tf2 Installation Guide Installation Guide

tf2 is a free and open-source Team Fortress 2 server. Team Fortress 2 dedicated server for multiplayer matches

Hardware Requirements:

CPU: 2+ cores

RAM: 2GB minimum

Storage: 20GB for game

Network: Source protocol

Operating System:

Linux: Any modern distribution (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Fedora, Arch, Alpine, openSUSE)

macOS: 10.14+ (Mojave or newer)

Windows: Windows Server 2016+ or Windows 10

FreeBSD: 11.0+

Network Requirements:

Port 27015 (default tf2 port)

RCON available

Dependencies:

See official documentation for specific requirements

System Access: root or sudo privileges required

This guide supports installation on:

RHEL 8/9 and derivatives (CentOS Stream, Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux)

Debian 11/12

Ubuntu 20.04/22.04/24.04 LTS

Arch Linux (rolling release)

Alpine Linux 3.18+

openSUSE Leap 15.5+ / Tumbleweed

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 15+

macOS 12+ (Monterey and later)

FreeBSD 13+

Windows 10/11/Server 2019+ (where applicable)

bash

# Install EPEL repository if needed
sudo dnf install -y epel-release

# Install tf2
sudo dnf install -y tf2

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now tf2

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=27015/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
tf2 --version

bash

# Update package index
sudo apt update

# Install tf2
sudo apt install -y tf2

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now tf2

# Configure firewall
sudo ufw allow 27015

# Verify installation
tf2 --version

bash

# Install tf2
sudo pacman -S tf2

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now tf2

# Verify installation
tf2 --version

bash

# Install tf2
apk add --no-cache tf2

# Enable and start service
rc-update add tf2 default
rc-service tf2 start

# Verify installation
tf2 --version

bash

# Install tf2
sudo zypper install -y tf2

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now tf2

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=27015/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
tf2 --version

bash

# Using Homebrew
brew install tf2

# Start service
brew services start tf2

# Verify installation
tf2 --version

bash

# Using pkg
pkg install tf2

# Enable in rc.conf
echo 'tf2_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service tf2 start

# Verify installation
tf2 --version

bash

# Using Chocolatey
choco install tf2

# Or using Scoop
scoop install tf2

# Verify installation
tf2 --version

bash

# Create configuration directory
sudo mkdir -p /etc/tf2

# Set up basic configuration
# See official documentation for detailed configuration options

# Test configuration
tf2 --version

bash

# Enable service
sudo systemctl enable tf2

# Start service
sudo systemctl start tf2

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop tf2

# Restart service
sudo systemctl restart tf2

# Check status
sudo systemctl status tf2

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u tf2 -f

bash

# Enable service
rc-update add tf2 default

# Start service
rc-service tf2 start

# Stop service
rc-service tf2 stop

# Restart service
rc-service tf2 restart

# Check status
rc-service tf2 status

bash

# Enable in /etc/rc.conf
echo 'tf2_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service tf2 start

# Stop service
service tf2 stop

# Restart service
service tf2 restart

# Check status
service tf2 status

bash

# Using Homebrew services
brew services start tf2
brew services stop tf2
brew services restart tf2

# Check status
brew services list | grep tf2

powershell

# Start service
net start tf2

# Stop service
net stop tf2

# Using PowerShell
Start-Service tf2
Stop-Service tf2
Restart-Service tf2

# Check status
Get-Service tf2

See the official documentation for advanced configuration options.

nginx

upstream tf2_backend {
    server 127.0.0.1:27015;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name tf2.example.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name tf2.example.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/certs/tf2.example.com.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/private/tf2.example.com.key;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://tf2_backend;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

apache

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName tf2.example.com
    Redirect permanent / https://tf2.example.com/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName tf2.example.com
    
    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/tf2.example.com.crt
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/tf2.example.com.key
    
