Overview

Hello and welcome to BattleMetrics RCON! This article contains an overview of BattleMetrics RCON features and the primary benefits to each system.

Features

Persistent Connection

The BattleMetrics RCON service maintains a 24/7 connection to your server. We do this by maintaining the RCON connection from one of our datacenter servers. Our server stays connected to your server around the clock so that you do not lose any chat logs, player connection history, or any other data. No other tool can provide this level of data protection.

Properly set up, our server can be the only allowed RCON connection to your server, providing you with improved security and tracking of your staff members. Our service is fundamentally a "man-in-the-middle" or mediator for your RCON needs.

Organizations

Organizations are integral to managing multiple servers at once. You can group all of your servers into a single organization. This allows you to issue bans that will apply to all servers within a single organization. Furthermore, you can invite your admins or sub-users to one organization but not another if you want to keep the administration of your server separated.

You can specify ban templates for your entire organization, making your ban reasons more uniform while saving time when issuing bans.

Roles and Permissions

Because we maintain a single RCON connection to your server, you and all of your staff view the RCON data through our service. This means that you can limit what your sub-users can see and do with regard to your server(s). This is a great way to bring on additional help without worrying about the risk of administrator abuse of power. You can limit administrator powers to temporary bans, kicking power only, or whatever you see fit.

Permissions can be grouped into "roles" which can be assigned to new administrators upon invitation into one of your organizations. You can have as many roles as you need!

Triggers

Triggers are easily the most powerful feature that our service offers. Triggers allow you to automate rule enforcement, messaging, and other simple tasks without any need for human intervention. Properly set up, our trigger system will not only save you countless hours of work, but it will greatly improve the consistency and quality of your rule enforcement. A trigger can instantaneously check to see if a user has a VAC ban, has a private Steam profile, is using racist language, etc. These are all tasks that would take a great deal of time and energy to properly monitor and deal with. If you value your time, then you will value our trigger system.

For example, imagine you do not want users with a VPN to access your server. Normally, it would take you five (5) minutes to do an IP check on a user to determine if they have a VPN. Additionally, you would actually need to be present to perform the check. Our triggers can do the same check instantly at all hours of the day. Every day, such a trigger could save you hours and hours of labor. Running a server does not have to be hard!

Start exploring triggers here: https://www.battlemetrics.com/rcon/triggers

For more detailed information on triggers, please see the articles here: https://learn.battlemetrics.com/category/6-triggers

Player Database

We store nearly everything that comes across the RCON connection to your server. Player identifiers are stored forever for your future use. Chat logs are stored for up to three (3) months. So, as an example, you can easily view player interactions in context when reviewing a ban appeal, even months down the road. You don't have to worry about saving the physical log file anymore.

Player identifiers are cross-referenced against our database every time the player connects. If that player has ever used a different name, IP, etc, we will know about it. We will add all of these new identifiers to the player profile in question so that you can see the changes. Additionally, if a single IP is associated with more than one (1) player profile, we will make a notation next to the IP to alert you.

Our database also cross-references the public data we receive by querying servers. In most cases, you will be able to see what other servers a particular player has played on. This can be a useful advantage for your server security or for general analytics purposes.

You or your staff can assign "notes" to a player profile for later review. This is most commonly used for linking ban appeal information, links to video proof of cheating, notation of a prior warning, etc.

Ban Synchronization

We use our own BattleMetrics ban system as our primary method for keeping unwanted players off your server(s). This system was built by BattleMetrics, meaning that it does not have the same limitations as the ban system that is native to your game server. With our system you can store much more information about who was banned, why they were banned, and which admin issued the ban. You will not be limited by file size, character limits, or anything else that may have been a limitation for your native game ban system. You can ban as many people as you want to without concern for slowing down, crashing, or otherwise compromising your server.

Our ban system works in tandem with your native game ban system. Bans that you issue to your native game ban system will still work even if you are using our service. Additionally, depending on game compatibility, we support the import or export of ban lists.

It is important to note that the BattleMetrics ban system operates by kicking unwanted players off the server. By default, we cannot prevent the player from joining and we must wait until the player has joined before we can match the banned identifier to the ban in our system. Our "Ban Sync" system is a one-way synchronization system that allows you to get the benefits of both our ban system and the native game ban system for your server. This is primarily useful for games where the native game server ban system can actually prevent a player from joining the server. In that situation, the Ban Sync system will see a banned player join your server, kick them, and then issue a native game-level ban to your server to prevent the player from re-joining and spamming your server. This ban will be a type of temporary ban and we will remove it after an interval that you define. If the player rejoins again in a week or any other time, we will repeat the process. The Ban Sync system is essential for minimizing the drawbacks of your native game-level ban system.

For more information on Ban Sync and how it works, please see the following article: https://learn.battlemetrics.com/article/12-ban-sync

Scheduler

BattleMetrics provides a built-in scheduler so that you can send messages or issue commands on a customizable schedule. We have three template options for schedules: Basic, Warning, and Advanced.

Basic schedules are intended to be simple messages or commands that are set to run at a fixed time a fixed interval. Examples include issuing a save world command every thirty (30) minutes or broadcasting a particular message every three (3) hours.

Warning schedules are designed to alert your players that something is coming up. The time between messages gradually counts down to the time the event is meant to occur. Ideally used for restart warnings.

Advanced schedules are customizable and useful if your desired schedule does not fall neatly into the Basic or Warning categories.

You can access the Scheduler here: https://www.battlemetrics.com/rcon/scheduler

Chat Alerts

Chat alerts are meant to notify you when a player mentions pre-defined word or phrase. Common examples include "!admin" or the admin's name. Notification options include desktop notifications and audio notifications. A "personal trigger" can be used for tagging messages or sending email/SMS alerts.

Chat Alerts can be set up here: https://www.battlemetrics.com/rcon/notifications

Reserved Slots

BattleMetrics provides you with a built-in reserved slot system. The system is flexible, allowing you to specify the number of reserved slots and how you want to reserve those slots. For example, you can tell the system to kick the last player to join (assuming the reserved player is able to join).

Note that this system has its drawbacks, in that a player must join the server before their identifiers can be compared to the "reserved" list. This means always holding at least one slot open and unused for that purpose.

Explore reserved slots here: https://www.battlemetrics.com/rcon/reservedslots

Overview

Table of Contents:

Features