Iskra — Server Setup Guide

1

Get a VPS (Virtual Private Server)

A VPS is a tiny computer in a data center that runs 24/7 so your friends can connect even when your PC is off.

Sign up with one of the providers below. You want a plan with at least 1 GB RAM (2 GB is better), and choose Ubuntu 22.04 LTS as the operating system when asked. Pick a data center location closest to most of your friends.

Hetzner

~$4–6/month

Best value. CX22 (2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM) is excellent for Iskra.

hetzner.com →

DigitalOcean

~$6/month

Very beginner friendly. Basic Droplet (1 GB RAM) works fine.

digitalocean.com →

Vultr

~$6/month

Good global coverage. Cloud Compute (1 GB RAM) is plenty.

vultr.com →

ℹ

After you create the VPS, the dashboard will show you its public IP address — something like 5.75.134.210. Write it down, you'll need it in every step.

Copy this prompt and paste it into ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude (all free). Add your question at the end.

ChatGPT (free) Gemini (free) Claude (free)

I am setting up a self-hosted voice chat server called Iskra for a group of friends. Iskra is an open-source Discord-alternative built with C# and vanilla JavaScript.

I am on Step 1: Getting a VPS (Virtual Private Server).

I need to rent a cheap Linux server (Ubuntu 22.04) that runs 24/7. Budget is around $4-10/month. I'm a complete beginner with servers.

My question: [TYPE YOUR QUESTION HERE — e.g. "I signed up for Hetzner but I'm not sure what plan to pick" or "I created the server but I don't see an IP address"]

Please give me simple, step-by-step help. Assume I have no Linux or server experience.

Edit the prompt above to describe your exact problem, then copy it.

2

Point your domain at the VPS

So your friends connect to chat.yourdomain.com instead of a raw IP, and so SSL certificates work.

Go to wherever you bought your domain (Namecheap, Cloudflare, Google Domains, etc.) and add a DNS A record:

DNS Record to add

Type:   A
Name:   chat          (or @ for the root domain, or any name you like)
Value:  YOUR_VPS_IP   (the IP address from Step 1)
TTL:    Auto / 3600

This creates an address like chat.yourdomain.com that points to your VPS. DNS changes take anywhere from 1 minute to a few hours to "spread" across the internet — Cloudflare is usually instant, others can be slower.

ℹ

You can check if your DNS has spread by running ping chat.yourdomain.com in your terminal. When it shows your VPS IP, you're ready to continue.

⚠

Cloudflare users: Make sure the DNS record is set to DNS only (grey cloud), not Proxied (orange cloud). The orange cloud will break WebSocket connections that Iskra needs.

Copy this prompt into ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude and describe your specific domain registrar.

ChatGPT (free) Gemini (free) Claude (free)

I am setting up a self-hosted voice chat server (Iskra). I need to point my domain name at my VPS's IP address by adding a DNS A record.

My domain registrar is: [TYPE YOUR REGISTRAR HERE — e.g. Namecheap, Cloudflare, GoDaddy, Google Domains]
My VPS IP address is: [YOUR VPS IP]
I want the address to be: [e.g. chat.mydomain.com]

My question: [TYPE YOUR QUESTION HERE — e.g. "I can't find where to add DNS records in Namecheap" or "I added the record but ping still shows the wrong IP"]

Please give me simple, step-by-step instructions for my specific registrar. Assume I have no experience with DNS.

Fill in your registrar and IP before copying.

3

Connect to your VPS via SSH

SSH is how you type commands on the remote server. Think of it as a text-only remote desktop.

Open your terminal (Windows Terminal on Windows, Terminal on Mac/Linux) and run this command, replacing the IP with your VPS's IP:

Your terminal — run once

ssh root@YOUR_VPS_IP

The first time you connect, SSH will ask you to confirm the server's identity. Type yes and press Enter. Then enter the root password your VPS provider gave you (you won't see it being typed — that's normal).

What you should see

A prompt like root@ubuntu-server:~# — this means you're now in control of your VPS. Every command from this point runs on the remote server, not your own PC.

