Linux dedicated server

This is a setup guide that allows you to install a basic Team Fortress 2 Linux dedicated server. In the below example the server is installed into the user's home directory in a directory called 'hlserver'.

Basic installation and configuration for a Linux dedicated server is the same for all distributions, but small details, such as package names, directories, etc. may differ from distribution to distribution. It is recommended that you check your distribution's repositories for the required packages before continuing.

Reading this article

This article has been written according to standard Linux documentation syntax, meaning the following:

• A command prefixed by # (a hash) is meant to be run as root. Most distributions have a separate root account; for other distributions such as Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Crunchbang, etc., the sudo prefix to a command will ensure the command is run as root.
• A command prefixed by $ (a dollarsign) is meant to be run as a user.
• ./ means "current working directory".

Requirements

A number of requirements exist in order to run a Team Fortress 2 server on the Linux platform, namely:

• Write-access to the current working directory
• glibc >= 2.3.6
• Approximately 4.49GB hard-drive space (for a barebones server with no custom maps, sounds, etc.)
• In the case of a 64-bit distribution, the package lib32gcc1 or ia32-libs is required to be installed:

On 64-bit CentOS run:

# yum install libgcc.i686 glibc.i686

On 64-bit Debian/Ubuntu/Linux Mint run:

$ sudo apt-get install lib32gcc1 ia32-libs

On 64-bit ArchLinux run:

$ sudo pacman -Sy lib32gcc1 ia32-libs

• If you are installing on CentOS, you will have to use this command before yum install ncompress
• If you are installing on FreeBSD (which is not Linux at all), you must enable Linux compatibility in the kernel and install a base system via the ports collection. Instructions to get you started are located here.

Download and install the SteamCMD Tool

It is recommended you create a separate user (such as "gameserver") to install and run game servers.

• Download steamcmd_linux.tar.gz
• Use tar to uncompress it to a directory, for example './hlserver' :

tar zxf steamcmd_linux.tar.gz

Create a steamcmd script

• Create a file called tf2_ds.txt in the folder where you install the tool, i.e. './hlserver'
• Edit the file with this text:

@ShutdownOnFailedCommand 1
@NoPromptForPassword 1
login anonymous
force_install_dir ./tf2
app_update 232250
quit

If you want to opt in to the prerelease version of the TF2 dedicated server, add this line before the app_update line:

beta prerelease

Create an updating batch file

• Create a file called update.sh in the folder where you installed the tool, i.e. './hlserver'
• Edit the file with this text:

#!/bin/sh
./steamcmd +runscript tf2_ds.txt

Start the download/update

• Run ./update.sh to start the download, may take several hours as dedicated server content is currently 4.4GB
• You may need to run the file *multiple* times until the message "Success! App '232250' fully installed." displays.

Create/Update server files

• Create a file called server.cfg in '~/hlserver/tf2/tf/cfg'
• Edit the file with these details

hostname "Your_Servers_Name"
rcon_password "Your_Rcon_Password"
sv_contact "admin@yourdomain.com"
mp_timelimit "30" 

• Edit the files motd.txt, maplist.txt and mapcycle.txt all found in the '~/hlserver/tf2/tf' folder

Create a shell script to run the server

• Create a file in './hlserver/' called tf.sh
• Edit the file with this text:

#!/bin/sh
tf2/srcds_run -game tf +sv_pure 1 +map ctf_2fort +maxplayers 24

• Run the file tf.sh to start your server

Other command line options

Some other common command-line options for TF2 are:

• +ip 1.2.3.4 - Bind to a specific IP. By default, listens on all network interfaces
• -port 27015 - Bind to a different port (27015 is the default)
• -strictportbind - If a server is already running on the specified port, stop the server from running
• +randommap - Use instead of +map to select a map at random
• +serverconfigfile - Which tf/cfg/ file to execute on map change, defaults to server.cfg
• +mapcyclefile - Which tf/cfg/ file contains this server's mapcycle, defaults to mapcycle.txt. Will also look in tf/
• -replay - Executes replay.cfg and adds an additional slot for the replay bot, but removes it from the player count.
• -autoupdate - Attempts to auto-update the server when an update comes out. You MUST use -steam_dir and -steamcmd_script
• -steam_dir ~/hl1server/ - Location of steamcmd. Required by -autoupdate
• -steamcmd_script ~/hl1server/tf2_ds.txt - SteamCMD script to update this server. Required by -autoupdate
• +sv_shutdown_timeout_minutes 360 - When autoupdating, automatically restart after this many minutes. Defaults to 360 (6 hours).

screen

Many server operators choose to run the server under screen, as it allows you to switch between the console and the shell at will, as well as end your SSH session without killing the server. It can be installed via your distribution's package manager. The server can then be run with:

$ screen -m -S tf2 ./srcds_run parameters

where parameters is your normal srcds_run parameters. You can use Ctrl+A+D to minimize the console, and screen -r tf2 to bring it back up. Ctrl+D will terminate the session (make sure you use the killserver console command first) and Ctrl+A+[ will allow you to scroll through it. See the manual for more commands and parameters.

