How to Add an Admin to Your GTA San Andreas Server

SA-MP and open.mp have no admin system based on player IDs. There is no admin file you add an ID to and no permission system with multiple levels. The only built-in administration feature is RCON — whoever knows the RCON password is an admin.

Note

Graded admin levels, logging in with an account or commands such as /setadmin always come from the gamemode, not from the server itself. How to add admins there is documented by the respective gamemode.

Set the RCON password

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

2. Connect via SFTP
   Connect to your server via SFTP.

3. Open the configuration
   Open the configuration file in the main directory of your server. On open.mp this is config.json, on SA-MP it is server.cfg.

4. Enter the password
   

   open.mp — config.json:

   {
       "rcon": {
           "password": "your-secure-password"
       }
   }

   SA-MP — server.cfg:

   rcon_password your-secure-password

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

Important

The default value is changeme. As long as this value is set, your server will not start. Always set a password of your own.

Caution

The RCON password is not the server password. The RCON password gives anyone full control over your server — only share it with people you trust and use a different password than the join password of your server.

Log in as admin in the game

1. Join the server
   Connect to your server as usual. See Join Server.

2. Open the chat
   Press T to open the chat.

3. Log in
   Log in with your RCON password:

   /rcon login your-secure-password

4. Use commands
   After logging in you run RCON commands with a leading /rcon:

   /rcon players

Useful RCON commands

Command	Description
/rcon players	Lists all connected players with ID, name, IP address and ping
/rcon say <text>	Sends a message to all players
/rcon hostname <name>	Changes the displayed server name
/rcon password <password>	Sets a join password — password 0 removes it again
/rcon mapname <name>	Changes the map name shown in the server browser
/rcon gmx	Restarts the gamemode and loads the next entry from your gamemode list
/rcon changemode <gamemode>	Switches the gamemode
/rcon weather <id>	Changes the weather
/rcon gravity <value>	Changes the gravity
/rcon exit	Shuts the server down

Tip

How to remove players from your server with RCON is described under Kick and Ban Players.

External remote console

Besides the chat there is the external remote console. It lets you issue RCON commands without being in the game — there the commands are entered without the /rcon prefix.

Whether this external access is active is controlled by two settings:

open.mp — config.json:

{
    "rcon": {
        "enable": true
    }
}

SA-MP — server.cfg:

rcon 1

Note

On open.mp, rcon.enable defaults to false and is only read on server start. Since the documentation does not clearly separate whether this setting also affects the in-game login, you should set it and then test whether /rcon login still works.

Caution

An enabled external RCON access is reachable from the internet. Only use it with a strong password and turn it off when you do not need it.