is a static ip needed to host a game server?

Now I know that you need a static ip when you are hosting a website or running a file server. With that in mind, do I need to set up a static ip to host a xonotic server? Or can I get away with just forwarding the ports on my router and opening the ports on the server's firewall?

Now I know that you need a static ip when you are hosting a website or running a file server. With that in mind, do I need to set up a static ip to host a xonotic server? Or can I get away with just forwarding the ports on my router and opening the ports on the server's firewall?

With a static IP your server will be accessible to everybody. But you have some free (I'm paying for a static IP address) workarounds such as using no-ip or dyndns services.

How it works?
Basically, you have to register into one of them. Then u will have to register your server name. Finally, u can donwload a program that runs as a service in your server. This service will update your dinamic ip in your server entry.

I hope you can get it working! gl

My Netgear router has an option to automatically update a dyndns entry to point to it under Main Menu/Advanced/Dynamic DNS. It could be just what you need if your router has it

For the record, the broadband plan I'm on did claim to have a static IP but it changes every couple of months or so. Go figure

Edit: Forgot to answer the actual question. No, you don't need a static IP BUT not having one can lead to problems with the server browser (I don't think bookmarking will work, for a start). Also, having a static IP makes it easier for people to write down and remember. Also FreeDNS is another good free DNS service.

So assuming that I regester with no-ip and get the updater working, will I stil need to regester with a xonotic master server? Or will the server program automatically sync with the master server?

I'm currently using DynDns.org service (you can use ddclient as the updater if you're running linux).

Using it for the website in my sig (hosted from home) and to point to my several game servers.

Afaik however, this approach doesn't solve the favorites issue (or I just don't know how to do it), as my dynamic IP shows up in the master server list.

Though you SHOULD be able to join my server by typing "connect jaywalker.servegame.org:26000" in console. I haven't been able to test this because you can't connect to your own public IP :/

Though you SHOULD be able to join my server by typing "connect jaywalker.servegame.org:26000" in console. I haven't been able to test this because you can't connect to your own public IP :/

Yeah. With a service type like these (NO-IP, dyndns, etc.), you can access by name all the time*. As the IP address is dynamic, you can connect by it only the period of time it remains being the same. After a change, you couldn't connect for a while.
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* Well that's not absolutely right. When your ISP changes your IP address because it is dynamic, there is a period of time that the IP address assigned to your name is the old one and not the current one. This period of time is configurable. You must set the testing interval of your client. For example, by default NO-IP has a 30 minutes test interval. If your ISP changes your IP address, until the next test of the client your NO-IP name will be binded to your old IP. And not only this delay, there is also the time of putting up-to-date the dnsservers of the rest of the world.

I guess an interesting question to ask would be whether, if running a dedicated xonotic server, it would spot the change of your public IP address and advertise the new IP to the master server (essentially being in the server list should be enough right, your friends can find your server that way, and no dyndns would have to be set up)

I guess an interesting question to ask would be whether, if running a dedicated xonotic server, it would spot the change of your public IP address and advertise the new IP to the master server (essentially being in the server list should be enough right, your friends can find your server that way, and no dyndns would have to be set up)

Don't quote me on this because I don't know for sure, but I'm pretty sure the game server will update the master server with the IP it's hosted on. I haven't had any problems with my servers not showing up tho due to an IP change. As long as my servers are running, I'm able to see them on the master server list: http://dpmaster.deathmask.net/?game=xonotic

Thanks for all the replies. If all goes well, I should have everything set up within a week or so.

One more question, if you aren't tired of answering them . I'm thinking of also having murmur installed on the machine as well. Say 10 people for xonotic and 10 for mumble. Now would this machine be able to handle the combined load?
CPU: Pentium 4 1.6Ghz
RAM:512MB
NIC:pci 100m/bit ethernet
HDD:40GB 7200rpm

Thanks for all the replies. If all goes well, I should have everything set up within a week or so.

One more question, if you aren't tired of answering them . I'm thinking of also having murmur installed on the machine as well. Say 10 people for xonotic and 10 for mumble. Now would this machine be able to handle the combined load?
CPU: Pentium 4 1.6Ghz
RAM:512MB
NIC:pci 100m/bit ethernet
HDD:40GB 7200rpm

One of my servers is very similar to the one you specified.
Athlon XP @ 1.6ghz
1GB RAM
100mbit ethernet
10gb 5400rpm

I've not had more than 4 (non-local) people in my server with me at a time, and cpu load will be 35-50%. I'd say Xonotic is a fairly demanding server to run.