Help & Support - Server Rentals FAQ

BigPond Games has expanded its online game functionality by allowing you to rent and run your own game server.
A game server is a process that runs on any given physical server to provision Multiplayer computer gaming on the internet.
A server is the physical machine that hosts a game server process.

Renting your own server allows you to customise the game server. For example, you can invite who you want to play with or against and customise the game settings.
BigPond Game Server Rentals gives you the flexibility to control your own server, without having to maintain or pay for a whole dedicated server solution.

Through Game Server Manager you will have complete control over the configuration of your server.

You may edit (or create) every configuration file your server will use. There is also an area to define common settings such as the server administration password without having to dive into editing configuration files.

In addition to being able to modify the server configuration files, it is also possible to restart the server on demand, view the server's player and performance statistics and assign administration access to other users for your Game Server Manager Administration panel.

Although you have control over the configuration of your server, the configuration of server ports is restricted.
The connection ports used by the server (such as the connection port, or PunkBuster Web Admin port where applicable) may not be changed.

No.

Unlike other server providers you are free to brand your server's name (commonly referred to as a hostname) with whatever title youwish.

You do not need to include any recognition for BigPond Game Server Rentals in your server's hostname.

The process of purchasing a server is completely automated.

Your server will begin to be installed as soon as the purchase is complete and will be up and running within minutes.

No.

No.

You are welcome to include a password for your server if desired, however this is not compulsory. There is no additional charge if you do not require a password to join your server.

You can configure your server (and view its IP and Port address) through your Game Server Manager Panel.

To access Game Server Manager, login to your account on the Games Shop website, click Server Rentals from the site navigation, then select Manage Server.

Slots are also commonly known as a server’s maximum player count. For example, a Ventrilo server with a 10 slot subscription would permit a maximum of 10 people to be connected to the server at any one time.

From 10 September 2009 the BigPond member discount will no longer apply to Game Server Rentals purchased at BigPond Games. We will be updating our prices so they are more competitive for all customers. We have updated our terms and conditions accordingly.

To cancel a server, log in to the rental interface, click Edit Subscription at the top of the navigation tree once logged in, select the server you wish to cancel (if you have more than one server rented) and select cancel server.

Once this has been done, the server will remain active until the end of the current billing period. At the end of the current billing period, the server will be removed and we will delete all billing details from our systems.

Access Game Server Manager by logging in to your account on the Games Shop website, click Server Rentals from the site navigation, then select Manage Server.

Locate the relevant server, click the Change button and select the new number of slots.

Note that the change in slot count for any server in the system does not take effect until the start of the next billing period. When you change the slot count, we will inform you of the relevant billing period. This will be the date from which the slot count changes will take effect.

If you require slot changes to servers urgently, you will need to add a new server to your subscription service and then cancel the old server.

Game Server Manager and the BigPond Game Server Rental service are specifically designed to allow multiple servers from the same interface. When you rent more than one server, for example a BF2 server and a Ventrilo server, you will be able to manage both servers from the same interface.


Just make sure that when adding the additional servers, you do so by using the Change button on the subscription page in the BigPond Server Rental interface and entering the same account as you used to register your existing server.

There are two reasons why a server in the BigPond Game Server Rental service will stop. These are:

1. Slot count modified higher than is permitted using configuration settings –we maintain automated agents that check all current server slot counts against the number of slots you have rented. If the slot count of your server is higher than the amount you have selected to rent, the server will be terminated by our agents. To find out how to add additional slots to your service, please see How do I increase or decrease the slot count of an existing server/subscription?


2. Billing failure - Each month the BigPond Game Server Rental service will automatically deduct the rental fee from your credit card (unless you cancel the service). In the event that you have insufficient funds or the charge is rejected for some other reason for 3 consecutive days, we will terminate your server.

If your server is terminated for this reason and you wish to reinstate the service, you will need to take the following actions:

• Log in to BigPond Game Shop and select Server Rental
• Select My Account
• Enter your credit card details (please wait 10 minutes to allow our billing system to process the transaction)
• Select Manage Game Server Rentals from the options at the top of the page.
• Navigate to your server and click Start

The monthly subscription fee is automatically deducted from your account at the beginning of each Billing Date (unless you have cancelled your subscription prior to this date).

You can find out the Billing Date for your subscription by logging in to your account and going to the 'View Subscriptions' page.

Yes.

BigPond Game Server Rentals is a licensed provider of Ranked Battlefield 2 servers.

On some occasions servers may lose their ranking status, which is a result of the way EA Games controls the overall ranking system and is entirely outside of our control. If this occurs, it is usually temporarily and is corrected by EA Games as soon as possible. This issue can affect any ranked server around the world, not only BigPond Game Server Rentals.

While we will make every effort to ensure no ranking issues occur, we are unable to restore the rank status of any servers directly.

Yes.

BigPond Game Server Rentals is a licensed provider of Ranked Battlefield 2142 servers.

