How To Run A Popular, High Quality, Ns Server
tlarmon
Join Date: 2002-11-15 Member: 8701Members
Join Date: 2002-11-15 Member: 8701Members
<div class="IPBDescription">A good read for any new-server admin</div> First and foremost, reading this will not guarantee you that your server will be popular, or free from people who cause problems, but it will certainly help. I'm sure I've left a lot of things out from this, but it's just a basic run-through. If you think you're a know-it-all and don't need any more help with your NS server administration, this guide is not for you. It is also slightly opinionated, so take it for what it's worth. This guide is aimed at a newbie NS owner who is looking to make the best out of his server.
First, the requirements:
- A dedicated machine to run hlds.exe -game ns and do nothing else but run it. The faster the CPU, hard drive, and more RAM you have in the machine, the better. Natural-Selection dedicated servers eat CPUs for breakfast, especially on larger maps like bast/hera/tanith which already have lag issues.
- A decent pipe to the Internet. 512Kbps upload would be a bare minimum for a 12-14 player server. Routing is extremely important, which is why commercial pipes such as Tier1/Tier2 T1s, DS3s on up are best. Just because you have an OC3 connected to your server does not guarantee you a lag-free game, however, as your ISP's connection very well might be saturated and not have much bandwidth to spare, resulting in packet loss and high latency. Thus, saying "my server is better than yours because it's on an OC3" is not always a valid argument.
- A decent OS to run the server off of. Currently for NS, and this is very opinionated still, but WinXP Pro or .NET Server RC2 are probably the best operating systems to run an NS server off of. This is for several reasons. First and foremost, Win32 servers have slightly lower pings server-side, but they also have less compatibility problems (prior to 1.04i BETA, this included motion tracking and other bugs). The reason XP / .NET are recommended over something like W2K Server is due to their Remote Desktop capability, which is a must for easy server remote access. You could always use something like WinVNC, however. I personally prefer a bash shell with a linux server through ssh, but with the better performance, and less bugs for Win32 servers, I'd go with XP/.NET RC2. This does not mean however that there are NOT excellent Linux/BSD servers out there -- Linux support for NS is getting better and better by the day thanks to beta testers like Vadakill.
- Uptime. Your server's popularity will thrive upon it. Having your box up 24/7 will help get regulars to join your server.
- Free time, and listening to players, and lots of stress management.
Next, the things that will help make your server more popular, and free from problem makers:
- A consgreet message (a message that is displayed in the console as you connect) with server rules, information, notices, etc. HLGuard has a consgreet built in, even if you don't have the anticheat portions of it enabled. HLGuard can be obtained from <a href='http://www.unitedadmins.com' target='_blank'>www.unitedadmins.com</a>.
- Good administration software such as AdminMod (<a href='http://www.adminmod.org' target='_blank'>www.adminmod.org</a>) or ClanMod (<a href='http://www.unitedadmins.com' target='_blank'>www.unitedadmins.com</a>). Both require MetaMod (<a href='http://www.metamod.org' target='_blank'>www.metamod.org</a>) to run.
- You can, and I would recommend, handing out reserved slot access to users who help the server community out. This will help keep a regular player base and help your server grow exponentially. Eventually, you can even up their access levels to server admin's, which is as easy as adding a few numbers.
- As already mentioned in the above tip, a server full of responsible admins who you have personally interviewed is a major plus. Be sure to install an admin-log program of some sort (or at least grep the server's logs) for admin activity to check up on your admins from time to time to make sure they aren't abusing their powers.
- A website and forums that are easy to use, such as InvisionBoard, vBulletin, or phpBB2. These require a webserver with PHP/MySQL running.
- Keep all of your admin software up to date. Check daily. This includes security fixes or other patches for the server's operating system. Smart players will scan All-Seeing-Eye for server's with the latest updates/server software versions.
- Check for bugfixes from people such as voogru. Current plugins that I recommend:
Bugfix (always up to date): <a href='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=8&t=16626' target='_blank'>http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/in...=ST&f=8&t=16626</a>
Anti-AFK: <a href='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=8&t=18867' target='_blank'>http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/in...=ST&f=8&t=18867</a>
Cheating-Death: www.unitedadmins.com
- Learn to use rcon and how to ban by IP address subnets. A guide for this can be found at <a href='http://server.counter-strike.net/' target='_blank'>http://server.counter-strike.net/</a> under the How-To.
- Do not abuse your admin/ownership, even if it is YOUR server. It will only get players who join your server mad. It's fine when someone is causing problems to make an example of them, but it can get to be too much.
First, the requirements:
- A dedicated machine to run hlds.exe -game ns and do nothing else but run it. The faster the CPU, hard drive, and more RAM you have in the machine, the better. Natural-Selection dedicated servers eat CPUs for breakfast, especially on larger maps like bast/hera/tanith which already have lag issues.
- A decent pipe to the Internet. 512Kbps upload would be a bare minimum for a 12-14 player server. Routing is extremely important, which is why commercial pipes such as Tier1/Tier2 T1s, DS3s on up are best. Just because you have an OC3 connected to your server does not guarantee you a lag-free game, however, as your ISP's connection very well might be saturated and not have much bandwidth to spare, resulting in packet loss and high latency. Thus, saying "my server is better than yours because it's on an OC3" is not always a valid argument.
