Community Servers
A community server is a CS2 dedicated server that is not there to host matches: anything other than a Ranked Server or a Practice Server. Valve presets (Casual, Deathmatch, Retake, Arms Race and the rest) and custom game modes are all community servers. They stay up between players, show on the Public Servers page, and players join them directly.
Ranked and Practice servers run 5Stack's own plugin set for their matches and sessions. A community server runs no match, so the things on this page exist for it instead: a map rotation, its own plugin choices, an access list, and the Player Management plugin to enforce bans, mutes and gags.
CS2 only
Map rotation, per-server plugins, access lists, player management and the community stats all need CS2. A CS:GO server can still be created with a Valve preset, but none of this applies to it.
The server page
Every dedicated server has one page, at /dedicated-servers/<id>. Old /public-servers/<id> links land there too. What it shows depends on who is looking:
- Anyone below Moderator, signed in or not, gets the public view: the server's address and a Join button, its stats and its leaderboard.
- Moderators and above get the management view, with tabs.
The header carries the server's status, region, type and address. The status reads Connected, No RCON or Disconnected. A Ranked server whose plugin is behind reads Version Mismatch, and one that is hibernating reads Hibernating. Match organizers and above get the Enabled switch, and administrators get a Files button on a server that runs on a game server node.
| Tab | Who sees it | What it holds |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | Community servers only | The same stats and leaderboard the public sees. A community server opens on this tab. |
| Players | Moderator and above | The live roster with kick and sanction actions, then Recent Players |
| Console | Moderator and above | An RCON console, the same one the match admin bar uses |
| Logs | Match organizer and above, node servers only | The server's live console output |
| Settings | Administrator | Everything below |
Players
The roster lists everyone on the server, with a kick button, a sanction button and a menu with Sanction History, their 5Stack profile if they have one, and their Steam ID. When the Player Management plugin is reporting, the roster is marked Live, shows each player's IP, and joins and leaves show up within seconds. Without it, the roster is read over RCON every 30 seconds and no history is recorded. An amber warning icon beside the refresh button says why when the plugin is not reporting.
Recent Players below it lists everyone who played in the last 24H or 7D, searchable by name, Steam ID or IP. An IP shared with another player is highlighted, and its tooltip names the other accounts seen on it now or in the last 7 days.
Sanctions from this tab go through the same flow as everywhere else. See Player Management for what is enforced live.
Settings
The Settings tab is administrator-only. Its sections are grouped down the left side (a dropdown on a phone):
| Group | Section | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Server | General | The server form: where it runs, what it plays, its name, RCON password, connect password and max players |
| Community Server | Map Rotation | The maps it cycles through. Map Rotation |
| Community Server | Plugins | Switch game plugins on or off for this server only, and configure them. Below |
| Community Server | Access | Restrict who can join. Restricted Servers |
| Community Server | Player Management | Plugin status, and install steps on an external server. Player Management |
| Delete Server | Removes it from 5Stack. A server on a game server node is shut down too |
Map Rotation and Plugins only appear for a server on a game server node: both reach the server through the container 5Stack builds for it. An external server gets Access and Player Management.
Saving
General has its own save bar. The community sections share one: edit any of them, switch between them freely, and one save sends everything.
- Rotation and plugin changes rebuild the server, so the button reads Save & Restart and the server restarts once.
- Access changes apply within seconds, with no restart. The button reads Save.
A server that is switched off saves the change and picks it up when it is enabled again.
Plugins
Plugins lists every installed game plugin with a three-way switch:
| Setting | Effect |
|---|---|
| Default | Follows the plugin's own load switches. On a community server a plugin loads by default when Tournament Matches or Custom Matches is on |
| On | Loads on this server whatever the plugin page says |
| Off | Never loads on this server |
Each row says whether the plugin Loads or is Not Loaded, and why: by default, because it was switched on or off here, because the server's game mode selects it, or to play the map rotation. A game mode's own plugins cannot be switched off here: picking the mode is the choice.
Configure for This Server opens a panel with the same settings, config file and console variable editors as the plugin's page. What you set there is layered over the plugin page's settings for this server only, and saved with the rest of the server's settings. Remove Server Override goes back to the plugin page's.
Game modes on a community server
A community server can run a Game Mode by picking it under Custom Presets in General. Custom presets need a game server node, because 5Stack installs the mode's plugins onto the server.
The server starts on the mode's Valve Game Mode, and the cvars a match would exec are written into the Valve mode's server config instead, which CS2 execs on every map load. In order, last wins:
- each loading plugin's console variables, from its plugin page,
- the game mode's console variables,
- this server's own plugin console variables, from Configure for This Server.
The Global config is not applied to community servers.
Public Servers page
Public Servers, in the main navigation, lists every enabled, connected community server. Ranked and Practice servers are never listed for players, and a restricted server is only listed for players it lets in.
- Featured: the top two online servers get a large showcase. Servers an administrator pinned with Feature on this page come first; the busiest servers fill the remaining slots. A lone server gets the whole showcase.
- Up to 10 online servers show as tiles below the showcase. Above that they collapse into a list with a mode filter and Most players / Best ping sorting.
- LAN servers get their own section. A player on the LAN sees them first, under On this LAN.
Each server shows its map, game mode and player count, and signed-in players see their ping to its region. Moderators get a Manage link to the server page.
Stats and leaderboards
When the Player Management plugin is reporting, a community server records who played, when, and for how long. Anyone can see:
- the Overview: Online Now, Players This Week, Hours This Week, All-Time Players, and a seven-day activity chart of the total hours played each day. Nobody's individual play times are shown.
- the Leaderboard: This Week or All Time, by Time or Kills. It lists players with a 5Stack account; players without one still count toward the totals.
Player profiles get a Community tab with the player's time and kills on community servers. The public sees only when they were last seen. Moderators also see exact sessions, the names they used, their IPs, and other accounts seen on those IPs.
Session history
Exact sessions and IPs are kept for 7 days by default. Change it under Settings → Application → Servers → Community Player Sessions → Keep Session History (days), between 7 and 90 days. Older sessions are folded into the all-time totals, so the leaderboards keep counting them.