[Tutorial] How to run a server at no cost
#1

Okay, folks.
In this tutorial, I will teach you how to run a server or community at no cost. As most of us are broke us (including me), cannot afford to invest money into a server. Despite the fact that it is said money are important for running a community, in my opinion they are only a factor which makes the difference between a middling and a professional community. Either that you want to open a server to hang out with friends, or to attract players, I will show you how to get the best experience from it!

I have to state that this tutorial is not made for everybody, and by reading this, I cannot ensure you that you will succeed in achieving what you proposed. However, if fulfilling the following conditions, you have high chances of success.
a) You must have a decent knowledge about running a server and maintaining it;
b) You must have a good knowledge regarding English language and generally communication skills;
c) You must be able to lead a team and cooperate with other people;
d) You must have the ability to keep calm under any circumstances and show diplomacy.

Alright, so let's start up. I'll enumerate the steps that you need to follow in order to run a server at no cost.

1. Hosting
Hosting is the most important factor. Without it, basically your server does not exist.

1.1 Game Server Hosting
There are various methods of hosting a San Andreas Multiplayer server. Starting from local hosting, shared hosting or dedicated hosting, you can choose the best for yourself.

Local hosting:
Hosting locally is not the best option. First of all, it requires your device to be online 24/7. This may affect its components, as normal PCs are not made for hosting, but for running short periods of time. Unlike other servers, PCs do not have coolers which can ensure them a good condition when running for big periods of time.
Other impediment, is your network connection. A server requires a big amount of data transfer and therefore, a large amount of bandwidth. Also, connection's speed is an important factors, as lag may occur during hosting. However, before setting up a server, it is needed to portforward the specific port on which the server will run (most common is 7777, the default port). If you would like support while portforwarding, you can visit http://portforward.com/. They also have a software which is able to open a port automatically for you.
This being said, I do not recommend you to appeal at local hosting. Take this option into consideration, only you have no other option available.

Shared hosting:
Shared hosting is most likely made on devices named Virtual Private Servers by hosting companies. This servers are mostly used for keeping online small platforms, such as websites, masterservers and other content, however, they have the required performance for running a server as well. On a Virtual Private Server, there can be hosted not only one, but more game servers, depending on the device's specifications and network speed.
Renting a Virtual Private Server or a hosting plan requires money. This tutorial is meant to show you how to run a server at no cost, so I will give you small tips about getting such of server, without investing any of your money.
Nowadays, there are plenty of such entitled "hosting companies" exclusive for SA-MP, which are created over night. If you have any previous experience with design, management or development, you could easily provide your services in order to receive a hosting plan, even a small one. Also, some hosting companies are having random contests, offering hosting to the winner(s). If you're lucky enough, you could managed to get a hosting plan as reward. Finally, some of the hosting companies are offering a free limited hosting plan (most likely 30 slots servers) or poor Virtual Private Servers (521mb RAM, single core). Communities such as Free VPS or Free Domain Club are offering to their members hosting machines with decent specifications, in exchange for points or points or posts. Another option is seeking for someone to rent a server for you. Here, at SA-MP forums, there are numerous people who offer their money for a position at a server. If you really want to get someone, visit this thread. However, I have to warn you that you cannot trust anyone, so pay attention when dealing to such of services.



On the other hand, Shared Hosting has its drawbacks. First of all, a common issue is script theft. In the most of situations, owners of these companies do have access to your personal data, and may abuse of it. Secondly, not all of them are provided along with DDoS protection, so you can risk network attacks while hosting.
Nevertheless, despite the fact that servers are supposed to run 24/7, you may encounter downtime, hardware failure and poor performance.

Links:
www.furious-host.com (Free shared hosting)

(Legit free VPS provider)
(Legit free VPS & domain name provider)

www.ovh.ie (DDoS protection & cheap prices)
www.contabo.com (Best performance & cheap prices)

Dedicated hosting:
Hosting on a dedicated server is the best option in my opinion, but the most expensive as well. As dedicated require a lot of resources and dispose of an awesome performance, renting one can lead to a cost of above $50 per month. If you consider that your community deserves such a platform, you can go ahead. However, you cannot find any dedicated servers rented for free. Also, you can barely find a person who may rent one for you, but as I said, there are slight chances. You will have to put a lot of effort in the development of your server, in order to impress any further investors.

Links:
www.ovh.ie (Best DDoS protection, made exclusive for SA-MP)
www.soyoustart.com (Has OVH's infrastructure, therefore the same features)

1.2 Voice servers hosting
Voice servers are very important, especially when it comes to roleplay servers. Even though they're not compulsory to have, such of features can attract a lot of players and provide a good communication between players, other players and staff.

The most known voice communication clients are Teamspeak and Ventrilo. The most used for San Andreas Multiplayer is Teamspeak, therefore I would recommend it as well.

