Server missing from Server list.

[EddieB1987]

I'm just starting out with running OpenTTD on a server and everything seems to be working OK, but there is one problem.

I've selected internet advertise, but I notice that when I look at the server list from the OpenTTD website sometimes my server is listed (just occasionally) but usually it is missing. I'm not running it as a dedicated server just yet.

Any help please? I can't be too far wrong if the server is sometimes visible in the list. Can I?

[Rubidium]

If the server is occasionally listed that sounds like intermittent networking problems.

The 'game server' tells the server list that it's online (every 15 minutes), after which it tries to connect to you (with 3 tries). If that succeeds you're added to the list. Every 5 minutes another process tries to connect to you, if it fails (after 3 tries) the server is removed from the list.

So I've got the feeling that the advertising works, but that the asynchronious 'online' tests fail. This might be a firewall issue where the firewall accepts the connection attempt from the server list but blocks it from the 'test process'. Which would mean that others most likely can't see/join your server.

[EddieB1987]

Thats quick!

Thanks Rubidium, it gives me something to look at tonight when I get home.

I'm running OpenTTD on Linux Mint, fluxbox edition. I'm not sure if this automatically enables a firewall or not, I'll check it out.

[EddieB1987]

Still have the problem, but a little more information.

I'm running OpenTTD as a dedicated server now and in the terminal I'm getting the message "advertising to the master server is failing","we are not receiving the acknowledgement from the server", and further info about allowing udp and tcp packets to port 3979.

Now I've done this port forwarding on my router to port 3979 and also checked that the firewall (Gufw) is disabled.

What else do I need to check? My server is still missing from the list but a couple of players have been able to log on this evening.

Any help with solving this one remaining problem would be much appreciated.

[EddieB1987]

Any chance of some help please. I'm out of ideas at what to check next.

I could remove the firewall altogether (and rely on NAT in the router - OK with Linux), though I don't think that is the problem.

I could put the server in the DMZ (as my router calls it) where all traffic is allowed - or is that too extreme?

Maybe another Linux distro apart from Mint 6 Fluxbox would suit the server role better - any suggestions?

Or (god help us) would it work better with Windows installed?

[CommanderZ]

Try this tool.

[EddieB1987]

?????

sorry, that doesn't seem relevant.

[Zuu]

If you have forwarded the ports on your router to your local machine and as well opened them in your firewall (or disabled the firewall as you have done), then there should be a route to your dedicated server at that port.

I would guess that the website that was linked to above can verify that the port is indeed forwarded and not blocked somewhere on the way. That is valuable information for you.

[EddieB1987]

Ahh! Thank you Zuu and apologies to CommanderZ, I'd missed the link.

This link does enable me to test that port 3979 is open (it is).

I've put the PC running openTTD into the DMZ on my router and it is now appearing in the server list (plus the console/terminal text is not showing any problems).

However - is this a safe solution?

Regards,

EddieB1987

[Zuu]

If DMZ solves the problem, I wonder when you said that you had opened your ports, did you do so for both TCP and UDP? OpenTTD requires both protocols to be allowed.

DMZ is not a good idea. It basically is the same as forwarding *all* ports to your computer. If your firewall is not very strict you might get into trouble. It is a good idea to deny everything and only allow things that you need to have allowed.

[EddieB1987]

Thanks for the reply Zuu.

Yes, I did open port 3979 for both protocols. Using dmz is risky but note that it did solve the problem and this may be a clue as to what is wrong.

So, if I turn off dmz, I have the problem back again - why?

[planetmaker]

So, if I turn off dmz, I have the problem back again - why?

Quite obviously your network settings differ in those cases and only one is "proper" wrt forwarding as needed by OpenTTD. "why" can only be answered by_you_, digging through your settings. Quite obviously it's not an OpenTTD issue.

[EddieB1987]

Never thought it was anything else.

[Zuu]

Thanks for the reply Zuu.

Yes, I did open port 3979 for both protocols. Using dmz is risky but note that it did solve the problem and this may be a clue as to what is wrong.

So, if I turn off dmz, I have the problem back again - why?

On my router there is two ways to "forward" ports. "Virtual servers" and "Port forwarding". I haven't really understood the difference between the two but learned that only "Virtual servers" works the way I want it to (eg forward the traffic on specified incoming port to the specified port on my local machines)

[EddieB1987]

Many thanks Zuu.

My belkin router only offers virtual servers.

I've entered port 3979 + selected both protocols, enabled it and applied the changes.

Still no reliable place in the list.

Regards,

EddiB1987

[t33th4n]

Hello All,

I had some problems with the advertising too. But if just tried out one thingy.

server_bind_ip = 0.0.0.0

Rewrite this to your LAN address like

server_bind_ip = 192.168.0.120

Whatever your IP your server runs.

Try it