How to Add eDonkey Servers & Serverlists to eMule

March 26, 2008 by sharky

Alongside with IP Filtering, selecting proper eDonkey servers is crucial to eMule security. Wherever possible, it is recommended to connect to Kademlia exclusively (see our article) without using servers. However, this is not possible for everyone, and in some cases a server must first be connected to in order to generate KAD client connections. Thus, eDonkey servers are still an integral part of eMule.

Using a good eD2k server (in addition to KAD) can add variety to the search results, especially when switching between them. While KAD generally brings about more search results (with more sources), requests are somewhat predictable and static. Specific eDonkey servers may help you find a particular rare item that otherwise wouldn’t be available through Kademlia.

We recommend you fully read the entire article below before appending servers / serverlists.

1. eMule Configuration

First; we strongly advise the use of ipfilter.dat for eMule (or, alternatively - PeerGuardian or similar IP Blocking software).

Second; be sure you are using the most recent available edition of eMule, which is currently version 0.49c - available from their homepage at www.emule-project.net. Older official versions have a few settings that are incorrectly configured. And if desired, use an eMule mod from www.emule-mods.de.

— If you’re using an eMule mod, make certain that the three options for server list updating are turned OFF (unchecked). This can be found through the Options > Server tab:

— Don’t forget to click “Apply” to save your settings; select “OK” to close.

To avoid bad servers making it into eMule’s server list, it is recommended that you do not use eMule settings that automatically update the serverlist (see image above).

2. Remove any old Servers

Before adding serverlists (or individual servers) it’s recommended to delete the ones you already have (if any). The reason: A fresh installation of eMule will contain a list of servers pre-installed - this list of servers is only as recent as the release date of the eMule installer, so the servers will likely be outdated. Some “mods” of eMule connect to an online database during the initial-run to get a list of servers - but often it’s unknown where this list resides (or if it’s even deemed trustworthy). It’s best just to delete anything listed and start afresh. To delete the listed servers, click on the SERVERS menu icon, and right-click on any server, then select “Remove All”. This will clear the list. If none are in the list, this step is already done for you.

3. Adding Servers / Serverlists to eMule

A server.met file is simply a list of multiple eD2k servers, all rolled into one easy download - known as a serverlist. Once added, the server.met file will import all eD2k servers that are listed within it, straight into eMule.

Assuming that you’re running a clean installation of eMule (or Mod), and that there are no servers listed, you’ll now need to import some servers either individually or through a known serverlist. There’s plenty of locations to find eDonkey servers and serverlists. Some sources are more reputable than others; some will host outdated lists. All of the sites included below have reliable, updated servers - it is generally assumed throughout the eDonkey community that these sites host updated lists that are free of fakes & bad servers.

There are three ways to import servers into eMule. All are acceptable.

1.Serverlists can be imported directly into eMule, usually from an offered “eD2k magnet link” download. A list of known good servers are then directly imported into eMule.

2.A server.met file can be added through a URL from within eMule.

3.Individual servers can also be added into eMule, instead of using a serverlist (server.met) file.

1. Adding multiple servers (serverlists) through a server.met file

This approach assumes you’ve set up eMule as your “eD2k magnet handler” - during the installation of v0.49c, you’ll be asked whether or not you want eMule to handle these eD2k links (select Yes). If, for some chance, eD2k links aren’t working for you, or you’ve specified a different program to open them (such as Shareaza) and you can’t or don’t want to change this, simply move on to the second method.

To manually add servers, visit a reputable serverlist site such as ed2k.2×4u.de. Click on one of the three “add to eMule” links.

In Firefox, this should launch an “eD2k Magnet Link” popup window (see below). eMule should appear in the ‘Application:‘ field. Click “Launch Application” - this will open eMule and add all of the eDonkey/eD2k servers.

Depending on whether or not you’re running the latest version of Firefox, and/or if eMule is already your default magnet handler, then you may see something similar to below. Highlight eMule in the list (or "Choose an Application" if not) and click OK.

Here’s another site that provides current server.met files which can be manually appended into eMule - www.server-met.de. There are presently three different choices of server.met files.

TIP: Another option is to manually save the actual server.met file to the harddrive on the PC, and import it into eMule. If Windows XP/Vista doesn’t recognize the filetype, then attempt to open the file and browse to your emule.exe application in the C:\Program Files\eMule\emule.exe path.

2. Adding Serverlists (server.met) into eMule through a URL

In an effort to combat bad & fake servers, many reputable websites that host viable eD2k serverlists are no longer providing static URLs to their server.met files. For this reason, it is no longer recommended to "automatically update" serverlists from a determined location, as we previously explained. One case-in-point is ed2k.2×4u.de - which although does provide a location (URL) for valid server.met files - the location changes every 12 minutes. This is done to thwart any automatic updating (if set in the eMule client), in which then the client will not be able to retrieve any new lists/servers from a static location. To do this:

2A. For our example, visit ed2k.2×4u.de and right-click on the "server.met" link, and select ‘Copy Link Location’.

2B. Next, go into eMule and look to the right side where it says "Update server.met from URL". Right-click inside that window, and select "Paste".

2C. Click the "Update" button below it which should begin to update in the left pane. To connect to a server from the list, right-click one and select “Connect To”.

Other eD2k server list websites:

• http://ocbmaurice.dyndns.org/index.html
• http://www.gruk.org/server.met.gz

NOTE: If you’ve added multiple lists from different locations, you can switch between lists by clicking the dropdown arrow on the right. This doesn’t just ’switch’ lists, but it will update the left pane with ALL servers from all selected lists. Be sure to click “Update” for each separate URL to add each one’s list of servers to eMule.

Differing sites’ serverlists will have redundancy among their listed servers - technically there aren’t all that many good servers to choose from (and even fewer are listed as “best” servers). However, adding the same server from multiple serverlists will only add one instance of each server to eMule - thus it is acceptable to use multiple serverlists.

3. Manually Adding Individual Servers

Additionally, you also have the option to manually add individual servers (instead of using a predefined list of servers) such as from these sites:

— http://edk.peerates.net - Click on the Servers link; you’ll notice a dropdown box where you can change the list from referenced servers to all known servers. Click on the corresponding number (01, 02 etc), where there will be a small eD2k link (IP address) for that server located underneath "eDonkey Server Information".

— www.emule-mods.de/?servermet=show - Each listed server can be imported directly into eMule by clicking each corresponding eD2k link.

— http://gruk.org/list.php - Also has a downloadable server.met file.

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