Ok I decided to do this tutorial as I see many people asking how to set up a server for gaming, Runscape clans, hosting ECT. Seeing as im a webhost I set up my servers in a more complex way like setting load balancing cPanel Apache ect. In this tutorial I will explain in simple language on how to go about setting up a server to do different purposes. If you still don’t understand what to do, Post your question below and I will try and answer it as best as I can.

Part 1 – Hardware

For a server you need a certain amount of RAM, Drive space ect to make everything run smoothly, Below is a list of what I recommend you use when building your box.

1. 256 MB RAM
2. 10GB HDD
3. DVD Drive
4. AMD Athlon or Intel P4
5. Good Motherboard which supports hi speed LAN
6. Server OS (Linux - CentOS, FreeBSD, Fedora)
7. Hi speed LAN card

These are the minimum requirements i recommend to make everything run well and still leave spare to run more apps.

Part 2 - Inserting hardware into the right places

All you have to do for this bit is read the manual that came with your motherboard it will tell how how to connect your hardware if not its very easy just match up slots, bays, plugs to the hardware you've got. Chances re you will get it right.

Part 3 - Booting up and installing Operating System

Ok so now you've got your hardware installed and put it all in a case, its time now to install the operating system. I will again make a list of steps showing you what to do.

1. Turn the Server on by pressing the power button.
2. put the OS installation disc into the CD/DVD Drive
3. go into the BIOS and under Advanced settings read the page until you see settings about boot devices. You need to set them as follows: 1. CD/DVD 2. IDE - then go back to the main BIOS page press F10 which saves your changes and reboots the computer.
4. If you set the boot devices correctly your system should boot into the installation disc
5. follow the on-screen instructions and you should be fine. REMEMBER: read all instructions carefully as otherwise you may mess something up.
6. Once the installer has completed your Server will reboot, you must remember to take out the installation disc as otherwise the server will boot into the installation disc again. You should now boot into the server OS's GUI have a look around and get to grips with everything before we continue
7. Congratulations - you are half way there. Now we have to setup software such as Apache, Control panels ect.

Part 4 - Installing hardware such as LAN ect.

This part is pretty simple. The server should recognise hardware that is plugged into it and install the drivers for it. If not you can either download the drivers from the manufacturer's website or use the installation CD that came with the hardware. All you need to do is follow the on-screen instructions and you will be fine.

Part 5 - Connecting to the internet and downloading software

Now that you have the LAN cards installed you now need to connect to your network, the server will do this automatically so you don't need to do anything but wait. I recommend using firefox as a web browser as its simple to use and setup. Go into tools>Options>connection settings and if your network uses a proxy enter the information into the boxes or if you just directly connect to your network and internet pick the "Direct connection to the internet". Now if you plan for other people to connect to your server it would we wise to download Apache from http://www.apache.org - REMEMBER: when downloading Apache make sure you get the distro for your system. If you also know of the gaming software or clan software you need now would be a good time to download it.


Part 6 - Installing Apache and your own software

To install Apache unzip the archive and read the documentation on how to install and set it up. The install instructions can be found here http://httpd.apache.org/docs-2.2/install.html it is a good idea to keep this open whilst installing Apache as you may need to consult it.

Once Apache is set up (NOTE: if it didn't take you very long you probably did something wrong in which case you need to install it again) you may now go about installing your own software to use on the server such as PHP, MySQL ect.

Part 7 - Testing the server and finalising everything

Now that everything is set up and running now is a good time to test that everything is running, you may want to connect to the server VIA another computer to verify that Apache and your gameserver, control panel, clan software ect is all working. Then you are finished everything should now be running.

Part 8 - Finished
Congratulations you are now finished and everything is working, You may use your server for whatever you chose to use it for, remember to keep everything updated to stop the server from getting attacked.




This is how hard it can be setting up a server. It takes weeks or even months to get things working. IF you are serious about wanting to set up like a gaming server or a clan server you may as well just order a dedicated server as everything will be already set up, all you need to do is worry about managing things and getting traffic to the site. It is so much easier - i don't think many of you know how long it takes to set up a server. But if your committed and understand things and have the patience then this tutorial should help you.

I hope this helped - this was my first tutorial written so forgive me if it does not make sence but i tried to make it as simple as possible.
Good luck with your server

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Tutorial Finished