Sometimes I game with some friends. For the time we are playing Payday2 which requires a lot of teamwork. Chatting using the ingame chat system is not the best or fastest way, there is simply no time for it. That’s why I decided to make a Mumble server.

What is Mumble?

Mumble is like teamspeak, ventrilo or skype. It is a online “chat room” but with microphones instead of keyboards (VoIP, Voice Over IP), It’s like a conference call on the phone, but over the internet so it’s free. This makes it good for gaming, since you can speak about what to do in-game without having to use time typing and reading.

Why Mumble and not the other softwares

Some say, Mumble is the best.. But actually they are all great, exept Skype (It uses up all your internet connection so there is nothing left for the game).

I choose mumble personally because it’s open source, and the server can run on Linux.



Hardware requirements

The client runs on any Windows, Linux or Mac OS X. You also need a microphone. The server is mostly bandwidth bound, so as long as your network hardware is sufficient it should run on pretty much anything.

How to set up the server

There are two parts to Mumble, the Server and the clients.

You first need a server that is hosting the “Chat room” that the clients can connect to.

There are some cheap solutions out there you can rent, but this guide is about making your own!

In my setup and this guide, I am going to use Debian as the OS for the server. and Windows for the client, but the client part should be the same on any OS.

See this post how to set up a Debian server.

You should have a ready Debian or other Linux server before continuing with this guide.

Installing the server

Once logged in to your Debian server, run the following command to install the Mumble server package:

apt-get install mumble-server

On other Linux servers, the syntax might be different.

Since it needs other stuff installed in order to install the Mumble server, you have press “Y” and enter to acknowledge installation of the dependencies too.

Configuring the server

The configuration file for Mumble server is by default located at /etc/mumble-server.ini, you can edit this as you like.

In my case, the only thing I changed was the welcome message. everything else I left to default.

You can edit the file using your favorite text editor, in Debian the default is “nano”, you can edit it with nano using the syntax below:

nano /etc/mumble-server.ini

And exit it with CTRL+x

You also have to open the port in your router, to allow external connections to the Mumble server. You can find the port number in the configuration file, the default is 64738 but you can change it if you like.

Open the port in the firewall on Debian

You also need to open the port in Iptables on Debian, you do this by executing the two following:

iptables -I INPUT -p tcp --dport 64738 -j ACCEPT iptables -I INPUT -p udp --dport 64738 -j ACCEPT

Installing the client

In my case, I use Windows. You can download the Windows client here:

Else for linux or Mac OS X you can get it on their frontpage:

The installation is just a “Next, next, finish” and then you have to reboot your computer.

Configuring the client

When first starting the client, a “sound adjustment guide” will show up. Mine is in Danish so I will not post screenshots of it.

Just follow the guide, there is a description on every page.

Once the sound guide has been completed, it asks you if you want to import or create a new certificate. I will assume this is your first server, so here you have to choose the default value, to automatically create one.

Once done, a new window will open with some public servers in a list. here you can Create a new, to your own Mumble server! press the “Create new” and follow the guide.

Name: A custom name that will be shown in your list

Address: the IP address or domain name of your server

Port: The port number, default is 64738

Username: The username you want to be shown as on the server.

Once done, press OK and then doubleclick on your server in the list.

It will then ask you if you trust the server, press “yes” to accept the certificate.

If everything went okay, you should be connected and able to talk with your friends when they are connected as well!

Your friends only have to do the last part regarding “Installing the client” and below in this guide. Only one of you need a server running.