How to install a Counter-strike: source dedicated server on linux

Host your our Counter-strike: Source Dedicated server on an old machine!
This tutorial will go through the process of installing a source dedicated server for Counter-strike: source, it will also let you host games for half-life 2 death match! But today im going to focus on Counter-strike: source.

First of all you need to make sure you have your favourite linux distro installed, I did this with Ubuntu server edition (8.04 Hardy Heron, at present), you can use anything such as Redhat, Fedora, SUSE, Gentoo, Debian.

Requirements:
You won't need much, depending on how powerful a server you want, but a modded 10 slot server will run off this:
2 GHZ Processor (Higher recommended, duels rock, source dedicated server will steal as much CPU as possible)
256mb of ram (Yet again the more the better 1-2 GB Recommended for larger servers)
Linux OS installed
10GB HDD min! (install ranges about 800MB and your going to want extra maps etc, and room for moding 80gb is nice)
Internet connection with at least 512kb upload! (http://www.speedtest.net/)

Port Forwarding
Port forwarding , tells your router to connect that user(s) to the correct machine, in our case our counter-strike: source server machine, these need to be opened up for your server to work, so make sure you know how to do this for your router and open up the following ports to connect to your internal IP of your server machine (e.g. 192.168.0.6) (how to find internal ip):
Ports:
steam (UDP) 27000 – 27015
steam2 (TCP) 27030 – 27039
steamfriend (UDP) 1200
CSHLTV (UDP) 27015
CSHLTV2 (UDP) 27020
RCON (TCP) 27015
masterserver (TCP/UDP) 27011

Operating system:
I chose Ubuntu server edition as it doesn’t have a GUI, and uses less resources on my old machine (2ghz processor, 256mb ram, 80gb HDD)  but if you prefer a user interface install a desktop variety of linux, in Ubunu desktop if you press CTRL + ALT + F1, then CTRL + ALT + BACKSPACE your GUI closes and session is restarted, you can then run the server will less resources being used.

SSH?
I like to SSH into my server from windows as it makes life easier, you don’t have to SSH at all, if you can get into your server terminal sweet! You can install SSH at installation of Ubuntu server edition, and use putty to gain access, or if your server isn’t anywhere near you you’ll need to SSH into it!

Ready?
Now, terminal time bitches! find it, open it or ssh it!

Now because were cool, and want to keep out server up to date, were going to update our server with the latest patches and hot fixes..
 

Code:

sudo apt-get update

Right, now that’s done lets get started.
1)
Were going to need all the files for running the server, lucky for us there’s hldsupdatetool by Valve themselves, this will download the half-life source engine (and CS:S) files for running our server, so lets create a directory and download the update/download tool:
 

Code:

mkdir msds
cd msds
wget http://www.steampowered.com/download/hldsupdatetool.bin
chmod +x hldsupdatetool.bin
./hldsupdatetool.bin
./steam

2)
Now we have our hldsupdatetool, we can download all the files, bear in mind this might take a while.. i just checked and after an install and basic mods my servers averaging 1.03 GB minus extra maps!
 

Code:

./steam -command update -game "Counter-Strike Source" -dir .

3)
Were going to need a configuration file, so Lets generate one And put it in msds/cstrike/cfg/server.cfg
Now, guess what, we have a basic server ready! Lets run this =]
 

Code:

./srcds_run -console -game cstrike +map de_dust -maxplayers 16 –autoupdate

Now hopefully, your source dedicated server is updated running & dandy, to see if you have been registered onto the main steam servers, you should see this near the end of your terminal window:
 

Code:

Adding master server 72.165.61.189:27011
Adding master server 68.142.72.250:27011
Connection to Steam servers successful.

If your on the same LAN as your server machine boot up steam, go-to servers then LAN, and there’s your server! Wow! We can jump in and try it out!

4)
Tracking Server stats, and getting your friends to join your server, first of all, you need your external IP, you can get this by going say here and you can give that ip to a friend or whoever, and they can search for your server via “favourite servers” instead of tralling through the thousands of other games!
And the easiest way to track your server stats is to use gametracker Sign up for a free account and add your server details!

What next?
These Tutorials coming soon!
How to run counter-strike: source server in the background (screen)
How to customize your counter-strike: source server
How to install mani-admin-plugin as MetaMod: Source plugin
How to add maps to your counter-strike source server
How to Make a GunGame Counter-strike Source Server
How to record Counter-strike: source server stats

Resources:
Maps, mods, skins, everything -> http://www.FPSbanana.com
The documentation that I learnt from -> http://www.Srcds.com
Main server homepage -> http://server.counter-strike.net/
Steam Forum Support -> http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/f … y.php?f=45