⚠

Windows users: If you get "ssh is not recognized", open the Microsoft Store and install Windows Terminal. Modern Windows 10/11 includes SSH, but older versions may not.

Copy this into ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude.

ChatGPT (free) Gemini (free) Claude (free)

I am trying to SSH into my VPS to set up an Iskra voice chat server. I am on Windows / Mac / Linux (delete as applicable).

My VPS IP is: [YOUR IP]
My VPS provider is: [e.g. Hetzner, DigitalOcean, Vultr]

The command I ran: ssh root@[YOUR IP]

What happened:
[PASTE THE EXACT ERROR MESSAGE OR DESCRIBE WHAT HAPPENED]

Please help me diagnose and fix this. Assume I am a complete beginner with Linux and SSH.

Paste the exact error message you got into the prompt.

4

Update the system

Fresh VPS installs often have outdated software. This makes sure everything is up to date before we install anything.

Run these two commands. The first downloads the list of available updates. The second installs them. This may take a minute or two.

Run on your VPS

apt update && apt upgrade -y

What you should see

A lot of scrolling text as packages are downloaded and updated. It ends with something like X upgraded, X newly installed, 0 to remove.... That's normal and good.

ℹ

If a purple screen appears asking about restarting services, just press Enter to accept the default selection.

5

Install all the software

We need nginx (web server for SSL), certbot (gets your SSL certificate), dotnet (runs Iskra), and coturn (relays voice for users behind firewalls).

First, add Microsoft's package source so we can install .NET. Then install everything in one go. Copy and paste all of this exactly:

Run on your VPS — adds .NET source

wget https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/22.04/packages-microsoft-prod.deb -O packages-microsoft-prod.deb
dpkg -i packages-microsoft-prod.deb
rm packages-microsoft-prod.deb
apt update

Run on your VPS — installs everything

apt install -y nginx certbot python3-certbot-nginx dotnet-runtime-8.0 coturn unzip

What you should see

Each package downloads and installs. At the end you'll be back at the prompt with no errors. The whole thing takes 1–3 minutes.

Copy this into ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude and paste the error you got.

ChatGPT (free) Gemini (free) Claude (free)

I am setting up an Iskra voice chat server on Ubuntu 22.04. I was installing required software and got an error.

I ran this command:
apt install -y nginx certbot python3-certbot-nginx dotnet-runtime-8.0 coturn unzip

The error I got:
[PASTE THE EXACT ERROR MESSAGE HERE]

Please help me fix this. I am a complete beginner with Linux. Tell me exactly what commands to run to resolve the issue.

Paste the full error output into the prompt.

6

Open the right ports in the firewall

By default your VPS blocks almost everything. We need to open specific doors for web traffic, Iskra, and voice relay.

Run each line. Each one opens a specific "door" in the firewall. The last command turns the firewall on.

Run on your VPS
ufw allow 22/tcp          # SSH — don't skip this or you'll lock yourself out
ufw allow 80/tcp          # HTTP (needed for SSL certificate)
ufw allow 443/tcp         # HTTPS (your secure web connection)
ufw allow 8080/tcp        # Iskra server direct port
ufw allow 3478/udp        # TURN relay (standard)
ufw allow 5349/tcp        # TURN relay (secure)
ufw allow 49152:65535/udp # TURN relay data ports
ufw enable

When asked "Command may disrupt existing ssh connections. Proceed with operation?" — type y and press Enter.

What you should see after ufw enable

Firewall is active and enabled on system startup

ℹ

The large port range 49152:65535 is used by coturn to relay actual voice/video data between your friends. It needs a lot of ports because each call gets its own temporary port pair.

7

Download and set up the Iskra server

This puts the actual Iskra server software on your VPS.

Create a folder for Iskra, download the latest server release from GitHub, and extract it. Go to github.com/quikmn/iskra/releases/latest, find the Iskra-Server.zip file, right-click it and copy the download link. Then use that link in the command below:

Run on your VPS

mkdir -p /opt/iskra
cd /opt/iskra
wget -O Iskra-Server.zip "PASTE_ISKRA_SERVER_ZIP_URL_HERE"
unzip Iskra-Server.zip
ls

What you should see after ls

A list of files including something like iskra_server.dll, iskra_server, and some other files. The exact names depend on the release.

