Ports blocked for users not for root?

[fantome2024]

Ok weird situation I've been fighting with. If I long into my server using SSH as root then I can create steam based servers and the ports aren't blocked at all. Yes the ports have been added to csf to the allow inbound and outbound.

Now if I use CpanelGS and create a server and assign that server to a user the server will start up and shows everything is fine but when browsing on steam or trying to directly connect to it nothing shows up at all.

I'm assuming this has something to do with permissions of that user of the firewall not allowing regular users content through the filter but I have no clue what it could be.

Anyone have any ideas?

[darren]

Check `dmesg` output to see if it has any logging rules reporting from iptables there. Some servers setup ports other than the primary connect-to port dynamically (most steam games) so while it works on the first server, another server is hitting different ports and getting blocked. To make sure it's a firewall issue, drop the firewall entirely while you start and play/whatever on the server, then bring the firewall back up once you see if that was the problem. Adding logging to all drop rules while debugging firewall problems can make it much much easier to find the problem.

[fantome2024]

I'm working on a new server right now just did a install of cpanlgs and for sure the right ports are open. I created a user account and installed tf2 I'm receiving this error

[S_API FAIL] SteamAPI_Init() failed; unable to update local steamclient

any clue how to fix it

[darren]

I may need to sticky a thread about that warning message. It's not a bug nor an error, it happens AFAIK on all linux servers, it's the steam client trying to load a Windows DLL that obviously won't exist on Linux. cPGS does not use built-in steam updates regardless, it calls the steam binary manually before each server start, if "autoupdate" is enabled.

[fantome2024]

well this is the problem If I drop out to SSH as Root then I can load up a game on steam, but if I'm logged in from the user interface then when I start the server nothing appears. I've verified the firewall ports and they are open correctly.

[darren]

If you are starting the server as root via ssh from the same place that cPGS us using (the client install) then it will be creating files that only root can write to. If that's the case, a careful recursive chown should fix it, for example, if the user is "timmy", the server is cstrike and install # is 0, as root via ssh :

cd /home/timmy/.gameservers/
chown -R timmy:timmy cstrike_0

then try starting it from inside cPGS. If you start it as root from there again you'll have to chown the files back again. If none of this seems to be helping, put in a ticket with the relevant details and I'll see if I can figure it out.

[fantome2024]

that did it, I have one last question.

The only way I can find the server on steam is by going to favorites and adding the ip and port then it'll display in favorites but just looking for the server it wont list. Any clue whats causing that?

[darren]

Not getting listed on the master-list servers is almost always due to a firewall blocking the outgoing ports to the list servers. For cstrike I think it's port 27038 outbound but not 100% sure. Again if it's one of these issues that might be a firewall problem, try turning off the firewall entirely while you test the server to see if it corrects the problem.