NumThreads	Short	4	–	Number of threads for socket I/O. 4–8 is good. 0 = 2× CPU cores.
NumEntriesPerCall	Short	–	–

ENetThreadPool

Used for all ENet protocol operations: deblocking inbound datagrams, ACK handling, retransmission, and ping generation.

Setting	Type	Photon Default	Config Default	Description
DispatchTimeout	Long	100	–	If a work item isn't picked up within this many ms, a new thread may be started.
InitialThreads	Short	8	–	Number of threads the pool starts with.
MaxDormantThreads	Short	8	–	Max idle threads before excess are shut down.
MaxThreads	Short	8	–	Max threads. If Initial=Min=Max, pool is static (more efficient).
MinThreads	Short	8	–	Minimum threads in the pool.
OnlyDispatchTimers	Bool	FALSE	–	If true, only ENet timer operations use this pool. If false, all ENet protocol operations are dispatched here.
PoolMaintPeriod	Long	5000	–	How often (ms) the pool checks on and shuts down dormant threads.

Runtime

Defines the Photon Runtime behavior.

Setting	Type	Photon Default	Config Default	Description
ApplicationRootDirectory	String	–	–
Assembly	String	–	PhotonHostRuntime, Culture=neutral	Photon Runtime assembly. MUST be signed by Exit Games key. PublicKeyToken must NOT be specified.
CLRBaseDirectory	String	–	–
CLRVersion	String	–	–	Load a specific .NET runtime version (e.g. "v4.0" or "v2.0"). By default uses latest.
EnableMDA	Bool	FALSE	–	Enables managed debugging assistants. Configure with a .mda.config file.
GCConcurrent	Bool	TRUE	–
GCServer	Bool	TRUE	–
GCTrimming	Bool	TRUE	–
NoiseyManagedFailures	Bool
Type	String	–	PhotonHostRuntime .PhotonDomainManager	Domain manager type. MUST derive from IPhotonDomainManager.
UnhandledExceptionPolicy	Ignore, TerminateProcess	TerminateProcess	TerminateProcess	ReloadAppDomain value is OBSOLETE.

Applications

Setting	Type	Photon Default	Config Default	Description
Default	String	–	NameServer	Default application if none specified.
PassUnknownAppsToDefaultApp	Bool	FALSE	–	If true, unknown app names use default. If false, fatal error terminating the connection.

Application

Setting	Type	Photon Default	Config Default	Description
ApplicationRootDirectory	String	–	–
Assembly	String	–	–	Assembly to use. Can include full specification with PublicKeyToken.
BaseDirectory	String	–	–	Should contain a "bin" folder with all assemblies and config files.
Name	String	–	–	Arbitrary name for dispatch.
StartTimeoutMilliseconds	Long	0	–	Photon shuts down if app doesn't start in time. 0 = no timeout.
StopTimeoutMilliseconds	Long	0	–	Photon shuts down if app doesn't stop in time. 0 = no timeout.
Type	String	–	–	Type loaded as the application. MUST derive from IPhotonApplication.

TCPListener

Setting	Type	Photon Default	Config Default	Description
AppDataInactivityTimeout	Long			Timeout for managed code if no data received (vs native keep-alive pings).
CertificatePath	String
CertificateValidationExceptions	String
CipherList	String
CounterName	String
Counters	Bool
CustomConnectMessageIsRequired	Bool	–	FALSE	If true, a custom prefix/suffix is required on each Connect message.
CustomConnectMessagePrefix	String	–	–	String ignored if sent as prefix of a client's connect message.
CustomConnectMessageSuffix	String	–	–	String ignored if sent as suffix of a client's connect message.
DefaultApplication	String	–	–	Default app for this listener if client connects to an unloaded app. Overrides global Default.
DefaultDomain	String
Disabled	Bool	FALSE
DisableNagle	Bool	TRUE	TRUE	If true, Nagle is disabled; outbound TCP data sent immediately. May improve latency.
FlowControlMaxQueuedBytes	Long
InactivityTimeout	Long	5000	5000	Time (ms) between data receipts before connection is aborted. 0 = disabled.
IPAddress	String	0.0.0.0	–	IP to listen on. 0.0.0.0 = all interfaces.
IPAddressIPv6	String	::	–	IPv6 address to listen on. :: = all interfaces.
ListenBacklog	Short	–	150	Size of listen backlog queue. Affects simultaneous connection establishment, not active connections.
LoggingEnabled	Bool	TRUE
MaxInboundMessageSize	Long	–	–	Max inbound message bytes. Default is MaxMessageSize.
MaxMessageSize	Long
MaxOutboundMessageSize	Long	–	–	Max outbound message bytes. Default is MaxMessageSize.
MaxProtocolVersion	String
MessageRateLimit	Long
MessageRateLimitPeriod	Long
MinProtocolVersion	String
OverrideApplication	String	–	–	Override application for this connector. Client selection is ignored.
ParentCounters	String
PolicyFile		–	–
Port	UShort	4530	4530	Port to listen on.
RateLimitKBSec	Long
RateLimitMessageSec	Long
RateLimitPeriod	Long
RateLimitRate	Short
RecvBufferSize	Long	–	0	TCP recv buffer / window size. 0 = OS default.
RootCertificates	String
Secure	Bool
SendBufferSize	Long	–	0	TCP send buffer size. 0 = OS default.
SupportClearTextConnections	Bool
ValidClientCertificateDomains	String

