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Ventrilo is Voice over IP (VoIP) client and server software available for free or paid download. "Vent" is highly configurable and runs on a per user, per channel, per server or global configuration level. Vent uses suprisingly little system and network resources, less than 1% cpu/memory during chat. Sound quality is excellent and global latency on my system is less than 0.5 of a second. Setting up a Vent server was quite painless.

1. Create a directory for vent. I used /etc/ventrilo. In the /etc directory issue the mkdir ventrilo command and cd /etc/ventrilo
2. Download or ftp the file ventrilo_srv-3.0.2-Linux-i386.tar.gz into the directory.
3. gunzip ventrilo_srv-3.0.2-Linux-i386.tar.gz
4. tar -xf ventrilo_srv-3.0.2-Linux-i386.tar
5. Issue the command ./ventrilo_srv to start the web server. If the server will not start cd /etc/ventrilo/ventsrv and enter the full path name - ex. /etc/ventrilo/ventsrv/ventrilo_srv.
6. If the server is behind a router then the proper ports need to be open for connections. The default Vent port is 3784, but you may also use other ports or port ranges for the server. Vent requires that both TCP and UDP ports be open.

Within the ventrilo_srv.ini file you can rename the server, set passwords, etc. View the ventrilo_srv.htm file for more information. By default, Vent will open in a terminal window when started. This window shows status and users currently logged in. I run my server in daemon mode /etc/ventrilo/ventsrv/ventrilo_srv -d as the server would shut down when the terminal window is closed. I check the log files for any access or error information. To run the server at startup add the line /etc/ventrilo/ventsrv/ventrilo_srv -d at the bottom of the /etc/rc.d/rc.local file.

Clients wishing to connect to the server must know the IP address. You can check your current IP here http://www.ventrilo.com/myip.php . I created a Dyndns account to use with my update client so they would only have to enter <username>.homedns.org each time they wanted to log in instead of having to update IP addresses each day. For more information or FAQ's visit the Ventrilo and Dyndns websites.