Now test that it can run. If you see a file ending in .dll:

Test run — press Ctrl+C to stop it after a few seconds

dotnet /opt/iskra/iskra_server.dll

What you should see

Something like Iskra server listening on port 8080. Press Ctrl+C to stop it — we'll set it up as a proper background service in a later step.

Copy this into ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude.

ChatGPT (free) Gemini (free) Claude (free)

I am setting up an Iskra voice chat server on Ubuntu 22.04. Iskra is an open-source voice chat app — the server is a .NET 8 application.

I am in /opt/iskra and just extracted Iskra-Server.zip. Here is what ls shows:
[PASTE THE OUTPUT OF ls HERE]

I tried to run it with: dotnet /opt/iskra/iskra_server.dll

What happened:
[PASTE OUTPUT OR ERROR HERE]

Please help me figure out why it's not running. Tell me exactly what commands to try. Assume I am a complete beginner with Linux and .NET.

Paste the output of ls and any error messages.

8

Create your server config file

This is where you give your server its name, set the port, and configure your TURN relay details.

Copy this command exactly. Replace the values in ALL_CAPS with your own. YOUR_DOMAIN is the domain you set up in Step 2. YOUR_TURN_PASSWORD should be a long random password (make something up, like hunter2waffles99).

Run on your VPS — creates server.json

cat > /opt/iskra/server.json << 'EOF'
{
  "ServerName":        "My Iskra Server",
  "Port":              8080,
  "MaxUsers":          50,
  "HistoryRetentionDays": 30,
  "TurnUrls":          ["turn:YOUR_DOMAIN:3478", "turns:YOUR_DOMAIN:5349"],
  "TurnUsername":      "iskra",
  "TurnCredential":    "YOUR_TURN_PASSWORD"
}
EOF

ℹ

TurnUrls points to your own VPS — the TURN server we'll set up next runs on the same machine as Iskra. This is what makes voice work even when friends are behind strict firewalls or mobile data (CGNAT).

Verify the file looks right:

Check the file

cat /opt/iskra/server.json

9

Configure coturn (TURN relay)

coturn is what lets people on restrictive networks (mobile data, corporate WiFi, CGNAT) still use voice. Without it, some friends simply won't be able to connect voice.

Replace YOUR_DOMAIN and YOUR_TURN_PASSWORD with the same values you used in Step 8. The password must match exactly.

Run on your VPS — creates coturn config

cat > /etc/turnserver.conf << 'EOF'
listening-port=3478
tls-listening-port=5349
realm=YOUR_DOMAIN
user=iskra:YOUR_TURN_PASSWORD
lt-cred-mech
fingerprint
min-port=49152
max-port=65535
EOF

Now tell the system to run coturn automatically and start it:

Run on your VPS

sed -i 's/#TURNSERVER_ENABLED=1/TURNSERVER_ENABLED=1/' /etc/default/coturn
systemctl enable coturn
systemctl start coturn
systemctl status coturn

What you should see

Active: active (running) in green. That means coturn is running and will restart automatically if the server ever reboots.

Copy this into ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude.

ChatGPT (free) Gemini (free) Claude (free)

I am setting up coturn (a TURN relay server) on Ubuntu 22.04 for an Iskra voice chat server. coturn is used to relay WebRTC voice traffic for users behind firewalls.

My /etc/turnserver.conf contains:
[PASTE YOUR turnserver.conf CONTENTS HERE]

When I run "systemctl status coturn" I see:
[PASTE THE OUTPUT HERE]

The error in the logs (run: journalctl -u coturn -n 50):
[PASTE LOG OUTPUT HERE]

Please help me fix the coturn configuration. I am a complete beginner with Linux.

Run journalctl -u coturn -n 50 to get the logs and paste them.

10

Configure nginx as a reverse proxy

nginx sits in front of Iskra and handles the SSL encryption, so your friends' connections are always secure. It also lets Iskra work on the standard HTTPS port (443) instead of 8080.