If you would like to know more about hosting, you can visit section 1.1, from above.

However, when it comes to licensing, prices can be very high. In case that you use Teamspeak and have a decent playerbase, you can run a Teamspeak Voice Server freely licensed. This license is limited, but I do consider that can cope with servers having 100 players online at once (voice server slots are limited to 32 in this case. Not all players use Teamspeak, so if only a third would use, there would be enough room for everybody). Also, if you're community grows fast, I suggest apply for a non-profit license by accessing this page, in case that your server has no sources of income.

Links: www.freets3.ovh (Free TS3 instant server provider)

3. Web hosting
I do acknowledge that not of the communities have their own website, not even premium ones. However, having a website can expand your community and also make the difference between mediocrity and professionalism.
When it comes to web hosting, community owners are concerned about different issues. It might be about lack of knowledge, or price, but creating a website is really easy!

Domain:
Getting a domain is not that hard as it seems to be. There are a lot of companies which offer free domains with random TLD's.
Today we will use Freenom. Their motto is "A name for everyone", so as I said, you don't always need money for something.
After registering at Freenom, go to Domains > Register a new domain. Choose your domain name, and the the TLD and eventually, claim it.


Links:
www.freenom.com (Free & premium domains provider)

Web Hosting:
If you're used to web hosting and generally, web domain, you should know that there are various ways for hosting a website. Check section 1.1 for more details, as the same principles are applied.
This is available for advanced users only, so if you have no advanced knowledge, do not involve in such of situations.

If you would like to host a website at no cost, there are available numerous companies which offer limited plans for free. You could inspect the market by yourself in oder to compare the features for free plans from those companies, if you would like to see details.
For now, I suggest you to use Hostinger as web host. It has it all! I've been using this company for ages, and unlike others, it provides high quality services, even for free.

Well, step up, and proceed to their main website, www.hostinger.com and choose the desired location. Register a new account and that's it, you got your website. It has plenty of features!



Even though Hostinger offers awesome services, your registered account (domain) will be created as subdomain. If you paid attention above, at the Domain section, we registered an independent domain at Freenom. If you want to use the domain for Hostinger, it's very simple to do so.



First of all, take your domain registered at Freenom, and go to the Hostinger control panel. Proceed to Domain > Park Domain and add there the domain you're registered at Freenom.





Click Create and there's one more step to come. You will have to edit the nameservers for the domain and it's done.
Take the nameservers from the domain registered at Freenom, and place them at the parked domain, at Hostinger.



Now you have a website and a custom domain...well...almost. You will still have to continue creating the website. One of Hostinger's features is the Zyro Website Builder. With only two clicks, you can get a decent website for your server!



Hostinger also have an affiliate program, so you can actually earn money by participating at it! You only have to invite your friends.

Links:
www.hostinger.com (Free & premium web hosting)

2. Script, Website(s) & Misc

Are you looking for a script, but don't have enough money to hire a scripter, a web developer or a designer? No problem brother!

Script:
In case that you're looking for SA-MP scripts, there are a lot of them released around the SA-MP community, and some of them are really good. Don't be afraid, some edited scripts can be really successful. (e.g. Next Generation Gaming, Project Los Angeles).
If you want to browse for a script, visit this category.

Main Website:
Do you want a cool looking website, but don't have enough money to purchase a pre-made template or hire someone to create it for you? As you saw above, some scripts and templates can be found on the web, being released by their original creator(s) for free! At this moment, there are thousands of such of templates awaiting you.
At this moment, bootstrap based websites are trendy, so let's see some templates, from this website.



After downloading a template, you only have to open the index file with a text editor (the file will be most likely untitled index.html / index.php). I suggest you to use Notepad ++, which can be found here.



You only have to replace the text with the one you desire, and it's almost done.

If you would like a guide about websites, visit this page.


Forum:
If you would like a forum, you can get a free one as well, hosted at Hostinger, on your domain.
All you have to do, is creating a subdomain, downloading a forum software and uploading it to your subdomain's folder.



I highly recommend you to use MyBB as forum software, which can be downloaded from here.
If you would like a tutorial regarding MyBB installation, visit this page.

Logo
Unfortunately, not everybody is talented at graphic design. If you can't cope doing a community logo by yourself, and can't afford paying money, Internet is the perfect place for you. There are a lot of templates, which only need to be edited, either with Photoshop or another editing software. There are even graphic works released on SA-MP forums, such as this one.
Another option, is using a graphics generator, such as CoolText.



Links:
www.deviantart.com (graphics community)
www.cooltext.com (text generator)

3. Staff

As any other owner, probably you don't prefer working by yourself, as would be too difficult, but with an experienced team. You can find anytime a trustworthy person to work with you, and don't worry, it's for free. There are a lot of volunteers around the community which are seeking to gain experience and improve their skills, so they are taking random positions at communities for free.
If you want to let people know that you're searching for staff members, visit this topic.

