Web Based Server Admin Panel
msleeper
Join Date: 2009-10-13 Member: 69034Members
Join Date: 2009-10-13 Member: 69034Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Like in Killing Floor and other Unreal games</div>A web-based server administration panel would be an excellent and welcome addition to the NS2 server. Unreal based games, such as Killing Floor, include this and it makes adding changes on the fly spectacularly easy. Obviously this doesn't replace modifying files and uploading via FTP, but it's great to do a quick change to something.
Here's a screenshot for example.
<img src="http://i30.tinypic.com/n1cy9c.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />
Here's a screenshot for example.
<img src="http://i30.tinypic.com/n1cy9c.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />
Comments
For example, my game server is on 1.2.3.4:27015. I use that IP to connect to the server in-game. I could then use the built-in web admin by going to <a href="http://1.2.3.4:27016/" target="_blank">http://1.2.3.4:27016/</a> or whatever the web admin port would be, and I load up what I posted in my screenshot.
+1 once we get around to it.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Add web based interface for server admin<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
You guys rock.
Wishlist:
1. Requires https authentication
2. Requires user to be in "web-admin" group
3. Allows access to server logs
4. Ability to restart server
Servermania Remote control: <img src="http://cyrlaur.free.fr/ServerMania/img/093_feature.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
Web interface: <img src="http://forum.deepsilver.com/forum_data/img_service/4205448f607f391247.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
+1
I agree with racer and maybe some custom add in features as well/\.
EDIT: WOOT!!!! Just seen this posted on front page:
Kurt just finished a first pass on a dedicated server web administration interface. Should be pretty slick and powerful. #fb about 1 hour ago via TweetDeck
Can't wait to see what we can do with it!!!
* -100 on this idea
* can we have a 'dedicated server' subforum? ;-)
A web interface might be easy, but it has a couple of drawbacks:
* it's *another* admin tool we need to use
* it does not work with all the current server admin tools
* it's more difficult to script
* it's hard to have it display logs/chat/monitor in real time
Standards are a good thing, so if you just added the 'rcon' protocol from halflife and used their commands for map change/status and server log output, then we could use all our existing server access tools to run ns2 servers.
Wouldnt it be 1000 times better to just be able to fire up hlsw and point it to your ns2 server?
Unix has a philosophy "build tools not finished applications" which means 'make a small thing that other things can use, dont write a whole massive program that does everything but cant be used by other tools'.
There are *plenty* of libraries for talking 'rcon' to servers, so making a little mini script to translate web <-> rcon would be bog easy!
What would you rather have:
* web server *INSIDE* the game engine, cant be scripted (have to do everything manually), wont talk to hlsw
* just works out of the box with existing halflife server tools?
At the very least can the engine netcode please be coded to handle 'rcon' type packets? That way someone (like me) could check an rcon hook into the lua code. *cross fingers*
You dont have to use halflife rcon, but *please* just add a simple console access hooks and let other people write the web gui tools for managing the server! (Admins will write stuff to solve their problems, so please put in the hooks!)
* -100 on this idea
* can we have a 'dedicated server' subforum? ;-)
A web interface might be easy, but it has a couple of drawbacks:
* it's *another* admin tool we need to use
* it does not work with all the current server admin tools
* it's more difficult to script
* it's hard to have it display logs/chat/monitor in real time
Standards are a good thing, so if you just added the 'rcon' protocol from halflife and used their commands for map change/status and server log output, then we could use all our existing server access tools to run ns2 servers.
Wouldnt it be 1000 times better to just be able to fire up hlsw and point it to your ns2 server?
Unix has a philosophy "build tools not finished applications" which means 'make a small thing that other things can use, dont write a whole massive program that does everything but cant be used by other tools'.
There are *plenty* of libraries for talking 'rcon' to servers, so making a little mini script to translate web <-> rcon would be bog easy!
What would you rather have:
* web server *INSIDE* the game engine, cant be scripted (have to do everything manually), wont talk to hlsw
* just works out of the box with existing halflife server tools?
At the very least can the engine netcode please be coded to handle 'rcon' type packets? That way someone (like me) could check an rcon hook into the lua code. *cross fingers*
You dont have to use halflife rcon, but *please* just add a simple console access hooks and let other people write the web gui tools for managing the server! (Admins will write stuff to solve their problems, so please put in the hooks!)<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
^ all listen to him!
I was working with UE2.5 servers for quite some time now. Webinterfaces can be handy sometimes but overall it's just a platform so that even noobs can make settings to a server (sorry, don't want to offend anybody but it's true actually). Stuff like rcon will always be faster and more flexible, though. So if you are ingame for example, it's a lot more convenient to just open the console and make some settings, instead of having to alttab and use a webinterface, because the game lacks good console commands. Something like rcon plus a good auto completion for the ingame console is one thing EVERY game should have.
oh, and HI... first post :)
Rcon is a documented protocol and means we can just plug it into our existing server tools.
Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesae?!?!
edit: reworded to sound less like a whining poster ;-)
Rcon is a documented protocol and means we can just plug it into our existing server tools.
Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesae?!?!
edit: reworded to sound less like a whining poster ;-)<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
As i posted under your post in the change log. Maybe in game can be done easier.
Example: The Trackmania series has a Remote Web Admin, A remote Control interface ("servermania" like black bag ops from bf series), as well as an overlay hud using plugins and the same SQL that runs the server web interface that can be toggled by the admin in game. Since they are including web administration it shouldn't be to hard to implement a hud interface that can be toggled as the framework is already there to build off of.
I rarely use RCON so maybe my words are mute and i am spoiled by menus and buttons rather than strings of commands.
The server its self has no means of interactive input @ console at the moment.
The web interface has nothing to do with the availability of rcon from in game or via a tool nor does it replace it but gives an alternative for now, it was quick to impliment this input, besides Its benefit is that many hosts these days are trying to roll every games controlability into a single Web API on their websites so you can log into one panel and manage all your games running on a server and restart servers all in one place.
It is actually the opposite of easy to write a script to talk to a server not designed for it. The web API introduced changes this compleatly, I have found it incredibly easy to compleatly alter, you can use anything that is able to send AUTH and HTML _POST or _GET fields.
<i>You will see many places now where you no longer need to contact your host to get your whole server rebooted because means have been intrduced where you can login to a webpage on your hosts site and hit reboot. Hosts will be over the moon with a custumisable web API already intergrated, I know cause I do this for hosts for a living now as their customers have more than accepted the idea of being able to login to their account and manage Everything with it.</i>
And yes, live realtime updates with a web API <u>is</u> doable, Live chat is doable.