Replace YOUR_DOMAIN with your actual domain (e.g. chat.myfriends.com).

Run on your VPS — creates nginx config

cat > /etc/nginx/sites-available/iskra << 'EOF'
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name YOUR_DOMAIN;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:8080;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_read_timeout 86400;
    }
}
EOF

ln -sf /etc/nginx/sites-available/iskra /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/iskra
rm -f /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default
nginx -t && systemctl reload nginx

What you should see

nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful

ℹ

The proxy_read_timeout 86400 keeps WebSocket connections alive for up to 24 hours. Without this, long voice sessions might get cut off.

Copy this into ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude.

ChatGPT (free) Gemini (free) Claude (free)

I am configuring nginx as a reverse proxy for an Iskra voice chat server on Ubuntu 22.04. Iskra is a .NET WebSocket server running on localhost:8080.

My nginx site config (/etc/nginx/sites-available/iskra):
[PASTE YOUR CONFIG HERE]

When I run "nginx -t" I see:
[PASTE THE OUTPUT HERE]

Please help me fix the nginx configuration error. Explain what the error means and give me the corrected config. I am a complete beginner with nginx.

Paste your config and the nginx -t output.

11

Get your SSL certificate

SSL makes all connections encrypted. Without it, your friends' messages and voice traffic could theoretically be intercepted. certbot gets a free certificate from Let's Encrypt automatically.

Replace YOUR_DOMAIN and YOUR_EMAIL. The email is just for certificate expiry reminders — certificates are free and auto-renew.

Run on your VPS

certbot --nginx -d YOUR_DOMAIN --non-interactive --agree-tos -m YOUR_EMAIL

What you should see

Successfully deployed certificate for YOUR_DOMAIN and Congratulations! You have successfully enabled HTTPS. certbot automatically updates your nginx config with the SSL settings.

⚠

If certbot fails: the most common reason is that your DNS hasn't spread yet (Step 2). Wait 15–30 minutes and try again. Let's Encrypt needs to be able to reach your domain from the internet.

Copy this into ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude.

ChatGPT (free) Gemini (free) Claude (free)

I am trying to get a free SSL certificate using certbot on Ubuntu 22.04. The certificate is for a domain pointing to my VPS that runs an Iskra voice chat server.

My domain: [YOUR DOMAIN]
My VPS IP: [YOUR IP]

The command I ran:
certbot --nginx -d YOUR_DOMAIN --non-interactive --agree-tos -m YOUR_EMAIL

The error I got:
[PASTE THE FULL ERROR HERE]

Things I've already checked:
- My DNS A record points to [YOUR IP]
- nginx is running (systemctl status nginx shows active)

Please help me diagnose why certbot is failing. I am a complete beginner with SSL certificates and Linux.

Paste the full certbot error output.

12

Run Iskra as a background service

Right now Iskra only runs when you manually start it. A systemd service makes it start automatically on boot and restart itself if it ever crashes.

Create the service file, enable it, and start it:

Run on your VPS

cat > /etc/systemd/system/iskra.service << 'EOF'
[Unit]
Description=Iskra Voice Chat Server
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=root
WorkingDirectory=/opt/iskra
ExecStart=/usr/bin/dotnet /opt/iskra/iskra_server.dll
Restart=always
RestartSec=5

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable iskra
systemctl start iskra
systemctl status iskra

What you should see

Active: active (running) in green. Iskra is now running in the background and will survive reboots.

ℹ

Useful commands to know: systemctl restart iskra to restart, systemctl stop iskra to stop, journalctl -u iskra -f to watch live logs.

Copy this into ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude.

ChatGPT (free) Gemini (free) Claude (free)

I set up an Iskra voice chat server (.NET 8 application) on Ubuntu 22.04 as a systemd service. The service is not starting correctly.

