Glossary
In GameFabric, there are multiple objects you need to be aware of, that are referenced throughout the documentation. Their names and description are detailed in this section in alphabetical order.
Allocation Sidecar
The Allocation Sidecar is a Sidecar provided by GameFabric for automatic integration with the Allocator. It handles game server registration, allocation callbacks, and cleanup.
See Sidecar Containers for an overview and Automatically Registering Game Servers for configuration details.
Allocator
The Allocator is an optional service that manages a pool of ready-to-use game servers for session-based games. It acts as a broker between your matchmaker and GameFabric's infrastructure. The Allocator is not included by default and must be ordered separately.
The Allocator is typically used with Armadas for games where players are assigned to servers by matchmaking rather than choosing from a server list. For persistent servers where players browse and select their own server, use Formations without the Allocator.
See Server Allocation Overview for details on when to use the Allocator and integration options.
API
API stands for Application Programming Interface. GameFabric offers API access to every feature. Please see our dedicated GameFabric API Guide for more information.
Armada
An Armada is a collection of Fleets, distributed across multiple Sites within one Region. It can have multiple revisions, which are essentially different versions of the same Armada, as it gets updated.
Revisions are kept track of in order to allow you to roll back to a previous revision, as well as manage multiple revisions running in parallel (for example during a rollout upgrade)
See also hosting model.
ArmadaSet
An ArmadaSet is the configuration for a set of Armadas that share the same Fleet template and automatic scaling strategy.
See also hosting model.
Branch
GameFabric runs its own internal Container registry proxy, which is where you should push your game server images to in order to have them available in Fleets. Those images are scoped by branch. For example, a standard use case would be to have a development branch and a production branch. The development branch would contain dev images to be used by a development Armada, while the production branch would only contain releases of the game server that make it to production.
BYOC
BYOC (Bring Your Own Cloud) is a capacity type where GameFabric manages resources within a customer's own cloud provider account (GCP, AWS, or Azure). The customer grants Nitrado access to create and manage Locations in their cloud infrastructure, while maintaining their own cloud subscription and billing relationship.
See also Configuring your Cloud Provider and Capacity Types.
Buffer Size
The Buffer Size is the number of game servers kept in the Ready state, waiting to be allocated. Maintaining a buffer ensures players can be matched to a server quickly without waiting for a new server to start.
The Buffer Size can be set to a fixed value or managed automatically using Dynamic Buffer.
See Armada Replicas and Buffer for configuration guidance.
CCU
CCU stands for Concurrent Users. It is a key metric that represents the total number of players who are actively playing on a game server at the same time.
Cluster
A cluster refers to a group of bare metal or cloud servers located in the same location. In the context of GameFabric, clusters are implemented as sites. While a "Cluster" refers to the physical or virtual grouping of servers, a "Site" represents the GameFabric-specific abstraction used to manage and interact with these clusters.
Container
A container is a lightweight, standalone executable package that includes everything needed to run your game server: code, runtime, system tools, and settings. Containers are a core Kubernetes concept. In GameFabric, your game server runs as a container, optionally alongside Sidecar containers within the same pod.
For more information, see the Kubernetes documentation.
Cordoned
When a Site is marked as cordoned, it becomes unschedulable. Allocated game servers continue to run until they shut down, but no new game servers get scheduled on that Site.
Dynamic Buffer
Dynamic Buffer is a feature that automatically adjusts the Buffer based on current game server demand. When enabled, GameFabric monitors the number of Ready and Allocated game servers, startup time, and demand on each Site, then scales the buffer accordingly.
WARNING
Dynamic Buffer is currently in Alpha.
See Dynamically configuring the buffer size for details.
Environment
Environments are a mechanism for isolating groups of resources. Resource names must be unique within each environment, but not across environments. They can therefore be used to separate production, staging, testing, and any other environments and ensure that they don't interfere. Alongside the RBAC features, it also allows limiting the access to certain environments from users.
Capacity is managed on a per Environment basis via Regions.
Fleet
A Fleet is a set of warm GameServers that are available to be allocated from. It is an Agones object, which you can find described in more details in their documentation reference. This resource is always managed by an Armada, and can't be configured through the UI any other way than by configuring the relevant Armada's Fleet Template.
Formation
A Formation acts as a template for individual game servers (Vessels) spawned within it. Vessels inherit all properties from their respective Formation, but environment variables and command line arguments can be overridden on a per-vessel basis.
See also hosting model.
GameFabric Cloud
GameFabric Cloud enables provisioning and deprovisioning of cloud Locations directly from GameFabric, increasing available server capacity without requiring a separate cloud provider subscription.
