Counter-Strike: Source Server Quickstart

A Counter-Strike: Source server is the classic Source engine setup: one server.cfg, a map cycle, RCON, and SourceMod for everything else. This quickstart covers each. Panel basics are in Access Your Game Server Panel.

Connect#

Players open the console and type connect IP:27015 (or your allocated port), with ; password yourpass if the server is private. Public servers appear in the in-game browser; a Game Server Login Token (created on Steam's Game Server Account Management page for App ID 240 and set on the Startup tab as the Steam account) is recommended so the server is listed reliably and tied to your account.

server.cfg#

Edit cstrike/cfg/server.cfg in the file manager, then restart or exec server.cfg:

hostname "NoBull Networks | CS:S Classic"
sv_password ""
rcon_password "long-random-string"
sv_cheats 0
mp_timelimit 20
mp_maxrounds 0
mp_friendlyfire 0
mp_autoteambalance 1
sv_alltalk 0
sv_pure 1

Startup variables on the Startup tab usually cover the starting map and max players; the config file covers the rest.

Maps and rotation#

cstrike/cfg/mapcycle.txt lists maps in rotation order, one per line (de_dust2, de_inferno, cs_office). Custom maps go in cstrike/maps/; players download them from the server unless you configure a fast-download host (sv_downloadurl) for large maps. Change maps live with changelevel de_dust2. cstrike/cfg/motd.txt is the message players see on join.

RCON#

rcon_address IP:27015, rcon_password yourpass, then rcon <command> from your own console; or use the panel Console directly. Keep the password long and private.

SourceMod and Metamod#

Install Metamod:Source and SourceMod into cstrike/addons/ via SFTP. Admins go in addons/sourcemod/configs/admins_simple.ini:

"STEAM_0:1:12345678"   "99:z"    // full admin

Plugins are .smx files in addons/sourcemod/plugins/; sm plugins list in console shows what loaded. Popular first installs: basic admin menu (bundled), a reserved-slots plugin, and a map vote plugin.

Updates and performance#

CS:S is mature and updates rarely; when it does, restart from the panel to fetch the build and update SourceMod if it complains. The server is light: even a full 32-slot match runs on modest resources, and it is single-thread bound like all Source games, which suits the hardware here. Watch the panel graphs if you stack many plugins or run bots.