Install and configure UnrealIRCd irc server Install dependencies for SSL if you have certs: yum install build-essential yum install openssl yum install libcurl4-openssl-dev Download and extract tarball to desired directory: wget https://www.unrealircd.com/downloads/Unreal3.2.8.1.tar.gz tar zxvf Unreal3.2.8.1.tar.gz Configure, Build, and Install cd Unreal3.2 ./Config Answer prompts with defaults On prompt "Specify the directory you installed libcurl to": enter: /usr Continue with defaults make Config files in untar'd directory: nano unrealircd.conf Uncomment the Linux and Windows modules Enter personal info in me{} block Enter personal info in admin{} block Enter info in oper{} block for operator-user logins. The operator manages the chat room form inside Change services link{} block to refelct your host name Change network settings{} block to reflect your ip address and desired port Change server serttings{} block to give users server information Open port in iptables (default port 6667) nano /etc/sysconfig/iptables -A RH-Firewall-1-INPUT -m state --state NEW -m tcp -p tcp --dport 6667 -j ACCEPT service iptables restart Start unrealircd servier cd Unreal3.2 ./unreal start Start unrealircd on boot Unrealircd does not include traditional startup scripts that work with chkconfig or rc*.d To start unrealirc at boot, the developers suggest creating a cronjob that attempts to execute "./unreal start" every 10 minutes Connect to server from remote IRC client such as pidgin account: anyuser@cts4348-node-13.cs.fiu.edu channel: any channel. Channels are created when first user joins it. Channels start with a # symbol password: blank