ServerCertificate (TCP)

Setting	Type	Photon Default	Config Default	Description
Certificate	String
Key	String
Path	String

UDPListener

To define a list of UDP/ENet listeners.

Setting	Type	Photon Default	Config Default	Description
DefaultApplication	String	–	–	See TCPListener.
Disabled	Bool	FALSE	–
EncTypesAllowed	ALL\|CLEAR\|CBC\|GCM	ALL	–
IPAddress	String	0.0.0.0	0.0.0.0	IP to listen on. 0.0.0.0 = all interfaces.
IPAddressIPv6	String	::	–	IPv6 address. :: = all interfaces.
ListenBacklog	Short	–	500	See TCPListener.
MaxInboundMessageSize	Long	–	–	See TCPListener.
MaxMessageSize	Long	–	–
MaxOutboundMessageSize	Long	–	–	See TCPListener.
Name	String
OverrideApplication	String	–	–	See TCPListener.
PacketTraceRingBufferSize	Long	–	–
PerPeerMaxReliableDataInTransit	Long	–	–
PerPeerTransmitRateLimitKBSec	Long	–	–
Port	UShort	5055	5055	Port to listen on.
RecvBufferSize	Long	–	–
SendBufferSize	Long	–	–
TraceAllPeers	Bool	FALSE	–
TraceEnabled	Bool	FALSE	–
TracePeerTimeouts	Bool

PolicyFileListener

Same as TCPListener plus additional settings.

Setting	Type	Photon Default	Config Default	Description
AppDataInactivityTimeout	Long			Timeout for managed code if no data received.
CertificatePath	String
CertificateValidationExceptions	String
CipherList	String
CounterName	String
Counters	Bool
CustomConnectMessageIsRequired	Bool	–	FALSE	If true, custom prefix/suffix required on Connect.
CustomConnectMessagePrefix	String	–	–	See TCPListener.
CustomConnectMessageSuffix	String	–	–	See TCPListener.
DefaultApplication	String	–	–	See TCPListener.
DefaultDomain	String
Disabled	Bool	FALSE
DisableNagle	Bool	TRUE	TRUE	See TCPListener.
FlowControlMaxQueuedBytes	Long
InactivityTimeout	Long	5000	5000	See TCPListener.
IPAddress	String	0.0.0.0	–	See TCPListener.
IPAddressIPv6	String	::	–	See TCPListener.
ListenBacklog	Short	–	150	See TCPListener.
LoggingEnabled	Bool	TRUE
MaxInboundMessageSize	Long	–	–	See TCPListener.
MaxMessageSize	Long
MaxOutboundMessageSize	Long	–	–	See TCPListener.
MaxProtocolVersion	String
MinProtocolVersion	String
OverrideApplication	String	–	–	See TCPListener.
ParentCounters	String
PolicyApplication	String
PolicyFile		–	–
Port	UShort	4530	4530	Port to listen on.
RateLimitKBSec	Long
RateLimitPeriod	Long
RateLimitRate	Short
RecvBufferSize	Long	–	0	See TCPListener.
RootCertificates	String
Secure	Bool
SendBufferSize	Long	–	0	See TCPListener.
SupportClearTextConnections	Bool
ValidClientCertificateDomains	String

ServerCertificate (Policy)

Setting	Type	Photon Default	Config Default	Description
Certificate	String
Key	String
Path	String

