How to host a TeamSpeak server

In August 2021, the VoIP ap­plic­a­tion TeamSpeak cel­eb­rated its 20th an­niversary. Over two decades later, despite modern al­tern­at­ives like Discord, the program is still used for group chats and calls, es­pe­cially in gamer circles. In addition, high security standards and un­sur­passed sound quality encourage many users to host or rent their own TeamSpeak server. But how does it actually work? And what are the hardware re­quire­ments for TeamSpeak?

Anyone who has looked into renting a gaming server such as a Minecraft server knows that many providers often offer the option of ad­di­tion­ally renting a TeamSpeak server. However, in order to enjoy maximum freedom in the ad­min­is­tra­tion of the VoIP software, it is re­com­men­ded that you host the TeamSpeak server yourself. For this you basically have two options:

• You host the TeamSpeak server on your own PC.
• You host the TeamSpeak server software in a provider’s data centre.

If you run the TeamSpeak server on your own PC, you enjoy the advantage of not having to pay ad­di­tion­al costs for renting external server resources. In this case, however, TeamSpeak is only available to all users when you have your device turned on. So if you want the server to be available around the clock, you cannot shut down your PC.

Then there is the fact that a stable Internet con­nec­tion is ab­so­lutely essential for smooth con­ver­sa­tions and chats, with broadband re­quire­ments in­creas­ing with the number of active users. This is where external providers, whose servers have excellent con­nec­tions to the Internet, are es­pe­cially im­press­ive. Es­pe­cially if you want to join the TS server and play on your PC at the same time, it is re­com­men­ded to use external provider resources.

A big plus of TeamSpeak is their per­form­ance-ori­ent­ated approach: Un­ne­ces­sary extras beyond the basic needs of a voice and text tool do not play a major role, which means the hardware re­quire­ments of a TeamSpeak server therefore turn out to be very man­age­able:

• Processor: CPU with SSE2 support; CPU with SSE4.x support (POPCNT enabled, Windows: 64-bit only).
• RAM: at least 1 gigabyte (total memory re­quire­ments depend on the number and size of hosted virtual servers)
• ROM: at least 15 megabytes (total space re­quire­ments depend heavily on actual usage, size, and number of hosted virtual servers; ad­di­tion­al space is needed for file transfer and icon/avatar storage)

In terms of operating system, you have a free choice. TeamSpeak software runs on all major Windows, macOS, and Linux devices or servers - both 32-bit and 64-bit ar­chi­tec­ture.

Depending on the size and type of TeamSpeak server, it may also be necessary to purchase a license: For up to 32 users (one virtual server) using the server for private purposes, the software is free to use. For more slots (64 to 1,024 are possible), you have to purchase the Gamer license, which is payable annually. With the com­mer­cial license companies can use TeamSpeak as a solution for internal voice com­mu­nic­a­tion.

The min­im­al­ist re­quire­ments of the software make it easy in principle to rent the ap­pro­pri­ate resources for a TeamSpeak server. Nev­er­the­less, with the large selection of providers and pricing packages, it is often difficult to keep track of everything. At IONOS, you have the choice between the following three server models:

• vServer (Virtual Private Server, VPS)
• Cloud Server
• Dedicated Server

With both the vServer and cloud server, you get access to vir­tu­al­ised resources, all of which reside in IONOS data centres but are not tied to fixed hardware. The dif­fer­ence between the two models is the way they are billed: While vServers are charged by a fixed monthly amount, with cloud servers you only pay for the resources you actually use (per-minute billing).

With a Dedicated Server, you have access to hardware that is reserved solely for you. However, the high computing power you get in such a package far exceeds the needs for a simple TeamSpeak server. If you combine the TS3 server with, for example, a CS:GO server or a LS22 server, you have the perfect basis for your own ad­min­istered online ad­ven­tures.

Choosing the server model is only half the battle - you also have to decide on one of the available pricing packages. However, these differ only in terms of the scope of services. Keep in mind that you also need to plan for resources for the operating system, e.g. a 1.4 GHz processor (64-bit), 512 MB or 2 GB of RAM (without or with graphical user interface), and 32 GB of hard disk space for Windows Server 2016.

The following packages are ideal for a TeamSpeak server:

In the following tutorial we will show you how to host your own TeamSpeak server step by step and make it available for other users. We will describe the in­di­vidu­al steps for IONOS customers (vServer, Cloud Server, Dedicated Server) as an example - Windows Server 2016 is used as the operating system.

After down­load­ing, unzip the down­loaded ZIP file into the directory of your choice.

If you want to change the name of the server or the welcome message, right-click and select ‘Edit virtual server’. Here you can also adjust the number of allowed clients or the server icon, among other things.

Opening Ports takes some time to complete. Under ‘Status’ you can see the progress of the con­fig­ur­a­tion. In some cases, you may need to restart the server after setup to apply the shared ports as desired.

You can now join your TeamSpeak server anytime and from anywhere. To do so, simply open the client software of the VoIP program on the device of your choice and press ‘Connect’ under the menu item ‘Con­nec­tions’. Type in the server address and add the voice port preceded by a colon: