[mohaa] Admin tool ready for testing

[[-SF-]Shockwave]

Hey Warren,

I'll do my best to answer your questions.

> I'm old and set in my ways, I guess, so naturally the default config this
> ships with wasn't exactly what I wanted, so I have tried to juryrig it to
> my needs, and this is probably causing more problems.  First off, I'm an
> addict of "admin".  I use this to screen all my game servers so I can
> attach to the console from anywhere (I use "screen -mDS moh0" for this
> particular server).

I use "screen" to start my server as well.  Here's what I use to start my
server:

#!/bin/bash
#

# save last copy of log file
cp ~/.mohaa/main/qconsole.log ~/.mohaa/main/qconsole_last.log

# truncate log
> ~/.mohaa/main/qconsole.log

# start server
screen mohaa_admin

I love having the ability to disconnect from the session and log out without
causing the server to quit.  It's a life saver when bundled with remote
access via SSH.

> ... What I did here was exit the PROGRAM
> field to start with "screen -mds moh0" at the start, and this seems to
> have worked normally.  I guess I'm just a little confused about the
> purpose of the client and whether or not I've disabled some function by
> this action.  Are there commands not yet invoked in this beta?
>

The PROGRAM option in the server configuration file is used as an argument
in a piped open statement so the admin tool can send commands directly to
the game server program.  If you have added anything to that option other
than the fully qualified path to the mohaa_lnxded binary with the
appropriate command line options it requires, then that is the first thing I
would change.  Adding additional programs into that stream will inhibit the
admin tool's ability to issue commands to the game server.  When I was
developing the program I tried to do what you did and I couldn't get the
game server to respond to automated commands.  This is most likely why you
won;t get kicked when your IP is in the ban.cfg file and why the autmoated
server broadcast messaging isn't working.  The "screen" component is
suppressing the admin tool's input stream to the game server.

Currently, the admin tool does the following:

- implements a robust automated server broadcast messaging system
- re-reads the ban.cfg file when every new player connects and kicks those
listed with a custom ban message
- allows multiple clients to issue commands to the server using the client
program

The Client Utility does the following:

- allows admin commands to be issued to the game server
- provides dynamic filtering of server output using local commands
    - filter can be enabled and disabled and has 3 modes
        - ALL: no server output printed
        - NORMAL: only relevant server output printed
        - CHAT: only chat and broadcast messages printed

I fully intend to add more features assuming that these versions pass muster
with everyone who is testing them.  I've learned the hard way not to build
too many features into a program before finding out whether it even floats.
I am sincerely hoping that I will get a bunch of feature requests from
everyone who tries it so that I can incorporate them into the next release.
Some of the ideas I already have in mind are:

Server
=========
- autokick of TK's and high ping players
- stats processing
- web enabled viewing of stats
- web interface for server admin
- player voting for map and game type changes

Client
=========
- user defined content filtering
- batch file execution

These are just some of the concepts I have been kicking around in my head.

> Incidentally, have you had any issues with multiple copies of the admin
> tool running on one machine?  I don't forsee any, I was just going to
> build a second config and rename everything accoudingly and launch away.
>

I haven't tried to do that yet because my machine isn't ideally suited for
running multiple instances of the game.  Assuming that the server tool's
port, config, and log options are different in each instance, you shouldn't
have any problems.  I think I addressed these points in the server's .cfg
file in greater detail.  Let me know if I need to add more instructions.

> And, er.. there were more quesitons, but this is probably enough to keep
> you busy for a while.  I'll leave it there for now.
>
> Again, kudos.
>

Thanks!  Keep the questions, ideas, and comments coming.  I really want to
encourage everyone to give as much feedback as possible.  I'm not the most
knowledgeable MOH:AA admin out there, but I have learned a lot from the
other admins in the community and I love to program.  Thanks for your
feedback and questions, Warren.  If you've got more, fire away!


Shockwave

----- Original Message -----
From: "Warren Woodward" <warrenw at xmission.com>
To: <mohaa at icculus.org>
Sent: Monday, September 09, 2002 2:54 PM
Subject: Re: [mohaa] Admin tool ready for testing


> This looks great.  Naturally, I have about a hundred questions, and seeing
> as there is so much interest here, and it all pretty well pertains to the
> linux ded server we're all using, I'm gonna ask them here in public.
>
> Ok, so I spent about an hour tweaking this for my default port server
> (a Team DM) and it *seems* to be up and running.  Now, I'm not a Perl
> jockey, and far from an expert on this engine, so forgive me in advance
> for my spectacular failures in interpreting all your work.
>
> I'm old and set in my ways, I guess, so naturally the default config this
> ships with wasn't exactly what I wanted, so I have tried to juryrig it to
> my needs, and this is probably causing more problems.  First off, I'm an
> addict of "admin".  I use this to screen all my game servers so I can
> attach to the console from anywhere (I use "screen -mDS moh0" for this
> particular server).  So, am I right that the client is kind of the same
> thing?  Only problem is that I can't really figure out what the client is
> supposed to do, expect tail the filtered console output.  I use admin to
> stats, kick, clientkick, say, etc.  What I did here was exit the PROGRAM
> field to start with "screen -mds moh0" at the start, and this seems to
> have worked normally.  I guess I'm just a little confused about the
> purpose of the client and whether or not I've disabled some function by
> this action.  Are there commands not yet invoked in this beta?
>
> The other problem I'm having, and this may be fairly important, is that
> though the mohaa_admin util is running, outside of launching the game it
> seems to be doing nothing else whatsoever.  Since players are fickle as
> all get out, none of them have yet bothered to reenter the game since I
> brought it down to play with all this stuff, so I've so far had no real
> chance to watch it in action.  But I've fired up a game client on my
> laptop and I've been watching for server messages (none), and for
> curiosity sake I added the IP of the laptop to the ban.cfg and rejoined
> with no problem (I tried to exec the config from the console, and it's no
> likey).  I guess the short question to this tome would be.. um, what is it
> supposed to be doing?  Seems it's launched the game, and that's about it.
>
> Incidentally, have you had any issues with multiple copies of the admin
> tool running on one machine?  I don't forsee any, I was just going to
> build a second config and rename everything accoudingly and launch away.
>
> And, er.. there were more quesitons, but this is probably enough to keep
> you busy for a while.  I'll leave it there for now.
>
> Again, kudos.
>
>
> warren -