How to connect to your StarMade server and adjust the most important settings.

Connecting

Open the server page in the client area and click Start.
Wait until the status shows "running". You can follow the progress in the Console tab. The first start takes a little longer because the universe is created.
Launch StarMade, choose Online Play and add the server using the address (IP:port) shown at the top of the server page.

Important settings

The settings are in the file server.cfg in the File manager:

Max players (MAX_CLIENTS) – default 40.
Whitelist (USE_WHITELIST) – set to true to only allow names listed in whitelist.txt.
star-made.org login (USE_STARMADE_AUTHENTICATION) – already switched on for new servers. Players who log in with a star-made.org account protect their player name. Players without an account can still join, just not under a protected name.
Logged-in players only (REQUIRE_STARMADE_AUTHENTICATION) – set to true to only allow players with a star-made.org account.
Sector size (SECTOR_SIZE) – better not to shrink it on an existing universe.

Add admins by player name to the file admins.txt (one name per line).

File changes take effect after the next restart.

After the first start, log in once yourself with your star-made.org account under your admin name – only then is the name protected and nobody can pose as an admin. If needed, you can create a free account at star-made.org.
The universe is stored in the server-database folder – back it up before bigger changes.