After installing your own Ventrilo server you’ll want to review the options you have as a server admin. Before you can do anything you’ll need to connect to your Ventrilo server and login as an admin. Once in your server right click on the server name, next to the computer icon, to log in as an admin.

One of the most basic functions you will probably want to take advantage of is the ability to create new channels within your Ventrilo server. Once again, right click on the server name and then click on ‘Channel Admin’. Next to ‘Display Name’ type in the name of the channel you would like to create. The phonetic refers to what users joining the channel will hear upon entering the channel. You may also password protect the channel, forcing users to know the password in order to join it, but they will still be free to move about the other non-password protected channels. Creating new channels is very helpful if your Ventrilo server is shared by different groups, CoD4 clans, WoW guilds, etc.

As an admin you will also have the option to ban users from your Ventrilo server. This will make it so that a user can no longer connect to the server. To ban a user, once again, right click on your server name and then go down to ‘Server Admin’. Next click on ‘Ban List’. From here you can ban, as well as un-ban users. It’s a good idea to put in a reason for why the user was banned to help you remember, and in case you should decide to unban them in the future.

As an admin you’ll also be able to create an MOTD (Message Of The Day) for your server. This feature is also in the ‘Server Admin’ menu and it will allow you type out a message that all users will see upon connecting to your Ventrilo server. This can include things such as the rules of the server, its usage, etc.

If you have a large server with many users you may want to give out admin to other members. This will allow your server to be moderated even if you’re not there. In the ‘Server Admin’ menu under ‘User Editor’ is where you can do this. Ventrilo allows you to create admin passwords for individual users, as opposed to having to give them the Ventrilo server’s master password. Just make sure that you only give admin to those who you can trust.

There are many features in Ventrilo designed specifically to help admin’s customize their servers and hopefully after reading this you’ll be well on your way to learning the intricacies of utilizing Ventrilo’s admin features.