    ProxyRequests Off
    ProxyPreserveHost On
    
    ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:27015/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:27015/
</VirtualHost>

haproxy

frontend tf2_frontend
    bind *:80
    bind *:443 ssl crt /etc/ssl/certs/tf2.pem
    redirect scheme https if !{ ssl_fc }
    default_backend tf2_backend

backend tf2_backend
    balance roundrobin
    server tf21 127.0.0.1:27015 check

bash

# Set appropriate permissions
sudo chown -R tf2:tf2 /etc/tf2
sudo chmod 750 /etc/tf2

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=27015/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Enable SELinux policies (if applicable)
sudo setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect on

See official documentation for database configuration requirements.

bash

# Basic system tuning
echo 'net.core.somaxconn = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
echo 'net.ipv4.tcp_max_syn_backlog = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
sudo sysctl -p

bash

# Check service status
sudo systemctl status tf2

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u tf2 -f

# Monitor resource usage
top -p $(pgrep tf2)

bash

#!/bin/bash
# Basic backup script
BACKUP_DIR="/backup/tf2"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)

mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"
tar -czf "$BACKUP_DIR/tf2-backup-$DATE.tar.gz" /etc/tf2 /var/lib/tf2

echo "Backup completed: $BACKUP_DIR/tf2-backup-$DATE.tar.gz"

bash

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop tf2

# Restore from backup
tar -xzf /backup/tf2/tf2-backup-*.tar.gz -C /

# Start service
sudo systemctl start tf2

1. Service won't start:

bash

# Check logs
sudo journalctl -u tf2 -n 100
sudo tail -f /var/log/tf2/tf2.log

# Check configuration
tf2 --version

# Check permissions
ls -la /etc/tf2

2. Connection issues:

bash

# Check if service is listening
sudo ss -tlnp | grep 27015

# Test connectivity
telnet localhost 27015

# Check firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --list-all

3. Performance issues:

bash

# Check resource usage
top -p $(pgrep tf2)

# Check disk I/O
iotop -p $(pgrep tf2)

# Check connections
ss -an | grep 27015

yaml

version: '3.8'
services:
  tf2:
    image: tf2:latest
    ports:
      - "27015:27015"
    volumes:
      - ./config:/etc/tf2
      - ./data:/var/lib/tf2
    restart: unless-stopped

Maintenance

bash

# RHEL/CentOS/Rocky/AlmaLinux
sudo dnf update tf2

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade tf2

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -Syu tf2

# Alpine Linux
apk update && apk upgrade tf2

# openSUSE
sudo zypper update tf2

# FreeBSD
pkg update && pkg upgrade tf2

# Always backup before updates
tar -czf /backup/tf2-pre-update-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz /etc/tf2

# Restart after updates
sudo systemctl restart tf2

Regular Maintenance

bash

# Log rotation
sudo logrotate -f /etc/logrotate.d/tf2

# Clean old logs
find /var/log/tf2 -name "*.log" -mtime +30 -delete

# Check disk usage
du -sh /var/lib/tf2

Official Documentation: https://docs.tf2.org/

GitHub Repository: https://github.com/tf2/tf2

Community Forum: https://forum.tf2.org/

Best Practices Guide: https://docs.tf2.org/best-practices

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Note: This guide is part of the HowToMgr collection. Always refer to official documentation for the most up-to-date information.

1. Prerequisites

2. Supported Operating Systems

3. Installation

RHEL/CentOS/Rocky Linux/AlmaLinux

Debian/Ubuntu

Arch Linux

Alpine Linux

openSUSE/SLES

macOS

FreeBSD

Windows

Initial Configuration

Basic Configuration

5. Service Management

systemd (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, openSUSE)

OpenRC (Alpine Linux)

rc.d (FreeBSD)

launchd (macOS)

Windows Service Manager

Advanced Configuration

Reverse Proxy Setup

nginx Configuration

Apache Configuration

HAProxy Configuration

Security Configuration

Basic Security Setup

Database Setup

Performance Optimization

System Tuning

Monitoring

Basic Monitoring

9. Backup and Restore

Backup Script

Restore Procedure

6. Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Integration Examples

Docker Compose Example

Maintenance

Update Procedures

Regular Maintenance

Additional Resources

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