Automated startup at server boot

In the event of unexpected power outages, it might be useful to automatically restart your server. The following example Debian LSB init script can be used to automatically restart the server. Note that screen is used. This script should be named TF2-server and can be put in the folder /etc/init.d. After doing that, run:

$ update-rc.d TF2-server defaults

This should ensure a proper startup of the server after each reboot.

#!/bin/sh

### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides:          tf2server
# Required-Start:    $remote_fs
# Required-Stop:     $remote_fs
# Default-Start:     2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop:      0 1 6
# Short-Description: Team Fortress 2 server
# Description:       Starts a Team Fortress 2 server
### END INIT INFO

NAME="Team Fortress 2"
USER="tf2server"
SCREENREF="tf2"
BINARYPATH="/home/tf2server/hlserver/tf2"
BINARYNAME="srcds_run"
PIDFILE="tf2server.pid"

OPTS="-game tf +sv_pure 1 +maxplayers 32 +ip 0.0.0.0 +map mvm_decoy -autoupdate -steam_dir /home/tf2server/hlserver/ -steamcmd_script /home/tf2server/hlserver/tf2_ds.txt +sv_shutdown_timeout_minutes 5"

cd "$BINARYPATH"

running() {
    if [ -n "`pgrep -f $BINARYNAME`" ]; then
        return 0
    else
        return 1
    fi
}

start() {
    if ! running; then
        echo -n "Starting the $NAME server... "
        start-stop-daemon --start --chuid $USER --user $USER --chdir $BINARYPATH --exec "/usr/bin/screen" -- -dmS $SCREENREF $BINARYPATH/$BINARYNAME $OPTS
        pgrep -f $BINARYNAME > $PIDFILE
        if [ -s $PIDFILE ]; then
            echo "Done"
        else
            echo "Failed"
            rm $PIDFILE
        fi
    else
        echo "The $NAME server is already started."
    fi
}

stop() {
    if running; then
        echo -n "Stopping the $NAME server... "
        kill `cat $PIDFILE`
        while running; do
            sleep 1
        done
        rm $PIDFILE
        echo "Done"
    else
        echo "The $NAME server is already stopped."
    fi
}

case "$1" in
    start)
        start
    ;;
    stop)
        stop
    ;;
    restart)
	stop
        start
    ;;
    status)
        if running; then
            echo "The $NAME server is started."
        else
            echo "The $NAME server is stopped."
        fi
    ;;
    *)
        echo "Usage: $0 (start|stop|restart|status)"
        exit 1
esac
exit 0

iptables rules

-A INPUT -i venet0 -p tcp -m tcp --dport 27015 -m state --state NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -i venet0 -p tcp -m tcp --dport 27005 -m state --state NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -i venet0 -p udp -m udp --dport 27015 -m state --state NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -i venet0 -p udp -m udp --dport 27005 -m state --state NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -i venet0 -p tcp -m tcp --dport 27016 -m state --state NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -i venet0 -p tcp -m tcp --dport 27017 -m state --state NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -i venet0 -p tcp -m tcp --dport 27018 -m state --state NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -i venet0 -p tcp -m tcp --dport 27019 -m state --state NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -i venet0 -p tcp -m tcp --dport 27020 -m state --state NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -i venet0 -p udp -m udp --dport 27016 -m state --state NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -i venet0 -p udp -m udp --dport 27017 -m state --state NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -i venet0 -p udp -m udp --dport 27018 -m state --state NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -i venet0 -p udp -m udp --dport 27019 -m state --state NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -i venet0 -p udp -m udp --dport 27020 -m state --state NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT

• Note: may be shortened if you have multiports extension.

Troubleshooting

My server doesn’t show up in the LAN tab of my client’s server browser.

I cannot access my loadout when playing on this server.

Are you still able to connect using connect <ip-address> in the Developer Console?

During startup, does your server report the following?

*	Unable to load Steam support library.*
*	This server will operate in LAN mode only.*

When you connect with your client, does the server say the following?

NULL ISteamGameServer in ConnectClient. Steam authentication may fail.
…
Cannot verify load for invalid steam ID […]

If so, then both of these problems have the same solution: Make sure you have a steam_app.txt file containing the number 440 in your orange box folder. See Running the server, above.

My server doesn’t auto-update on startup.

When starting up, does your server say the following?

WARNING: Failed to locate steam binary.
WARNING: Could not locate steam binary:, ignoring.

If so, then you need point srcds_run to the location of your Steam binary, using the -steambin argument. See Running the server, above.

See also

• Windows dedicated server
• Dedicated server configuration