How to Make a TeamSpeak 3 Server on Linux: Step by Step

Step 1: User and files

For security, run TeamSpeak as a separate user instead of root:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install bzip2 wget
sudo useradd -m -s /bin/bash teamspeak
sudo su - teamspeak

On the download page of TeamSpeak's official website, copy the link to the Server 64-bit package for Linux, then download and extract it on the server:

wget -O ts3server.tar.bz2 "https://.../teamspeak3-server_linux_amd64-X.X.X.tar.bz2"
tar -xjf ts3server.tar.bz2
cd teamspeak3-server_linux_amd64

The URL contains the current version number from the website.

Step 2: Accept the license

The TeamSpeak server won't start without a file stating that you accept the terms of use. After reading the terms in the license file in the server folder, accept them with:

touch .ts3server_license_accepted

Step 3: First start and the admin key

./ts3server_startscript.sh start

On the first start, the server generates two important pieces of information. Save them somewhere safe right away:

• ServerQuery admin account: The serveradmin username and password. Used to manage the server from the command line or with management tools.
• Privilege key (token): A single-use key you'll use to make yourself Server Admin the first time you connect to the server with the TeamSpeak client.

This information appears in the startup output and in the log file in the logs folder inside the server folder:

grep -i "token=" logs/*.log

Step 4: Ports and the firewall

If you use ufw on Ubuntu:

sudo ufw allow 9987/udp
sudo ufw allow 30033/tcp

The ServerQuery ports are doors to full control of your server; don't open them to everyone. If you're going to use management tools, open these ports only to your own IP address or reach them through an SSH tunnel. We cover UFW in detail in our How to use UFW guide.

Step 5: Connect and become an admin

1. In the TeamSpeak client, go to Connections → Connect.
2. Enter your server's IP address as the server address (since the default port is 9987, you don't need to enter a port).
3. Once you're connected, you'll be asked for a privilege key; enter the key you saved in step 3.

You're now in the Server Admin group. You can manage channels, server groups and permissions from inside the client. To put a password on the server, right-click the server name and open the server settings.

If you'd like to use your own domain name, all you need to do is add an A record for a subdomain such as ts.yourdomain.com that points to your server's IP address; the details are in our What is a subdomain? article.

Step 6: Running it as a system service

So the server starts automatically after reboots, create a systemd service. Switch back to the root user and write the /etc/systemd/system/teamspeak.service file:

[Unit]
Description=TeamSpeak 3 Server
After=network.target

[Service]
User=teamspeak
Group=teamspeak
Type=forking
WorkingDirectory=/home/teamspeak/teamspeak3-server_linux_amd64
ExecStart=/home/teamspeak/teamspeak3-server_linux_amd64/ts3server_startscript.sh start
ExecStop=/home/teamspeak/teamspeak3-server_linux_amd64/ts3server_startscript.sh stop
PIDFile=/home/teamspeak/teamspeak3-server_linux_amd64/ts3server.pid
Restart=on-failure

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

First stop the server you started by hand, then enable the service:

sudo -u teamspeak /home/teamspeak/teamspeak3-server_linux_amd64/ts3server_startscript.sh stop
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now teamspeak

Backups and updates

All of the TeamSpeak server's data (channels, permissions, users and uploaded files) is kept in the server folder. In a default installation, the most important parts are the ts3server.sqlitedb database file and the files folder. For a consistent backup, stop the server briefly and archive the whole folder:

sudo systemctl stop teamspeak
sudo tar -czf ~/teamspeak-backup-$(date +%F).tar.gz -C /home/teamspeak teamspeak3-server_linux_amd64
sudo systemctl start teamspeak

Updating: Download the new version and extract it over the existing folder while the server is stopped; your database and files are kept. Always take a backup before updating. We cover taking regular backups that are independent of the server in our Server backups guide.

Security tips

• Don't open the ServerQuery ports to the internet; allow only your own IP address or an SSH tunnel.
• Don't share the serveradmin password or privilege keys with anyone.
• Remove unnecessary permissions from the default groups; limit new users' permissions to create channels and upload files.
• TeamSpeak servers are frequent DDoS targets, so it's important to have network-level protection in front of your server. The details are in our What is DDoS? article.

Nodesty for your TeamSpeak server

Because a TeamSpeak server uses so few resources, it runs comfortably on the same machine as your game server. Nodesty game server plans give you full administrator access, so you can install TeamSpeak alongside your game server with the steps in this guide. If you'd like a separate server, our AMD Ryzen 9 9950X VPS plans are available in Frankfurt and New York with L3–L7 nShield DDoS protection and free daily backups kept for 7 days.

TeamSpeak is a trademark of TeamSpeak Systems GmbH. Nodesty is not affiliated with or endorsed by TeamSpeak Systems.