Squad Server Hosting

What is a Squad dedicated server and who rents one?

The Squad dedicated server is the official server application Offworld Industries publishes for Squad, its tactical shooter supporting up to 100 players. Because Squad’s gameplay depends on communication, teamwork and consistent administration, server quality directly shapes the player experience.

Typical communities that open their own Squad server:

• Clans and communities: Groups with a regular player base that have set up their own rules and admin team.
• Regional community servers: Servers built around a shared language, aimed at players in a particular region.
• Training and event servers: Servers opened from time to time for clan matches, tournaments and new-player training.
• Modded servers: Servers offering new maps, factions or game modes through community mods.

Squad servers come into their own as player count grows: the experience on a full 100-player server is very different from a 20-player one. That is why “seeding”, filling up the server, is one of the core activities of Squad communities.

A server located in Türkiye suits players connecting from Türkiye and the surrounding region. In a game with long-range firefights and fast vehicle movement, server proximity is felt in hit consistency and vehicle handling. A server with a clear shared voice-comms language also helps new players learn team roles and helps the community grow.

How many resources does a Squad server need?

Squad is not a lightweight server, with high player counts and physically large maps: for a full 100-player server, 12–16 GB of memory and 6 dedicated cores is an estimated safe starting point. The values in the table are estimates; modded layers and vehicle density raise the requirement.

Factors that determine resource needs:

• Player count: In Squad, server load rises markedly with player count. There is a big difference between a 20–30 player server during seeding and a 100-player one.
• Vehicles and physics: Armoured vehicles, helicopters and structures increase the number of objects the server tracks.
• Single-core performance: Much of the Unreal Engine-based server’s game logic runs on a single thread; fast, dedicated cores keep the server tick stable.
• Disk: Squad server files are large; leave extra space for mods and updates. NVMe storage helps layers load quickly on map changes.

When the server tick rate drops, players start to feel “rubber banding” and inconsistent hits. If these symptoms appear at busy hours, consider adding resources.

To read resource usage correctly, monitor the server for a few days, especially in the evening when it fills up. On Linux, use htop to see whether the Squad process keeps a single core at full capacity; that is a sign of a single-core bottleneck. If memory use creeps up over time, adding a daily scheduled restart balances the bloat seen on long-running servers.

Game package or VDS for Squad?

At LIONFIN you run a Squad server on a VDS; this page lists VDS plans for the game. You can install the server yourself or open a support ticket from the customer panel after ordering the VDS and ask for the setup.

Squad’s high and fluctuating resource needs make dedicated resources critical: when the server fills up in the evening, cores that are not shared with other servers are a precondition for a stable tick rate. On a VDS you can also:

• Manage every file in the ServerConfig folder directly,
• Run community admin tools such as SquadJS and Discord integrations on the same server,
• Open an event or training server on the same machine as the main server, on different ports (if resources allow),
• Choose Linux and avoid operating system licence costs.

For a general comparison of a game package and a VDS, see the game server package vs VDS page. Current core, memory and disk values are shown in the plan table on this page.

How do you install a Squad server?

The Squad server is downloaded with SteamCMD from ID 403240 using an anonymous login; you do not need to own the game on the server to get the server files. It is started with SquadGameServer.sh on Linux and SquadGameServer.exe on Windows.

1. Create a separate user and download the files:

   steamcmd +force_install_dir /home/squad/server +login anonymous +app_update 403240 validate +quit

2. Edit the configuration files in the SquadGame/ServerConfig/ folder.
3. Start the server with port parameters:

   ./SquadGameServer.sh Port=7787 QueryPort=27165 beaconport=15000 FIXEDMAXPLAYERS=100 RANDOM=NONE

4. Open the required ports in the firewall.
5. Define the server as a systemd service and add automatic restart.

Launch parameters and the values in the configuration files must match; if you defined port values in more than one place, make sure they are identical. When a game update is released you must update the server with SteamCMD, otherwise players cannot connect because of a version mismatch.

What do you configure in Server.cfg and the ServerConfig folder?

A Squad server reads its settings at start-up from the files in the SquadGame/ServerConfig/ folder; each file controls a different aspect of the server.

The server name in Server.cfg is how players find you in the server browser; briefly stating the community language and rules (for example “EN | New player friendly”) attracts the right players. Reserved slots set aside capacity so admins and community members can join a full server. Copy the files before changing them; a faulty line can make the server behave unexpectedly.

How do you set up a layer rotation?

Every match in Squad is played on a “layer”: a combination of map, game mode (such as RAAS, AAS or Invasion) and factions. Which layers the server plays and in what order is set in LayerRotation.cfg, with one layer name per line.

Tips for a good rotation:

• Variety: Avoid playing the same map or game mode back to back; players expect variety.
• Fit for player count: Small, fast layers work better during seeding, large and vehicle-heavy layers once the server is full. Community tools such as SquadJS can automate layer selection by player count.
• Community voting: Some servers let players vote on the next layer, which increases community engagement.
• Modded layers: Layers that come with community mods must be listed separately; make sure the mod is installed.

Layer names must match the game version exactly; since names can change with updates, check the rotation file after every major update. A misspelled layer name makes the server skip that layer or switch to an unexpected one.

Measuring your community’s preferences regularly also helps when setting the rotation. Watching on which layers players leave and on which the server stays full lets you improve the rotation based on data. Match logs kept by community tools are a good source for this.

What is a licensed server and what is it for?

In Squad, servers are classed as licensed or unlicensed under Offworld Industries’ server licensing programme; licensed servers stand out in the game’s server browser and carry a status players trust. A licence is granted on the commitment that the server follows certain administration and conduct rules.

What to know about the licensing process:

• Application: Licences are obtained through Offworld Industries’ server licensing process; the application conditions and required information are published in official sources.
• Rules: Licensed servers must follow the principles Offworld sets for admin conduct, ban policies and server rules.
• Configuration: Once licensed, the key you receive is added to the relevant file in the server’s ServerConfig folder.

Because licence terms and processes can change over time, always check current information in Offworld Industries’ official announcements. An unlicensed server also works and players can join; but for visibility and credibility, most community servers choose to get a licence.

If you are considering applying, good preparation includes writing down your server rules, setting up your admin team and running the server stably for a while beforehand. Because admin decisions are more visible on licensed servers, plan in advance how you will respond to complaints and where you will collect ban appeals. Stable infrastructure, meaning a server that does not drop or stutter at busy hours, is also the foundation of a licensed community’s reputation.

Which ports need to be open?

By default a Squad server needs game ports 7787 and 7788, Steam query ports 27165 and 27166 and beacon port 15000 open; if you use RCON, 21114/TCP is also required.

sudo ufw allow 7787:7788/udp
sudo ufw allow 27165:27166/udp
sudo ufw allow 15000/udp

The server uses the actual port values you defined in the launch parameters and configuration; if you changed the defaults, update the firewall rules to match. Rather than opening the RCON port to everyone, allow only the IP addresses where your admin tools run.

How do you use admins, RCON and community tools?

Squad is administered by combining the admin groups and permissions defined in Admins.cfg with community tools that work over RCON.

Group=Admin:changemap,kick,ban,chat,cameraman,reserve
Group=Moderator:kick,chat,reserve
Admin=7656119XXXXXXXXXX:Admin // Player name

Distribute permissions in tiers: give critical rights such as changing maps and banning only to experienced admins, while kick and chat rights are enough for moderators. The reserve permission grants entry through reserved slots on a full server.

RCON is configured with a port and password in Rcon.cfg. Community-made tools such as SquadJS connect over RCON to provide automatic announcements, player tracking, Discord integration, team balancing and layer voting. Running these tools on the same VDS and opening RCON only to local connections improves both security and latency.

Writing down the rules your admin team follows and keeping a record of ban decisions matters, especially on licensed servers.

In a communication-driven game like Squad, the issues admins deal with most are team killing, abuse of squad leader roles and breaches of communication rules. Preparing a predefined, tiered list of sanctions (warning, kick, temporary ban, permanent ban) for these cases keeps admins consistent and helps players see decisions as fair.

How do you back up a Squad server?

In Squad, player progress is stored on the player’s account rather than on the server, so the data that really needs backing up is the server configuration: the whole SquadGame/ServerConfig/ folder, especially the admin list, ban list and layer rotation.

• Configuration folder: Archive the ServerConfig folder before every change and at regular intervals; the ban list grows over time and is frustrating to lose.
• Community tools: If you use tools such as SquadJS, include their configuration and database in the backup.
• Mods: Workshop mods can be downloaded again; back up any files you prepared yourself separately.
• Off-site copy: Move the archives to another location.

When migrating from another provider, do a clean SteamCMD install on the new server, copy the ServerConfig folder and keep the launch parameters the same. If you are moving a licensed server, check in official sources what the licence terms say about IP address changes. Announcing the new address to players in advance and keeping the old server up briefly with a redirect message helps the community find the new server.

How is a Squad server protected against DDoS and attacks?

Full, popular Squad servers can be targeted by connection attacks out of rivalry or personal grudges; protection combines network-level DDoS filtering with correct server configuration. On LIONFIN infrastructure the RouteFence firewall filters at the network level and traffic is monitored 24/7 by our NOC and SOC teams; see our data center for details.

• Ports: Open only the game, query and beacon ports to everyone; protect RCON with IP restrictions.
• RCON password: Use a long, unique password; store community tool configuration files with permissions only the relevant user can read.
• Admin accounts: Remove admins who leave from Admins.cfg immediately.
• SSH: Connect to the server with key-based login and block brute-force attempts, for example with Fail2ban.

What are the most common Squad server errors?

Most Squad server problems come from closed ports, a version mismatch or faulty configuration lines.

To tell player latency complaints apart from server-side problems, compare ping with server CPU use at the time of the issue. If you cannot solve it, open a support ticket from the customer panel; attaching the relevant part of the server log speeds up diagnosis.