See also GameFabric Cloud.
GameFabric Help Center
The GameFabric Help Center is the central place for all self-service feature requests, orders, and cancellations. It is accessible from within the GameFabric UI via the "?" menu in the top navigation bar.
Gateway Policies
See also SteelShield docs.
Group
See Editing Permissions.
Kubernetes
Kubernetes is the open-source container orchestration platform that powers GameFabric's infrastructure. It manages the deployment, scaling, and operation of your game servers across Sites. While GameFabric abstracts most Kubernetes complexity, some concepts like pods and containers appear in the documentation and UI.
For more information, see the Kubernetes documentation.
Location
A Location is a group of Sites that share a geographical area and other characteristics.
Locations are managed by Nitrado for all capacity types. To request bare metal or BYOC capacity, submit a request via the GameFabric Help Center. For GameFabric Cloud, you request capacity directly through the GameFabric UI.
See also Capacity Types and Region.
Mitigation
See also SteelShield docs.
User
See Editing Permissions.
Permission
See Editing Permissions.
Pod
A pod is a Kubernetes unit that runs one or more containers together with shared networking and storage. In GameFabric, each game server runs in its own pod alongside Sidecar containers.
For more information, see the Kubernetes documentation.
RBAC
Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) is the system used in the GameFabric to manage your team's access to the platform.
See also Editing Permissions.
Region
A Region is typically a geographic area made up of one or more Locations where resources can be hosted.
It has to be defined on a per-environment basis.
While defining, you can assign a custom priority to each location. This priority determines which location will be filled first.
Replica
A Replica is an individual game server instance within an Armada. Each Replica is functionally identical to others in the same Armada and cannot be configured independently. Replicas are dynamically created and terminated by the Armada’s automated scaling logic.
Revision
A revision is a discrete configuration of either an ArmadaSet, Armada or Formation. They are numbered consecutively starting from 1. Revisions are kept to allow you to roll back to a previous configuration, as well as manage multiple revisions running in parallel (for example during a rollout upgrade).
INFO
The rollback button in the UI is only available for Armadas.
INFO
The revision of an Armada in an ArmadaSet is independent from the revision of its controlling ArmadaSet.
E.g: Due to its flexible nature, an ArmadaSet can be revision 12 and control Armadas
- "a" revision 12
- "b" revision 12
- "c" revision 8
Role
See Editing Permissions.
Scheduling Strategy
The scheduling strategy controls how game servers are placed across nodes when they are started.
Available options:
- Packed: Game servers gravitate toward shared nodes using pod affinity (default)
- Distributed: Game servers spread across nodes based on available resources
See Scheduling Strategy for configuration details.
Secret
See Secrets.
Sidecar
A sidecar is a container that runs alongside your game server container within the same pod, sharing network and storage. Sidecars provide additional functionality without modifying your game server code.
GameFabric provides the Allocation Sidecar for automatic allocator integration. You can also add custom sidecars for monitoring, logging, debugging, or other purposes.
Sidecars can be added to Armadas, ArmadaSets, Formations, and Vessels.
See Sidecar Containers for a comprehensive guide.
Shutdown hints
Site
A Site is the capacity (cluster of bare metal or cloud servers) that belongs to a Location.
Sites are managed by Nitrado. For GameFabric Cloud Locations, Sites are automatically created when provisioning capacity through the UI.
A Site can be marked as cordoned, making it unschedulable. Allocated game servers continue to run until they shut down, but no new game servers get scheduled on that Site.
This can be the case, for example, when a Site has just been provisioned to prevent premature allocations, or when a Site is being prepared for deprovisioning.
Service Account
An account used for accessing GameFabric programmatically. For details, see the documentation in Service Accounts.
SteelShield™
SteelShield is a DDoS protection system designed for the specific purpose of protecting game servers from large scale DDoS attacks.
See also SteelShield docs.
Terraform provider
GameFabric offers its own Terraform provider to interact with the platform. See the Terraform provider documentation for installation and usage instructions.
Protection Status
Status of the SteelShield protection status for each Site on the Sites overview in the GameFabric UI.
See also SteelShield docs.
Protection Protocol
See also SteelShield docs.
Vessel
A Vessel is a single named game server instance. It can, but doesn't have to be part of a Formation. Each Vessel can be configured completely independently.
See also hosting model.
Wrapper
A wrapper can be used to call your game server binary in order to provide additional functionality.
We provide a wrapper called Game Server Wrapper.
You could also write your own wrapper.