On some occasions servers may lose their ranking status, which is a result of the way EA Games controls the overall ranking system and is entirely outside of our control. If this occurs, it is usually temporarily and is corrected by EA Games as soon as possible. This issue can affect any ranked server around the world, not only BigPond Game Server Rentals.

While we will make every effort to ensure no ranking issues occur, we are unable to restore the rank status of any servers directly.

Ventrilo 3.0 by default prevents multiple people from connecting to the server from the same IP Address, such as when there are two people on the same Internet connection.

In order to raise (or remove) the limit placed on connections from the same IP Address, follow these steps:

1. Connect to the Ventrilo server and login as an administrator.


2. Right-click the channel list and select Server Admin -> User Editor...


3. Select the (Guest) account on the left-hand user list


4. Click the Network tab on the right-hand screen


5. Set Duplicate IP's to No limit or as desired and then click Update.


6. Repeat Steps 3 to 5 for any other user accounts listed as desired.


7. Click Close.
   

Duplicate users from the same IP Address may now login to your server.

Ventrilo 3.0 has changed how much permission the default Admin Password feature provides you as a user.

In order to be able to kick users (and access other advanced administrative specific features) you need to create your own user account via the User Editor tool (Right-click the channel list and choose Server Admin -> User Editor).

Registered user accounts marked as Administrators may access the additional administration options.

See the Ventrilo Help file for more information by clicking the Help button on the main Ventrilo screen.

Yes.

You are able to change your Ventrilo server's codec to whatever you wish.

Simply modify your configuration file as appropriate and restart the server

See How do I change the voice codec used? for more information on how to change the server codec.

You can edit your server configuration directly (click the Files tab on the Server's Overview page), then visit the Server Config file (click the Edit link) and modify the codec values.

Below is a list of codecs.

The first number indicates the codec, the second number indicates the format.

In your server config file, modify the lines below as you require, substituting the appropriate values from the list below:

VoiceCodec=value
VoiceFormat=value

Use one of the Speex codecs to allow Macintosh clients to connect to your Ventrilo server.

The default codec is GSM.

Note: To see the entire list of codecs, click here: Hide/show the Ventrilo codec list

As per the Official Ventrilo FAQ page:

1) Connect to the server.
2) Right click in the Ventrilo window.
3) Select Server Admin.
4) Select Login.
5) Enter global server administration password.

Your Administration Password is defined in Games Shop My Account - Server Rentals – Manage Server (log in to your account on the rentals website, click 'View Game Server Manager Panel').

In order to set up rooms in your Ventrilo server, you first need to log in as an administrator.

First, you need to choose an Admin Password. This is done via Games Shop - My Account - Server Rentals – Manage Server.

To access Game Server Manager, log in to your account on the Games Shop – Server Rentals – then click on Manage Server link on the sub menu bar.

Once that is done, you can connect to your server via Ventrilo.

Your connection information is available on Game Server Manager located on the 'Overview' tab of your server.

Once connected, you can log in as an administrator by following this FAQ on the Ventrilo website: http://www.ventrilo.com/faq.php#admin1

Once logged in as an administrator (You will see the letter 'A' appear beside the Server Name in Ventrilo) you will be able to create channels.

To create channels, just right-click on the channel listing and choose the appropriate options. For further information, see http://www.ventrilo.com/faq.php#admin2.

If you would like to place a password on connecting to your Ventrilo server, log in to your account via Games Shop, select the Server Rentals tab, then click on Manage Server and navigate to your Ventrilo server.

Click on the 'Configuration' tab, enter a value for the 'Join Password' field, tick 'Restart this server to apply configuration changes' and then click 'Save'.

Your server will now require a password to connect, which is defined in the connection dialog in Ventrilo.

Your TeamSpeak 2 Web Administration interface is available nine ports higher than your server's connection port.

For example, if your TeamSpeak 2 server ran on 144.140.154.123:14567, the TeamSpeak 2 Web Panel would be available from http://144.140.154.123:14576.

When attempting to log in to the web interface, ensure the 'serverport' value on the login screen is your server's join port, which in the above example would be 14567.

? The server’s hostname (as shown in the TeamSpeak 2 server list, or when you connect to the server) and its entry message (or message of the day) are defined via your Game Server Manager Panel, rather than the TeamSpeak 2 Web Panel.

Additionally, the “admin password” is controlled via Game Server Manager.

This password incorporates the name 'admin' and the Admin Password you have chosen on the Game Server Manager Admin website.

This helps prevent any malicious user from changing the default administration account's password from within the TeamSpeak 2 administration panel.

Connect to your TeamSpeak 2 server using the username 'admin' and the Admin Password you have chosen on the Game Server Manager Admin website.

You can always log in to the TeamSpeak 2 WebAdmin interface (see Where do I access the traditional TeamSpeak 2 WebAdmin interface?) and create your own administration account.