4. Advertising
Advertising plays an essential role in increasing your playerbase, by letting people know that your server exists.
Advertising can be done in different ways, either by posting information on different websites about your server, or by spreading content regarding your community, such as banners or videos.
All this can be done at no cost if you have some good communication skills and create a nice review for your server (try to be neutral though) or convincing someone to create some well designed content, in order to share it on social media.

Links:
www.forum.sa-mp.com (SA-MP advertising board)
www.multimart.com (SA-MP discussions & advertising forum)
www.gamersn.proboards.com (Advertising forum)
www.joaquimforum.smfforfree3.com (Advertising forum)
www.adsamp.shivtr.com (Advertising forum)





Well, this is it. I hoped this tutorial helped you. I created it by appealing to my own experience, as I managed to run a decent SA-MP server for one year, without investing money. I finally closed it due to lack of time.
I will try to update the tutorial whenever I'll get the chance. I will also try to improve it and add new content.

As an ending phrase, brace yourself, the no cost servers are coming!
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#2

Good tutorial, I like this but I wish this has been posted 2 years ago when I got my browser history full of "free domain" - "free samp server" ect.. x)
+rep
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#3

Well, thanks! I noticed that there was no such a tutorial, and I took time to create one. I struggled by myself last year to reach those websites without external support, so I consider this will be helpful to newcomers. If there are so many "free servers" created already, at least let them make something respectable, without investing money.
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#4

Really nice for those who wana try if they invest or try what would be result
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#5

I will have to disagree with your statement about 'PC's are supposed to be used for a short period of time, PC's do not have coolers' every PC requires a cooling system and the components life span will be stable unless there is no cooling system. There is no such thing "PC for hosting" you simply need good components to run a server that your PC can handle. I have read your entire tutorial and it only explained how you run a local server with low detail but the paid method had more detail in it which makes it irrelevant.

Good job on putting effort into this topic though!
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#6

Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkLored
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I will have to disagree with your statement about 'PC's are supposed to be used for a short period of time, PC's do not have coolers' every PC requires a cooling system and the components life span will be stable unless there is no cooling system. There is no such thing "PC for hosting" you simply need good components to run a server that your PC can handle.
Well, I'm sorry if you misunderstood. I didn't say that PCs do not have a cooling system, because would be a nonsense affirmation. I just compared a PC with a dedicated server. Normal PCs do not have the capacity to run 24/7, as they would probably break down, unlike a hosting server, which is built to run continuously.

Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkLored
Посмотреть сообщение
I have read your entire tutorial and it only explained how you run a local server with low detail but the paid method had more detail in it which makes it irrelevant.
That's the point of this tutorial, it's teaching people how can reach premium plans, at no cost. Also, "how to run a local server" is just 5% of what I actually explained there.

Thanks for the encouragement anyway. I will try to edit it, so people will not misunderstand again.
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#7

Another free samp host site (i think i'm allowed to post it): http://www.ultra-h.com/login.php

nice tutorial
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#8

Few things:

-You shouldn't bother with hosting locally, it's not viable, DHCP and dynamic addressing is a thing
-Shared hosting and VPS's are very different terms with very different uses in the hosting industry
-Free domain providers are extensively known for randomly suspending domains, and then redirecting the domain to obtrusive ads and forcing you to pay to unlock the domain

If you don't have at least $20/m to throw at a project, then you may want to consider talking with a friend about perhaps going in together on a project. Yes, if you're an idiot and have pre-pubescent friends who are mentally unstable, you're going to have issues with that.

In general, you're going to find it very difficult to find stable services that aren't going to charge you.
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#9

Quote:
Originally Posted by rymax99
Посмотреть сообщение
Few things:

-You shouldn't bother with hosting locally, it's not viable, DHCP and dynamic addressing is a thing
-Shared hosting and VPS's are very different terms with very different uses in the hosting industry
-Free domain providers are extensively known for randomly suspending domains, and then redirecting the domain to obtrusive ads and forcing you to pay to unlock the domain

If you don't have at least $20/m to throw at a project, then you may want to consider talking with a friend about perhaps going in together on a project. Yes, if you're an idiot and have pre-pubescent friends who are mentally unstable, you're going to have issues with that.

In general, you're going to find it very difficult to find stable services that aren't going to charge you.
Regarding VPSes, I didn't have enough time to write all their history there. As shared hosting is mostly done on VPSes, they can either get a hosting plan, or a VPS. I'll update those today, anyway.
About domains, I never encountered issues with Freenom, and I've been using it for more than two years.
I know that it's challenging to find good quality free services, but still, you should manage to run a decent server with that.
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#10

21/02/2016 - Updated broken links, added new hosting providers, freevps.us & freedomain.club.
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