‍TeamSpeak is a popular cross-platform voice chat software used by gamers, teams, and schools. It provides a lightweight and fast communication solution that offers more control as it can be hosted on your own server. In this tutorial, we will guide you through the process of installing the TeamSpeak server on a Debian 11 based server and connecting to it using a Windows client.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, make sure you have the following:

• A Debian 11 based server
• A non-root user with sudo privileges
• Sudo package installed
• System packages updated

To update your system packages, run the following command:

$ sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

Step 1 – Configure Firewall

The first step is to configure the firewall on your Debian server. Debian comes with ufw (Uncomplicated Firewall) which provides an easy way to manage firewall rules.

To check if the firewall is running, run the following command:

$ sudo ufw status

You should see the status as “inactive” which means the firewall is not enabled yet. We need to allow specific ports required by TeamSpeak.

Run the following commands to allow the necessary ports:

$ sudo ufw allow OpenSSH
$ sudo ufw allow 9987/udp
$ sudo ufw allow 30033/tcp
$ sudo ufw allow 10011/tcp
$ sudo ufw allow 10022/tcp
$ sudo ufw allow 10080/tcp

Finally, enable the firewall:

$ sudo ufw enable

Step 2 – Download TeamSpeak

Now, let’s download the latest version of the TeamSpeak server. Visit theTeamSpeak’s download page and find the latest version number. At the time of writing this tutorial, the latest version is v3.13.6.

Run the following command to download the TeamSpeak server:

$ TVERSION=3.13.6
$ wget https://files.teamspeak-services.com/releases/server/${TVERSION}/teamspeak3-server_linux_amd64-${TVERSION}.tar.bz2

Once the download is complete, extract the downloaded archive:

$ tar -xf ./teamspeak3-server_linux_amd64-${TVERSION}.tar.bz2

Step 3 – Create TeamSpeak User and Directory

Next, we will create a dedicated user for running the TeamSpeak server. This provides better security and isolation.

Run the following command to create the user:

$ sudo adduser ts3 --home /opt/teamspeak --shell /bin/bash --disabled-password

Now, move the extracted TeamSpeak directory to the newly created user’s home directory:

$ sudo mv teamspeak3-server_linux_amd64/* /opt/teamspeak/

To ensure proper permissions, run the following command:

$ sudo chown -R ts3:ts3 /opt/teamspeak

Step 4 – Run TeamSpeak Server

Now, let’s start the TeamSpeak server and create a privilege key for administrative access.

Switch to the TeamSpeak user by running the following command:

$ sudo -u ts3 -i

To accept the TeamSpeak server license, create a file called .ts3server_license_accepted in the TeamSpeak’s working directory:

$ touch.ts3server_license_accepted

Start the TeamSpeak server by running the following command:

$ ./ts3server_startscript.sh start

This will generate a privilege key and a server query administrator account. Make sure to note down the generated credentials as you will need them later.

To stop the server, press Ctrl + C on your keyboard.

Exit the TeamSpeak user by running the following command:

$ exit

Step 5 – Creating TeamSpeak Service Daemon

To ensure that the TeamSpeak server starts automatically on system boot, we will create a systemd service.

Create the service file by running the following command:

$ sudo nano /lib/systemd/system/ts3server.service

Paste the following code into the file:

[Unit]
Description=TeamSpeak3 Server
Wants=network-online.target
After=syslog.target network.target local-fs.target

[Service]
WorkingDirectory=/opt/teamspeak
User=ts3
Group=ts3
Type=forking
ExecStart=/opt/teamspeak/ts3server_startscript.sh start license_accepted=1
ExecStop=/opt/teamspeak/ts3server_startscript.sh stop
ExecReload=/opt/teamspeak/ts3server_startscript.sh restart
Restart=always
RestartSec=15

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Save and close the file by pressing Ctrl + X, then Y to confirm.

Reload the systemd daemon to make the changes take effect:

$ sudo systemctl daemon-reload

Enable the TeamSpeak service and start it:

$ sudo systemctl enable ts3server --now

Verify the status of the service:

$ sudo systemctl status ts3server

Step 6 – Connect using TeamSpeak Client

To connect to the TeamSpeak server, you will need to download and install the TeamSpeak 3 Client on your Windows computer.

Visit theofficial TeamSpeak website and download the Windows client.

Once the client is installed, launch it on your desktop. You will be prompted to accept the license agreement.

Click on the “Connections” menu and select “Connect”. Enter the IP address of your server, the privilege key generated in Step 4, and a nickname for yourself.

Click the “Connect” button to establish a connection to your TeamSpeak server.

