Help: Setting up, running, and maintaining a server

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rubenwardy
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Help: Setting up, running, and maintaining a server

by rubenwardy » Post

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Re: Setting up a server [Wiki]

by texmex » Post

Thank you for your work on the wiki! Learned about rollback.

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Re: Help: Setting up, running, and maintaining a server

by fstltna » Post

Very nice instructions in the wiki
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Re: Help: Setting up, running, and maintaining a server

by hajo » Post

In the serverlist, some servers show the names of players online, and a list of mods.
How does that work ?

In minetest.conf I can set server_announce, but no options to specify such details.

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Re: Help: Setting up, running, and maintaining a server

by sofar » Post

hajo wrote:In the serverlist, some servers show the names of players online, and a list of mods.
How does that work ?

In minetest.conf I can set server_announce, but no options to specify such details.
The server sends this information to the serverlist automatically.

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Re: Help: Setting up, running, and maintaining a server

by hajo » Post

sofar wrote:
hajo wrote:In the serverlist, some servers show the names of players online, and a list of mods..
The server sends this information to the serverlist automatically.
I'm still wondering, because not every server shows those infos.

Also, I wanted to put newlines in server_description,
but it seems that "\n" is treated as a literal.

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KGM
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Re: Help: Setting up, running, and maintaining a server

by KGM » Post

legal aspects?

i for example would like to know what liabilities come with hosting a server in germany.

you really have to work on docs about legal aspects.

technically I could set up a server, but i don't want to get legal problems due to server hosting.
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Re: Help: Setting up, running, and maintaining a server

by fstltna » Post

A lot of updated software supports the German requirements. I know the software I bundle has severl places where it requires the user to acknowledge what data you will collect from them.
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Re: Help: Setting up, running, and maintaining a server

by sofar » Post

KGM wrote:legal aspects?

i for example would like to know what liabilities come with hosting a server in germany.

you really have to work on docs about legal aspects.

technically I could set up a server, but i don't want to get legal problems due to server hosting.
You should ask a lawyer, and not a bunch of random people on the internet.

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Re: Help: Setting up, running, and maintaining a server

by KGM » Post

lawyers cost $, so every developer must be a little lawyer, too.
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Re: Help: Setting up, running, and maintaining a server

by sofar » Post

KGM wrote:lawyers cost $, so every developer must be a little lawyer, too.
No amount of amateur googling will prevent or solve your legal concerns. It just puts you, and others, at risk.

That risk is unacceptable.

Nobody should be publishing legal advise on the minetest forums. And nobody should take any advise on the forum as legal advise.

BTW, this previous sentence is not legal advise. Nor is this entire post. Nor is any part of this forum, or even in whole, legal advise.

Also, please stop making arguments on the forums and go work on cool shit instead.

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Re: Help: Setting up, running, and maintaining a server

by KGM » Post

I know that being your own lawyer is risky, but i prefer being my own lawyer instead of having no lawyer.
Being my own lawyer puts me at the risk that i fail, but I accept this risk, since i think that well done researches aren't likely to fail.
>Also, please stop making arguments on the forums and go work on cool shit instead.
>I made a 000webhost site, and created a minetest content search engine (for that site in the past days) , i just need legal green light.
>I would be damn bored if i was just discussing all the time :).
When I first came here, this was all swamp. Everyone said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built in all the same, just to show them.

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Re: Help: Setting up, running, and maintaining a server

by ChimneySwift » Post

KGM wrote:I know that being your own lawyer is risky, but i prefer being my own lawyer instead of having no lawyer.
Being my own lawyer puts me at the risk that i fail, but I accept this risk, since i think that well done researches aren't likely to fail.
Obviously people should strive to be legally informed, doing your own research is a great idea, especially if you ensure your sources are reputable and relevant to your jurisdiction, but I'm pretty sure Sofar meant that you shouldn't be asking people on a forum for legal advice.

In many countries, giving legal advice if you're not a lawyer is straight up illegal to begin with, which is why many people will footer their posts with "That said, I'm not a lawyer and this should not be considered legal advice" or similar. Even for the ones that don't, it is implied on an internet forum such as this one.
KGM wrote: >Also, please stop making arguments on the forums and go work on cool shit instead.
>I made a 000webhost site, and created a minetest content search engine (for that site in the past days) , i just need legal green light.
>I would be damn bored if i was just discussing all the time :).
He wasn't denying you were making things, he said you make those instead of arguments ;)
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Re: Help: Setting up, running, and maintaining a server

by dps » Post

hey so, ive been reading the wiki on how to setup and run a minetest server on dedicated hardware (dedicated computer running Ubuntu), but i keep getting stuck. im trying to setup a local server, one that is available only to people that are connected to the router that my server is connected to.
heres sort of the setup:
dedicated machine running Ubuntu 18.04.3
dedicated router, not connected to the outside world/

im wanting to be able to connect to the router that is connected to the server, and the be able to connect to the server through the minetest client.

