How to Kick and Ban Players on Your Counter-Strike Source Server

You can remove players either through the server console in the dashboard or — if SourceMod is installed — directly in the game through the SourceMod commands.

List the players

1. Open the server console
   Open the console of your server via the dashboard.

2. Show the player list
   Enter the following command:

   status

   The output shows the userid and the SteamID for every connected player. You need these values for the commands below.

Commands in the server console

Command	Description
status	Show server and player information including userid and SteamID
kick <player name>	Remove a player from the server by name
kickid <userid|SteamID> [reason]	Remove a player from the server by ID
banid <minutes> <SteamID> [kick]	Ban a player (0 = permanent)
removeid <SteamID>	Lift the ban of a SteamID
removeip <IP>	Lift the ban of an IP address
writeid	Save permanent SteamID bans to banned_user.cfg
writeip	Save permanent IP bans to banned_ip.cfg
changelevel <map name>	Change the map

Kick a player

kick <player name>

Instead of the name you can also use the userid or the SteamID:

kickid STEAM_0:1:12345678 reason

A kicked player is removed from the server but can rejoin immediately.

Ban a player

banid 60 STEAM_0:1:12345678 kick

The duration in minutes goes in front of the SteamID, 0 bans permanently. The optional kick removes the player from the server right away — without it the ban only takes effect on the next connection attempt.

Save bans permanently

Important

Bans only live in the server's memory at first and are gone after a restart. Save them after every change with writeid (SteamID bans) or writeip (IP bans). The bans are then written to the files /cstrike/cfg/banned_user.cfg and /cstrike/cfg/banned_ip.cfg.

Note

Only permanent bans — entries with a duration of 0 — are written to those files. Time-limited bans only last until the next restart. So anyone who should stay banned permanently is banned with banid 0 <SteamID> kick.

Note

For saved bans to apply again after a restart, the files have to be executed on server start. Add the following lines to /cstrike/cfg/server.cfg:

exec banned_ip.cfg
exec banned_user.cfg

Enable RCON

RCON lets you run the same commands from outside the dashboard.

1. Stop the server
   Stop your server via the dashboard.

2. Open server.cfg
   Open the following file via SFTP:

   /cstrike/cfg/server.cfg

3. Set a password
   Add the following line and choose a secure password:

   rcon_password "your-password"

4. Start the server
   Save the file and start your server.

Note

RCON runs over the same port as the game — there is no separate RCON port. You then issue commands with rcon <command>.

Important

Anyone who knows your RCON password has full control over your server. Do not share it and use a dedicated, long password.

Tip

You can additionally protect RCON against password guessing. Add the following lines to your server.cfg:

sv_rcon_maxfailures 5
sv_rcon_banpenalty 1440

Once more than five login attempts with a wrong password are counted, the server blocks the IP address in question for 1440 minutes (24 hours).

Commands through SourceMod

With SourceMod installed you can manage players directly from within the game. How to set up SourceMod and give yourself admin rights is described under Add Mods and Add Admin.

Command	Syntax	Required flag
sm_kick	<#userid|name> [reason]	c (kick)
sm_ban	<#userid|name> <minutes|0> [reason]	d (ban)
sm_banip	<ip|#userid|name> <time> [reason]	d (ban)
sm_addban	<time> <steamid> [reason]	m (rcon)
sm_unban	<steamid|ip>	e (unban)
sm_who	[#userid|name]	b (generic)
sm_map	<map>	g (changemap)
sm_rcon	<command>	m (rcon)

Note

For sm_ban and sm_banip a duration of 0 means a permanent ban. With sm_addban you can also ban players who are not currently on the server. All commands work in the game console as well as in the chat — there you simply write !kick or /kick instead of sm_kick.

Examples

sm_kick "player name" Rule violation

sm_ban #12 60 Rule violation

sm_addban 0 STEAM_0:1:12345678 Rule violation

Lift a ban

Through the server console:

removeid STEAM_0:1:12345678

removeip 123.45.67.89

Afterwards run writeid or writeip again so the change is saved permanently.

With SourceMod:

sm_unban STEAM_0:1:12345678

sm_unban 123.45.67.89

Note

Alternatively you can stop your server and delete the corresponding line from /cstrike/cfg/banned_user.cfg or /cstrike/cfg/banned_ip.cfg via SFTP.