OVH Cloud server not showing in DCS multiplayer list *SOLUTION*

[Orko]

I wanted to share a recent experience so that perhaps a few others may not have the same frustration myself and others I have had the last week or so. This is a topic I found many places with other games where people experienced the same issue but never posted a solution. 

The problem: The DCS server is running on OVH cloud's dedicated server, ports are forwarded, Windows firewall configured,  ect, ect, but the server you have created won't show up in the multiplayer server list. It shows up under "My Servers" in your DCS account, nut not in-game. You can remote into the server desktop, log out and then only you can see the server in-game, but after 15-20 mins after you disconnect it disappears once again. 

The issue is that there are TWO firewalls in the OVH Cloud user account. There is a server firewall and a "game" firewall. The game firewall has a list of more common games in it that you can select from that will auto-populate the ports for that game. We didn't give this much attention since DCS wasn't on the list. THAT'S WHERE WE FOULED UP. The game firewall is enabled by default no matter what and UDP ports remained closed. After I found the setting and disabled the game server all together, our server is operational on DCS. 

 

Some of you might be thinking, "Man, you are an idiot." I'm NOT even an IT novice, let alone an IT pro. OVH Cloud's support, if you want to call it that, was of absolutely ZERO help but I wanted to post a follow-up where others failed to. 

Here is where you need to go to disable the game firewall. 

Log into your OVH Cloud user account.

Go to the dashboard and click on "IP"

On the right hand side of the screen click the bottom set of 3 dots for the menu.

Click on "Configure the GAME firewall".

At the top there will be an option to "Deactivate" the firewall and you will see what is pictured here after doing so.

 

That's it. Communication is now open and your server should show up in the DCS multiplayer menu. 

 

I hope this helps someone out. I had run a server from my home before but this was my first ever attempt at using a commercial dedicated server.  

 

 

[BitMaster]

I have no experience with OHV Servers but in general, wasn't it better to configure that 2nd firewall instead of disabling it ?

Unless, for rare technical reasons, that isn't possible.

 

You know the balance between security and user friendly ?  Going all user friendly is often the entrance for bad stuff to happen.