i tried doing this multiple times, by following the wiki, but i keep getting stuck at not being able to connect to the server through clients that ARENT on the same machine that is running the server. i of course, can get it up and running, and i see myself connect to the server (as told by the terminal) when i am connecting through a client that is on the same machine that the server is running on.
but i cannot for the life of me figure out how to make it to where i can connect to the router that the server is on, and then connect to the server through the client.
what am i supposed to change in the config file? and what should i change it to?
thx for reading!

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Re: Help: Setting up, running, and maintaining a server

by Festus1965 » Post

ping the server ip from any other client machine, does it work ?
IF not - basic problem (cable, firewalls, routing (seam not important id ALL machines on LAN side))
IF yes - portcheck,
is the set port of server, the same used to connect in client ? (as otherwise client might take 30000)
IF NOT test with right config,
IF YES - again, firewalls ?

so far, as no info about this basic things in your text.
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Re: Help: Setting up, running, and maintaining a server

by sofar » Post

dps wrote: what am i supposed to change in the config file? and what should i change it to?
Nothing. Literally nothing.

There is no setting in the minetest.conf that prevents anyone from connecting from a remote IP address.

Your problem is likely that you have a network connectivity issue unrelated to minetest. As Festus1965 already points out, you should determine the IP address of the host where your minetest server is running, and then use that IP address in the client to connect. If this doesn't work, you have either a routing problem (nothing minetest can fix) or a firewall problem (nothing minetest can fix either).

If you're attempting to find your server on the public server list, don't. You can't find servers that are on private subnets, and that is your case.

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Re: Help: Setting up, running, and maintaining a server

by dps » Post

im going to start over and try this again. also, i guess i should point out that im not trying to just start a server from the minetest client. im wanting to install the `minetest-server` package, or whichever that is suggested, and then have it start by itself on the occasions of power outages and whatnot.
i didnt think that it could have been anything that has to do with my network setup, but i will try what sofar said at "determine the ip address of the server, and use that", and then if it doesnt work, i will troubleshoot anything that may be crippling me on the hardware aspect.
thank you guys for answering so quickly.
also, i want to touch on the "basic things" part. im new to this, so im not sure what the basic things would have been, sorry :(. but i will gather the info youre needing and report back to you asap. thank you

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Re: Help: Setting up, running, and maintaining a server

by dps » Post

ok so, i got it. i just reinstalled everything from beginning to end, and then created a user on my system named " minetest", and then downloaded the sample config file and then put it in the .minetest directory. i didnt change anything in it, and was able to connect to the server by finding the ip address with `ifconfig` and inputting it into the join area.
any suggestions on where i should go from here?

i will be reinstalling everything, onto a different rig (that is completely offline), but i will eventually (after learning how to do everything and keep myself safe from attackers) bring it back online. right now, its just a server for me and my family to get together and mess around in while were home and bored, but i spend all of my time on computers in general, messing with microcontrollers. but id like to learn more about this and become better :)

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Re: Help: Setting up, running, and maintaining a server

by sofar » Post

dps wrote:ok so, i got it. i just reinstalled everything from beginning to end, and then created a user on my system named " minetest", and then downloaded the sample config file and then put it in the .minetest directory. i didnt change anything in it, and was able to connect to the server by finding the ip address with `ifconfig` and inputting it into the join area.
any suggestions on where i should go from here?

i will be reinstalling everything, onto a different rig (that is completely offline), but i will eventually (after learning how to do everything and keep myself safe from attackers) bring it back online. right now, its just a server for me and my family to get together and mess around in while were home and bored, but i spend all of my time on computers in general, messing with microcontrollers. but id like to learn more about this and become better :)
Given the above interests, I suggests starting with mesecons!

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Re: Help: Setting up, running, and maintaining a server

by dps » Post

Ah! thank you for this! this definitely looks pretty cool!
i am a bit confused on something though:
i can start and stop my server, and even have it setup to where it starts up upon reboot of the machine. i created a user named `minetest`, and did most of the configuration (like downloading and copying the minetest.conf.example file) whilst in the minetest profile (su minetest). where my confusion comes from, is that while back in my regular user (not the minetest one) i cannot find any hidden .minetest directory in my home folder. is this because i havent started `minetest` while logged in as my primary user (the one where i cant fine the minetest directory)?
and if i did, and it created the directory i wanted (.minetest), would it be of any use to edit the conf file while logged in as this user, or should i log back into my `minetest` user and THEN edit the conf file with nano (being that it wont allow me to start a graphical program, unless i actually log out and log into the minetest profile from the login manager)?

