Overview

Example: Assigning the Counter-Strike engine to the user "bob" creates bob's Counter-Strike instance.

Cortex gives you web based management of all of today’s most popular games. Game servers, called “engines” in Cortex are installed to a central location. Copies of these engines can be assigned to users you create or to the administrative user. These engine copies are called “instances”. When a user configures, stops, or starts a game server they’re working with game instances, not the engine itself. Cortex also has the ability to run system diagnostics, network diagnostics, create custom news posts, and skin its interface.

Logging In

The Cortex login screen.

Cortex is powered by a custom configured Apache distribution. As of version 1.13 Cortex listens for both HTTP and HTTP-SSL connections. To log into Cortex head to one of the following addresses in your web browser:

http://<your server IP address>:8365/
https://<your server’s IP address>:8366/

By default Cortex listens on all IP addresses on your server if you are running a multihomed system.

The Cortex Administrator’s username is “admin”. The administrative password should match your system administrator or root account’s password. Enter this username and password in the form provided then click the Login icon to get started using Cortex. There is a checkbox to save your login password if you choose to do so. If your password does not work on your first time logging in please contact Insomnia365 to verify your password was set correctly.

Changing your system root or Administrator password will not change your Cortex admin password. See the troubleshooting section of this manual for how to change your Cortex admin password.

The Cortex Layout

The Cortex layout.

Upon logging in you will be brought to the news page. All messages from Insomnia365’s staff will appear here. Administrators can be kept up to speed on Cortex and game updates through the news page.

Cortex’s layout is divided into three main sections: The main menu, the status bar, and the main data area. The main menu shows all options available to the administrator to configure Cortex, the server it runs on, Cortex users, engines, and instances. The status bar shows your current position within Cortex as well as any status or error messages generated by Cortex.

Initial Setup

The first time you log in you’ll be brought to the System Configuration page. This page is described in detail in a later chapter, but two clustering settings and your email settings must be entered before you can begin using Cortex.

The server name and corresponding location will help you identify your server in a Cortex cluster. These are arbitrary names, although it's helpful that the server name corresponds to this system’s hostname. The location can be any value you choose, e.g.: “Dallas, TX”, or the name of the datacenter this server is located in. This information is required even if you do not plan on running a Cortex cluster. These values are used quite a bit throughout Cortex. More on clustering is explained in the clustering section. After entering your server's name and location click the Save icon next to these fields.

System events help notify you when certain functions are performed by Cortex. In order for outgoing email notifications to work you must enter a valid From: email address into the General Settings form. All messages that Cortex sends to you and your users will appear as from this address. Once entered hit the Save button and you're ready to start using Cortex!