Congratulations! You are now connected to your TeamSpeak server and can start using the client for communication.

Step 7 – Changing Access Password

If you wish to change the Server Administrator password for your TeamSpeak server, follow these steps:

Stop the TeamSpeak service:

$ sudo systemctl stop ts3server

Switch to the TeamSpeak user:

$ sudo -i -u ts3

Start the TeamSpeak server and specify the new password using the serveradmin_password parameter:

$ ./ts3server_startscript.sh start serveradmin_password=new_password

Replace new_password with a strong password of your choice.

Stop the server:

$ ./ts3server_startscript.sh stop

Switch back to your user account:

$ exit

Start the TeamSpeak service again:

$ sudo systemctl start ts3server

Step 8 – Installing and Configuring MySQL

By default, TeamSpeak uses the SQLite database for storing communication and user data. However, if you have a large number of users, it is recommended to use a more robust database solution like MySQL or PostgreSQL.

In this step, we will install and configure MySQL as the database for TeamSpeak.

Install MariaDB server, a drop-in replacement for MySQL, by running the following command:

$ sudo apt install mariadb-server -y

During the installation, the MariaDB service will be started automatically. You can verify its status by running:

$ sudo systemctl status mariadb

Next, run the security script to secure your MariaDB installation:

$ sudo mysql_secure_installation

Follow the on-screen prompts to set the root password and answer the security-related questions.

Log in to the MySQL shell as the root user:

$ sudo mysql

Create a new user for TeamSpeak and grant it access to a new database:

mysql> CREATE USER 'ts3user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
mysql> CREATE DATABASE teamspeak3;
mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON teamspeak3.* TO 'ts3user'@'localhost';
mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
mysql> EXIT;

Replace 'password' with a strong password for the ts3user.

Switch to the TeamSpeak user:

$ sudo -i -u ts3

Create a symbolic link for the MariaDB library:

$ ln -s /opt/teamspeak/redist/libmariadb.so.2 /opt/teamspeak/libmariadb.so.2

To determine the required shared libraries for TeamSpeak, run the following command:

$ ldd /opt/teamspeak3-server/libts3db_mariadb.so

Create a configuration file for the MariaDB database parameters:

$ nano ts3db_mariadb.ini

Paste the following code into the file:

[config]
host=127.0.0.1
port=3306
username=ts3user
password=password
database=teamspeak3
socket=

Replace 'password' with the password you set for the ts3user.

Create a configuration file for TeamSpeak:

$ nano ts3server.ini

Paste the following code into the file:

machine_id=default
voice_port=9987
voice_ip=0.0.0.0
licensepath=
filetransfer_port=30033
filetransfer_ip=0.0.0.0
query_port=10011
query_ip=0.0.0.0
query_ip_whitelist=query_ip_whitelist.txt
query_ip_blacklist=query_ip_blacklist.txt
dbsqlpath=sql/
dbplugin=ts3db_mariadb
dbsqlcreatepath=create_mariadb/
dbpluginparameter=ts3db_mariadb.ini
dbconnections=10
logpath=logs/
logquerycommands=0
dbclientkeepdays=30
logappend=0
query_skipbruteforcecheck=0

Save and close the file.

Exit the TeamSpeak user:

$ exit

Open the TeamSpeak service file:

$ sudo nano /lib/systemd/system/ts3server.service

Find the line ExecStart=/opt/teamspeak/ts3server_startscript.sh start license_accepted=1 and modify it to include the configuration file details:

ExecStart=/opt/teamspeak/ts3server_startscript.sh start license_accepted=1 inifile=ts3server.ini

Save and close the file.

Reload the systemd daemon:

$ sudo systemctl daemon-reload

Enable and start the TeamSpeak service:

$ sudo systemctl enable ts3server --now

Verify the status of the server:

$ sudo systemctl status ts3server

Step 9 – Upgrading TeamSpeak

To upgrade your TeamSpeak server to a newer version, follow these steps:

Stop the TeamSpeak server:

$ sudo systemctl stop ts3server

Download the latest version from theofficial TeamSpeak website and extract the archive to the /opt/teamspeak directory, overwriting the existing files.

Ensure the correct permissions:

$ sudo chown -R ts3:ts3 /opt/teamspeak

Start the TeamSpeak server:

$ sudo systemctl start ts3server

Congratulations! You have successfully installed and configured TeamSpeak Server on your Debian 11 based server. You can now connect to it using the TeamSpeak client and enjoy seamless voice communication.

If you have any questions or need further assistance, feel free to reach out to our support team at Shape.host. We provide reliable Linux SSD VPS hosting services to empower businesses with scalable and secure cloud hosting solutions.