S2S

Setting	Type	Photon Default	Config Default	Description
AppDataInactivityTimeout	Long			Timeout for managed code if no data received.
Certificate	String
CertificatePath	String			See TCPListener.
CipherList	String			See TCPListener.
ConnectTimeout	Long
DisableNagle	Bool	–	TRUE	See TCPListener.
FlowControlMaxQueuedBytes	Long			See TCPListener.
InactivityTimeout	Long			See UDPListener.
Key	String
LoggingEnabled	Bool		TRUE	See TCPListener.
MaxInboundMessageSize	Long	–	–	See UDPListener.
MaxMessageSize	Long			See UDPListener.
MaxOutboundMessageSize	Long	–	–	See UDPListener.
MaxProtocolVersion	String
MinProtocolVersion	String
Password	String
PingFrequency	Short	–	2500	How often a ping is sent when no data is flowing.
RateLimitKBSec	Long			See TCPListener.
RateLimitPeriod	Long			See TCPListener.
RateLimitRate	Short			See TCPListener.
RecvBufferSize	Long	–	–	See UDPListener.
RootCertificates	String			See TCPListener.
Secure	Bool			See TCPListener.
SendBufferSize	Long	–	–	See UDPListener.
WriteCompletionTimeout	Long

SecurePorts / SecurePort

Setting	Type	Photon Default	Config Default	Description
Port	UShort	–	–

HTTPListener

Setting	Type	Photon Default	Config Default	Description
AppDataInactivityTimeout	Long			Timeout for managed code if no data received.
CertificatePath	String	–		See TCPListener.
CertificateValidationExceptions	String			See TCPListener.
CipherList	String	–		See TCPListener.
CounterName	String			See TCPListener.
Counters	Bool			See TCPListener.
CustomConnectMessagePrefix	String			See TCPListener.
CustomConnectMessageSuffix	String			See TCPListener.
DefaultApplication	String	–	–
DefaultDomain	String			See TCPListener.
Disabled	Bool	FALSE		See UDPListener.
DisableNagle	Bool			See TCPListener.
FlowControlMaxQueuedBytes	Long			See TCPListener.
InactivityTimeout	Long	10000	10000	See UDPListener.
IPAddress	String	0.0.0.0	0.0.0.0	See UDPListener.
IPAddressIPv6	String	::	–	See UDPListener.
ListenBacklog	Short	–	–	See UDPListener.
LoggingEnabled	Bool			See TCPListener.
MaxHeaders	Long
MaxHeadersLength	Long
MaxInboundMessageSize	Long	–	–	See TCPListener.
MaxMessageSize	Long
MaxOutboundMessageSize	Long	–	–	See TCPListener.
MaxProtocolVersion	String
MaxUriLength	Long
MinProtocolVersion	String			See TCPListener.
NoCache	Bool
OverrideApplication	String	–	–	See TCPListener.
ParentCounters	String			See TCPListener.
PeerType	Simple, Reliable, WebSocket
PermittedOrigins	String
Ping	Bool
PolicyFile	String
Port	UShort	–	9091	See UDPListener.
RateLimitKBSec	Long			See TCPListener.
RateLimitPeriod	Long			See TCPListener.
RateLimitRate	Short			See TCPListener.
RecvBufferSize	Long			See UDPListener.
RouteCounters	Bool
Secure	Bool		FALSE	See TCPListener.
SendBufferSize	Long			See UDPListener.
SupportClearTextConnections	Bool			See TCPListener.
Url	String
ValidClientCertificateDomains	String			See TCPListener.
WebHook	Bool

ServerCertificate (HTTP)

Setting	Type	Photon Default	Config Default	Description
Certificate	String
Key	String
Path	String

StandardHeaders (HTTP)

Setting	Type	Photon Default	Config Default	Description
Name	String
Value	String

Routing / Route

Setting	Type	Photon Default	Description
AppDataInactivityTimeout	Long		Timeout for managed code if no data received.
CounterName	String
Counters	Bool
DefaultApplication	String
DisableNagle	Bool		See TCPListener.
InactivityTimeout	Long	–
MaxInboundMessageSize	Long
MaxMessageSize	Long
MaxOutboundMessageSize	Long
Name	String
NoCache	Bool
OverrideApplication	String	–
ParentCounters	String
PeerType	Simple, Reliable, WebSocket
PermittedOrigins	String
Ping	Bool
PingEvery	Long		Only WebSockets.
SubProtocols	String		Only WebSockets.
Url	String
WebHook	Bool

StandardHeaders (Route)

Setting	Type	Photon Default	Config Default	Description
Name	String
Value	String