- A decent OS to run the server off of. Currently for NS, and this is very opinionated still, but WinXP Pro or .NET Server RC2 are probably the best operating systems to run an NS server off of. This is for several reasons. First and foremost, Win32 servers have slightly lower pings server-side, but they also have less compatibility problems (prior to 1.04i BETA, this included motion tracking and other bugs). The reason XP / .NET are recommended over something like W2K Server is due to their Remote Desktop capability, which is a must for easy server remote access. You could always use something like WinVNC, however. I personally prefer a bash shell with a linux server through ssh, but with the better performance, and less bugs for Win32 servers, I'd go with XP/.NET RC2. This does not mean however that there are NOT excellent Linux/BSD servers out there -- Linux support for NS is getting better and better by the day thanks to beta testers like Vadakill.
- Uptime. Your server's popularity will thrive upon it. Having your box up 24/7 will help get regulars to join your server.
- Free time, and listening to players, and lots of stress management.
Next, the things that will help make your server more popular, and free from problem makers:
- A consgreet message (a message that is displayed in the console as you connect) with server rules, information, notices, etc. HLGuard has a consgreet built in, even if you don't have the anticheat portions of it enabled. HLGuard can be obtained from <a href='http://www.unitedadmins.com' target='_blank'>www.unitedadmins.com</a>.
- Good administration software such as AdminMod (<a href='http://www.adminmod.org' target='_blank'>www.adminmod.org</a>) or ClanMod (<a href='http://www.unitedadmins.com' target='_blank'>www.unitedadmins.com</a>). Both require MetaMod (<a href='http://www.metamod.org' target='_blank'>www.metamod.org</a>) to run.
- You can, and I would recommend, handing out reserved slot access to users who help the server community out. This will help keep a regular player base and help your server grow exponentially. Eventually, you can even up their access levels to server admin's, which is as easy as adding a few numbers.
- As already mentioned in the above tip, a server full of responsible admins who you have personally interviewed is a major plus. Be sure to install an admin-log program of some sort (or at least grep the server's logs) for admin activity to check up on your admins from time to time to make sure they aren't abusing their powers.
- A website and forums that are easy to use, such as InvisionBoard, vBulletin, or phpBB2. These require a webserver with PHP/MySQL running.
- Keep all of your admin software up to date. Check daily. This includes security fixes or other patches for the server's operating system. Smart players will scan All-Seeing-Eye for server's with the latest updates/server software versions.
- Check for bugfixes from people such as voogru. Current plugins that I recommend:
Bugfix (always up to date): <a href='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=8&t=16626' target='_blank'>http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/in...=ST&f=8&t=16626</a>
Anti-AFK: <a href='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=8&t=18867' target='_blank'>http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/in...=ST&f=8&t=18867</a>
Cheating-Death: www.unitedadmins.com
- Learn to use rcon and how to ban by IP address subnets. A guide for this can be found at <a href='http://server.counter-strike.net/' target='_blank'>http://server.counter-strike.net/</a> under the How-To.
- Do not abuse your admin/ownership, even if it is YOUR server. It will only get players who join your server mad. It's fine when someone is causing problems to make an example of them, but it can get to be too much.
Comments
1) i run 14 players on only 367kbps line so <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> to you
2) your server can join NSAF www.nsadmins.com and be randomly monitored for quality for assurance.
other than that, nice 1.
512k for a saturated network.....ok thats cleared up now....
Liked most of it, but not all of it. Nice reference though.
Liked most of it, but not all of it. Nice reference though.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I agree... I mean, sure it might be a good idea and all, but I don't believe it is relevant to this thread.
I got your reference, just don't see how being part of NSAF makes you have good admins. It is subjective. You have already stated that you rarely kick or ban players. To me that says people can do and sat pretty much what they want. That is not the type of server I want to play on.
Then again I am sure that some people don't want to play on a server that bans you for profanity and racist remarks. It all depends on what you like in a server.
Cussing is server-side option with NSAF. If you decide to enforce it, it falls under lvl2 offense which can be 1-2 warnings before a kick or ban.
we are kinda flexable, but some things we aren't. Such as porn sprays...ok, thats great...porn....there are 10k sites on the internet, 7yr olds and such don't need to see that. (yes, there are quite a few ppl who play who are only 7ish)
the idea behind NSAF is gameplay and players first. but to each his own. some ppl want to play on a server that cheats. We don't tolerate it. I mean, to each his own!
But we are just trying to help NS out by having really good servers because we don't ahve NS to die prematurly.
I'm sorry i was misunderstanding you! my bad.
Nah, you don't HAVE to be part of it at all to be a quality server.
i have 2 seven yr olds and a 14yr old on my server and they worked great as a team. didn't whine either....
I started programming for HL when i was 13, and i didnt know jack about C++
-d$
I started programming for HL when i was 13, and i didnt know jack about C++<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Despite all the people who hate ya voog, I'm very happy you've written a lot of your plugins, notably the bugfix for 1.03 and your anti-afk/anti-stuck plugins, as well as the mine limitation to prevent people from crashing my server.
I have to give ya props for these fixes you've done. By the way, I never knew you were 16 even after talking to you on AIM about NS and such -- I always though you were more like over 20. .... and I'm 21. Heh.
the only thing i could add, is that you treat people on your server with respect during the games or on your forums or on your website or emails. if you want to change something on the server, try a vote on the forums first to see how people feel. make them feel at home and they will reward you by protecting it from idiots. the best a server can do is have regulars, admins and an owner that all feel like peers and treat each other equally.