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Re: Help: Setting up, running, and maintaining a server

by nebula » Post

Hello,

Does anyone know where to get source code for the server which can use both 0.4 an 5.0 protocols?
I can see few servers like that in the server list.

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Re: Help: Setting up, running, and maintaining a server

by Rayjack » Post

I don't think the Linux section in the "Setting up a server, Minetest Wiki" is up to date. I think I go to Home/snap/minetest/ .... what do I do from there to set up a dedicated server. I have folders 1619, common, and current. FYI I spun up a droplet on digital ocean running Ubuntu 20.04, installed the Ubuntu desktop, then installed minetest 5.3 (a snap package) from the ubuntu software center ... so I have everything ready to go ... I just need current documentation on where to go to set up a dedicated minetest server from here. Thank you.

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Re: Help: Setting up, running, and maintaining a server

by sjaglin » Post

Hi,

Thanks for the great wiki and all creations (mods, textures games etc...) absolutely amazing.

I have my server running (QNAP) and we are having a lot of fun on the LAN with my boys.
Along the way we tried various flavours of textures games and mods. We now found what we like (Relatest latest with HDX texture).
Unfortunately now and again we find an unknown object or block and when we hit it the server shuts down:

[ 2020-07-18 20:17:39: ACTION[Main]: Server: Shutting down
2020-07-18 20:17:39: ACTION[Server]: stef leaves game. List of players:
2020-07-18 20:17:40: ERROR[Main]: ServerError: AsyncErr: ServerThread::run Lua: Runtime error from mod '' in callback node_on_punch(): ...rver/bin/../games/realtest_mt5/mods/core/falling.lua:77: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value)
2020-07-18 20:17:40: ERROR[Main]: stack traceback:
2020-07-18 20:17:40: ERROR[Main]: ...rver/bin/../games/realtest_mt5/mods/core/falling.lua:77: in function 'callback'
2020-07-18 20:17:40: ERROR[Main]: ...rver/bin/../games/realtest_mt5/mods/core/falling.lua:38: in function 'nodeupdate_single'
2020-07-18 20:17:40: ERROR[Main]: ...rver/bin/../games/realtest_mt5/mods/core/falling.lua:47: in function 'check_for_falling'
2020-07-18 20:17:40: ERROR[Main]: ....qpkg/MineTestServer/bin/../builtin/game/falling.lua:325: in function 'callback'
2020-07-18 20:17:40: ERROR[Main]: ...TA/.qpkg/MineTestServer/bin/../builtin/game/item.lua:511: in function <...TA/.qpkg/MineTestServer/bin/../builtin/game/item.lua:504>
2020-07-18 20:17:40: ERROR[Main]: (tail call): ?]

So it looks like the torch is the problem. I can't find a specific solution on the forum, is there a quick fix we can apply to avoid restarting our game from scratch?

Many thanks in advance,

S

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Re: Help: Setting up, running, and maintaining a server

by Festus1965 » Post

what do you get, when just pointing the unknown block with F5 debug is on. The second row would show the item on the end.
my solution might be
1st mod minetest-remover and put that found/identified item "whatever:torch" in the delete items at slow.lua
2nd maybe mod servercleaner, which also cleans automatic unknown blocks, but careful, when active just be near that one item, dont run around too much...

normal you should remember what mod you took off (false) last time, that an unknown item is there now, and be able to reactivate it just for this - then not crashing - removal.
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Re: Help: Setting up, running, and maintaining a server

by T6C » Post

I want to make sure I'm following the correct procedures when setting up a Minetest server. I found these two wiki articles about setting up a server on Linux.

I don't have any server hardware of my own, so I'll be setting up a VPS on AWS Lightsail with Ubuntu. I don't expect a huge world or lots of players, so the cost should be reasonably cheap.

Does this sound like a good plan, and are these the appropriate sources for info? When I set up the Minetest server, how do I know which port it will be looking for (so I can open it in the firewall settings)? Will my server show up in the Minetest server listings in the game client? What if I want only certain people to have access to a world? Is there a way to lock it down to allow only, say, friends and family? If I install some mods on the server, will it automatically install those mods on the users' clients, or will the users need to find and install the mods themselves?

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