camfrog

Learn how to use Camfrog with the user guide, view frequently asked questions, or ask for help.

There are two ways you can host your own Camfrog room. The first simple way is to download and install Camfrog Server on your home computer. Unfortunately due to bandwidth limitations on home Internet connections your room will probably be unable to host more than 10 users at a time. Be sure your home computer does not have a firewall and is not behind a router or nobody can join your room. Camfrog server software must always be open to the Internet to work properly. It's easy to disable your XP firewall.

Most of the more popular rooms host their rooms on dedicated servers all around the world. Just follow these simple instructions below to have your own super fast Camfrog video chat room. Please note even though there is currently no Mac server version Mac users can still host rooms using remote Windows servers.

1. First you should rent a remote server with a super fast Internet connection. It's best to start with a Celeron Windows 2003 server. Ev1servers.net has Celeron servers for $100 per month with Windows Web Edition http://www.ev1servers.net/english/value_series.asp. This is what we use for our Camfrog room servers. Other hosting companies with similar packages include www.managed.com and www.servermatrix.com. If you don't want to pay the entire $100 per month yourself why not split it with two or more friends? You can all be room owners and all add/remove operators.

2. Once you have ordered your server the hosting company will send you an IP address, a logon, and a password. Go to your Windows XP "Start" menu and choose:
Start/allprograms/accessories/communications/remote desktop connection.

Please note Mac users can also do this by downloading the Mac OS X remote access client from Microsoft.

3. Now that you have opened the "Remote desktop connection" program type in the IP address of your server. An IP address looks something like this 1.23.45.67. Now press connect to connect to your remote server.

4. If your server is online you will not be asked to type in a logon and password. To logon as administrator type "administrator" and then enter the password your hosting company gave you. If your hosting company gave you a different logon and password use that one instead.

5. If you typed in your logon and password correctly then you successfully logged on to your new computer. We recommend going to the "Start" menu and using "Windows Update" to make sure your server has all the newest security patches.

6. Now open Internet Explorer on your remote server and go to http://download.camfrog.com/server.phtml. Now download and install Camfrog Server on your remote server just like you would if it was on your computer at home. Please remember your Camfrog Server nickname and password is never the same as your Camfrog client nickname and password.

7. Register your Camfrog Server nickname and password and logon to the Camfrog network. Now your room is online. If you bought Camfrog Server Pro then go to the top of the screen and mouse over the bar and minimize the remote server and go back to your local Windows desktop. Now find your Camfrog Server Pro serial number and copy it then click your remote server in your lower screen task manager and then go to the "help" menu in Camfrog Server and choose "Activate Camfrog Server Pro" then paste in your serial number and activate it.

8. Now go to the "actions" menu and choose "settings" and add yourself as owner of the room by entering your Camfrog client nickname.

9. Your Camfrog server is now online and you are owner of your room so you can easily add/remove operators. Type /help in the room to see a list of all commands when connected with Camfrog client. To add an operator type /oplist add nickname and to remove type /oplist remove nickname.

10. Now go back to your remote server window and at the top of the window click the "x" and disconnect from the server. You room is now ready to go, good luck.

11. If you have some problem with your server and cannot connect to it contact your hosting company through their help control panel. They will help you reboot your server and make sure it is online. Even the best hosting companies sometimes have outages.

12. It is possible if your room is extremely popular you may go over your bandwidth allotment and get charged more money by your hosting company. If you begin to use too much bandwidth there is an easy solution. Go to your Camfrog server settings and minimize the maximum number of your rooms to around 25, or 50 users. If you want to continue to have over 100 users in a room and still save money you can buy an unlimited bandwidth package, or a package that allows over 2000 GB of bandwidth from your hosting company. Shop around with different hosting companies and find the best deal available.

If you still need help feel free to post on the tech support forum. Have fun with your new room.