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A guide to server creation.

Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 21:39
by sdzen
Okay I was looking at the pitiful explaination as to how to create a server on the wiki so I have decided to say this we should compile all steps to creating a minetest server in detailed order after all minetestserver, runserver.bat, running from the client, or running through a command line arent the only things you need to do or download to make a proper minetest
Note: I did this instead of posting yet anouther help topic on making servers through this I hope there can be a comprehensive guide made for the wiki or used as a sticky on the forum you have a few choices when you wish to play with your pals across the information highway one is setting it up through port forwarding or through a service like remobo or hamachi.

Method 1!

Port Forwarding
RabbiBob wrote: 1. Find the internal LAN IP of the computer the you are running the server on (example: 192.168.1.100)
2. Use port forwarding from the router to forward port 30000 to the internal LAN IP
2.a If any firewalls are present, they must allow the port to pass traffic as well.
3. Let your friends know what your internet IP is (you can find this by looking at your router's status page or go to a site such as whatismyip.com).
any more details would be helpful
also if it isn't apparent you also need to find the IP for your router so that you may gain access by typing the IP into the address box of your browser.
finding these internal LAN IP's in Window's can be as simple as typing ipconfig into the command prompt.
RabbiBob wrote: More specific to Linux[/unix-like] and perhaps useful, I found that by running the server with nohup I can exit the ssh session in order to leave the server running. I can also ssh in remotely when I'm not at home to start it up again if needed.
Example:
#>nohup ./<fullinstalldirpath>/bin/minetestserver
All of the screen output goes to nohup.out which is sometimes useful see the last event to the console before a crash as well as debug.txt
I've been curious as to how others have their servers running.
my list of favorite dyndns websites
1. freedns.afraid.org
2. no-ip.com

Other useful things include the use of GNU screen and tmux screen Man Page, tmux for noobs
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Method 2!

This method uses the software remobo to avoid port forwarding remobo is much like using a hamachi server for minecraft. (note for this anyone who wishes to connect must have the software installed and running.)

Here is the reason the minetest community as a whole does not endorse this method as shown by a IRC log from #minetest on Febuary 8th of 2013
(06:14:26 PM) Menche: should we "officially" recommend remobo somewhere for casual multiplayer?
(06:14:57 PM) Muadtralk: for like 1 or 2 players who just wanna play around
18:15
(06:15:01 PM) Muadtralk: yes we should
(06:15:01 PM) Menche: like on the sticky server how-to thread
(06:15:31 PM) Muadtralk: for a actual full blown server port forwarding is highly reccomended
(06:15:46 PM) Muadtralk: I will update my how to make a minetest server thread
(06:15:58 PM) Muadtralk: which somehow got stickied
(06:16:00 PM) Menche: but for someone just showing off their world, or a few friends playing, remobo is better IMO
(06:16:07 PM) marktraceur: We shouldn't recommend any non-free software.
(06:16:20 PM) Menche: ok, then what?
(06:16:38 PM) Kacey: hamachi
(06:16:55 PM) Menche: hamachi lags more than remobo i think
(06:17:32 PM) Menche: i *think* the slowest person on a hamachi network slows down everyone else
(06:17:40 PM) Menche: and is hamachi free?
(06:18:08 PM) marktraceur: vinagre probably is better
(06:19:19 PM) Menche: wouldn't that still require port-forwarding on the server?
18:20
(06:20:03 PM) marktraceur: Yes. But any free option will, because it's not using hacks and third parties to circumvent security
(06:20:34 PM) marktraceur: It would be stupid of this community to endorse non-free software. Learn to port forward instead.
Okay, now that thats out of the way and I have forced you to read through that lets actually start shall we?

Step 1: go to Remobo's website and download/install their client (hopefully you have installed software in the past so you get my drift and I don't have to explain the process)
Step 2: start the client and sign up! (haven't lost you yet have I?)
Step 3: now that you and your friend have done that you can add each other as buddies by one of you adding the other into his contacts.
Step 4: the person who is planning to access the others said minetest server must now hover over his friends computer and type the little address that appears into the multiplayer address box.
Step 5: connect with the port your friend has specified for the minetest server and ENJOY!

Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 23:05
by IPushButton2653
This actually makes sense XD

Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 23:21
by RabbiBob
Helpful Quick Links Within This Thread
_______________________________________________

Thanks. I agree as the question has come up a few times since I've joined here and it would do well as a sticky topic for beginners.

It was also discussed that firewalls would be an inhibitor. I would add:

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3.a. If any firewalls are present, they must allow the port to pass traffic as well.
Image

More specific to Linux and perhaps useful, I found that by running the server with nohup I can exit the ssh session in order to leave the server running. I can also ssh in remotely when I'm not at home to start it up again if needed.

Example:

Code: Select all

#>nohup ./<fullinstalldirpath>/bin/minetestserver
All of the screen output goes to nohup.out which is sometimes useful see the last event to the console before a crash as well as debug.txt

I've been curious as to how others have their servers running.

Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2012 12:42
by Jordach
You do know I am running Windows XP SP3, and it ran fine as a client (the server was the client) with Bwog right.

Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2012 14:31
by RabbiBob
CalumMc wrote:Lots of people also have dynamic IPs, so using some dynamic DNS provider would be good, like I do with my server. Even setting a static internal IP would be good.
Dynamic DNS is a good idea.

True: If you didn't have a static internal IP, your port forwarding would fail if the IP ever changed. I've been so used to static ip'ing my Internet bound servers that I didn't think of that.

Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2012 23:10
by copypaste
RabbiBob wrote:

Code: Select all

#>nohup ./<fullinstalldirpath>/bin/minetestserver
All of the screen output goes to nohup.out which is sometimes useful see the last event to the console before a crash as well as debug.txt

I've been curious as to how others have their servers running.
This is really convoluted. Just use screen or tmux.

Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2012 23:44
by RabbiBob
Care to explain? I need to be able to shutdown, backup, and start the server from a cronjob and I've been able to do it with nohup without issue.

Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2012 12:37
by copypaste
RabbiBob wrote:Care to explain? I need to be able to shutdown, backup, and start the server from a cronjob and I've been able to do it with nohup without issue.
https://www.gnu.org/software/screen/manual/screen.html
Screen is a full-screen window manager that multiplexes a physical terminal between several processes, typically interactive shells.
...
When screen is called, it creates a single window with a shell in it (or the specified command) and then gets out of your way so that you can use the program as you normally would. Then, at any time, you can create new (full-screen) windows with other programs in them (including more shells), kill the current window, view a list of the active windows, turn output logging on and off, copy text between windows, view the scrollback history, switch between windows, etc. All windows run their programs completely independent of each other. Programs continue to run when their window is currently not visible and even when the whole screen session is detached from the user's terminal.
Here's a quick how to:
To start screen, just type

Code: Select all

screen
You'll see an informational page, hit return. Then you will see your shell prompt, but you're now actually inside screen.

Then run the server:

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minetestserver
Now you can detach from screen by pressing CTRL-a then the d key.

To reattach, do:

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screen -r

Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2012 22:21
by RabbiBob
Thanks! I'll give that a try.

Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 22:40
by zoot686
More specific to Linux and perhaps useful, I found that by running the server with nohup I can exit the ssh session in order to leave the server running.
There's a little linux http server named thttpd, and one of the scripts included in the distribution is a simple shell script that runs thttpd in a loop, meaning after it starts the server it checks the proccess list for the existance of the proccess number, and restarts the server if perchance the proccess number doesn't appear in the proccess list.

Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 15:33
by sfan5
I think the Server Directory is not writeable

Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 15:43
by sfan5
That's weird

Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2012 01:48
by Switch5681
sfan, I moved my posts into its own thread.

Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2012 16:44
by princessjinifer
Hum.. I want to setup my own server, but I don't have access to my router to do the port forwarding, and I am not sure my dad would want me to do that xp

I will ask him though, but I want to setup a computer dedicated just to it, so I don't have as much lag as I would on the computer I play on.. o:

Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2012 03:57
by SegFault22
3. Use port forwarding from the router to forward port #### to the internal LAN IP
So, you assume that we all know how to forward ports. Why not give a simple explanation, for the people that don't know how (and probably came here because the wiki doesn't say how either)

Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2012 05:17
by sfan5
Its different for each Router...

Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 00:23
by Switch5681
SegFault22 wrote:
3. Use port forwarding from the router to forward port #### to the internal LAN IP
So, you assume that we all know how to forward ports. Why not give a simple explanation, for the people that don't know how (and probably came here because the wiki doesn't say how either)
I mean no disrespect, but I believe the actual assumption is that you're smart enough to use Google to find instructions for port forwarding. Like Sfan5 said, it's different for each router. The simple explanation is "Use port forwarding"

Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 19:20
by TheLoLMan
Please .Bat Download But my version is 0.31

Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 21:12
by Calinou
Server creation between 0.3.1 and 0.4 is pretty much the same, except for the world/gameid stuff.
Never download a random .bat file from the Internet (or if you do so, always, always check its contents). Do it yourself.

Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2012 19:56
by hyudez257
how do i do the port # in minetest.conf? i dont have a program that opens it

Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2012 20:16
by Menche
hyudez257 wrote:how do i do the port # in minetest.conf? i dont have a program that opens it
minetest.conf is a text file, open it in a text editor like notepad/textedit/vim/gedit.

Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2012 20:22
by hyudez257
ok thank you. it is currently connecting to server (that's what it says)

Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2012 16:42
by MR_Green
Bonjour,

qui pourrait m'expliquer en français comment on crée un serveur ?

Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2012 18:52
by TheLoLMan
Beacuse i dont craete the server

Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2012 19:30
by RabbiBob
SegFault22 wrote:
3. Use port forwarding from the router to forward port #### to the internal LAN IP
So, you assume that we all know how to forward ports. Why not give a simple explanation, for the people that don't know how (and probably came here because the wiki doesn't say how either)
No, I assumed that I was trying to get a helpful track out there and that I'd help whoever else had specific questions and add to the information at hand.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=how+to+set+up+port ... n+a+router