My /etc/systemd/system/iskra.service:
[Unit]
Description=Iskra Voice Chat Server
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=root
WorkingDirectory=/opt/iskra
ExecStart=/usr/bin/dotnet /opt/iskra/iskra_server.dll
Restart=always
RestartSec=5

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Output of "systemctl status iskra":
[PASTE OUTPUT HERE]

Output of "journalctl -u iskra -n 30":
[PASTE OUTPUT HERE]

Files in /opt/iskra (run: ls /opt/iskra):
[PASTE OUTPUT HERE]

Please help me figure out why the service isn't starting and how to fix it.

Run journalctl -u iskra -n 30 and paste the output.

13

Set up automatic certificate renewal

Let's Encrypt certificates expire after 90 days. certbot can renew them automatically so you never have to think about it.

Run these two commands — they test that renewal works, then set up a timer to do it automatically:

Run on your VPS

certbot renew --dry-run
systemctl enable certbot.timer
systemctl start certbot.timer

What you should see after dry-run

Congratulations, all simulated renewals succeeded. The timer will now automatically renew your certificate before it expires.

14

Connect with the Iskra app

The server is running. Time to actually use it.

Download the Iskra client for Windows from the link in the nav bar above. Open it, go to Settings → Servers → Add Server, and enter:

Connection details for Iskra client
Address:  YOUR_DOMAIN       (e.g. chat.myfriends.com)
Web port: 443               (the HTTPS port nginx is handling)
Name:     My Server         (whatever you want)

Click Connect. You should see your server's channel list. To invite friends, right-click the server icon and choose Copy Invite Link — send them that link and they can join with one click.

ℹ

The first account to connect gets owner role automatically. Use /adduser friendname password123 in chat to create accounts for your friends, or set the server to open registration in admin settings.

ℹ

Friends can also use the web client at app.iskra.foo — no install needed. The same invite link works there too.

Copy this into ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude — this prompt gives full context about the whole setup.

ChatGPT (free) Gemini (free) Claude (free)

I set up an Iskra voice chat server. Here is my full setup:

- OS: Ubuntu 22.04 on a VPS
- Domain: [YOUR DOMAIN] pointing to [YOUR VPS IP]
- Iskra server running as systemd service on localhost:8080 (.NET 8)
- nginx reverse proxy on port 443 with SSL (certbot / Let's Encrypt)
- coturn TURN relay on ports 3478 (UDP) and 5349 (TCP), relay range 49152-65535
- Firewall (ufw): 22, 80, 443, 8080, 3478, 5349, 49152:65535 all allowed

My server.json TurnUrls: ["turn:[DOMAIN]:3478", "turns:[DOMAIN]:5349"]

The problem I'm having:
[DESCRIBE YOUR PROBLEM — e.g. "can't connect at all", "text chat works but voice doesn't", "friends behind mobile data can't connect voice", "connection drops after a few minutes"]

Output of "systemctl status iskra":
[PASTE HERE]

Output of "systemctl status coturn":
[PASTE HERE]

Please help me diagnose and fix this. I am a beginner with servers.

This prompt has full context — paste your service status outputs and describe the problem.

Your own Iskra server
in about two hours.

Skip the guide. One command does everything.

A credit or debit card

A domain name

About two hours

A terminal app

Get a VPS (Virtual Private Server)

Hetzner

DigitalOcean

Vultr

Point your domain at the VPS

Connect to your VPS via SSH

Update the system

Install all the software

Open the right ports in the firewall

Download and set up the Iskra server

Create your server config file

Configure coturn (TURN relay)

Configure nginx as a reverse proxy

Get your SSL certificate

Run Iskra as a background service

Set up automatic certificate renewal

Connect with the Iskra app

You're done. 🎉

Your own Iskra serverin about two hours.

Skip the guide. One command does everything.

A credit or debit card

A domain name

About two hours

A terminal app

Get a VPS (Virtual Private Server)

Hetzner

DigitalOcean

Vultr

Point your domain at the VPS

Connect to your VPS via SSH

Update the system

Install all the software

Open the right ports in the firewall

Download and set up the Iskra server

Create your server config file

Configure coturn (TURN relay)

Configure nginx as a reverse proxy

Get your SSL certificate

Run Iskra as a background service

Set up automatic certificate renewal

Connect with the Iskra app

You're done. 🎉

Your own Iskra server
in about two hours.