Metaserver HOWTO <author> by James Cameron <tt><htmlurl url="mailto:quozl@us.netrek.org" name="quozl@us.netrek.org"></tt> <date>$Revision: 1.1 $ <abstract> This is the documentation for how to have a new server solicit the metaserver for players. </abstract> <toc> <sect>Quick Review <itemize> <item> you set up a .metaservers file with the addresses of the metaservers that should be kept informed, <item> when new players arrive on your server, a packet is sent to the metaservers informing them of the current player count, <item> periodically, the metaservers are told about current status. </itemize> <sect>File Format The format of the file is a series of space delimited fields interpreted using fscanf(). Very primitive. The code looks for the file in the current working directory rather than LIBDIR. This ought to be fixed. The order and format of the fields is described in ntserv/solicit.c <code> /* data items derived from metaservers file */ char host[32]; /* address of metaserver (DNS) */ int port; /* port of metaserver */ int minimum; /* minimum update time */ int maximum; /* maximum update time */ char ours[32]; /* DNS address of server */ char type[2]; /* server type code (B/P/C/H/?) */ int pport; /* server main player port (e.g. 2592) */ int oport; /* server observer player port */ char comment[32]; /* comment string */ </code> The first address should be a numeric IP address in order to avoid DNS lookup delay on every new player or solicitation update. Or place a host name in your /etc/hosts file that corresponds to the metaservers. <sect>Sample metaservers file <code> metaserver.us.netrek.org 3521 60 900 this.host.name B 2592 2593 open metaserver2.us.netrek.org 3521 60 900 this.host.name B 2592 2593 open metaserver.eu.netrek.org 3521 60 900 this.host.name B 2592 2593 open </code> Replace "this.host.name" with the DNS host name that you want the metaservers to list the server under. If you have a name within the netrek.org domain, use that. If the metaserver already lists your server; use the name that the metaserver has for you. This will cause the metaservers to be updated with game status information every minute, subject to the limits in the code. Beware: informing the metaserver more frequently than the limits define will cause your server to be delisted from the metaserver automatically. This is handled by program code at the metaserver. <sect>Contacting the development team <sect1>Mailing Lists <itemize> <item><htmlurl url="http://vanilla.us.netrek.org/announce" name="vanilla-announce@us.netrek.org"> <item><htmlurl url="http:///vanilla.us.netrek.org/list" name="vanilla-list@us.netrek.org"> <item><htmlurl url="http://vanilla.us.netrek.org/devel" name="vanilla-devel@us.netrek.org"> </itemize> <sect1>Web Site <htmlurl url="http://vanilla.us.netrek.org" name="http://vanilla.real-time.com"> <sect1>IRC mpx.sydney.oz.org #netrek </article>