Pterodactyl Panel is an open-source game server management panel that provides a modern web interface for managing multiple game servers from one place. This Servers99 guide walks you through installing the Pterodactyl Panel on a fresh Linux dedicated server, including required dependencies, database configuration, background workers, and optional webserver + SSL setup.

Before You Begin

Supported operating systems

Pterodactyl Panel supports modern Linux distributions such as:

Ubuntu 22.04 / 24.04
Debian 11 / 12 / 13
RHEL-based distributions (Rocky/Alma/RHEL)

Requirements (Dependencies)

You’ll need:

PHP 8.2 or 8.3 with extensions: cli, openssl, gd, mysql, PDO, mbstring, tokenizer, bcmath, xml/dom, curl, zip, and fpm (for Nginx)
MySQL 5.7.22+ (MySQL 8 recommended) or MariaDB 10.2+
Redis (redis-server) A web server (this guide uses Nginx)
Utilities: curl, tar, unzip, git
Composer v2

Step 1 - Update the Server

Bash apt update && apt -y upgrade

Step 2 - Install Dependencies (Ubuntu/Debian)

2.1 Install base packages

Bash

apt -y install software-properties-common curl
apt-transport-https ca-certificates gnupg

This enables add-apt-repository and installs tools used throughout the setup

2.2 (Ubuntu 22.04 only) Add PHP repository

This enables add-apt-repository and installs tools used throughout the setup

Bash

LC_ALL=C.UTF-8 add-apt-repository -y ppa:ondrej/php

2.3 Add Redis repository (recommended)

Bash

curl -fsSL https://packages.redis.io/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/redis-archive-keyring.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/redis-archive-keyring.gpg] https://packages.redis.io/deb $(lsb_release -cs) main" | 
sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/redis.list

2.4 Install Nginx + allow firewall (optional)

Bash

apt -y install nginx
# If UFW is enabled:                           
ufw allow 'Nginx Full'

2.5 Install PHP, MariaDB, Redis, and utilities

Bash

apt update
apt -y install php8.3 php8.3-{common,cli,gd,mysql,mbstring,bcmath,xml,fpm,curl,zip} \                          
mariadb-server nginx tar unzip git redis-server

Step 3 - Install Composer (v2)

Composer is required to install Panel dependencies:

Bash


curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | sudo php -- --install-dir=/usr/local/bin --filename=composer

Step 4 - Download the Pterodactyl Panel

Create the installation directory:

Bash

mkdir -p /var/www/pterodactyl
cd /var/www/pterodactyl

Download and extract the latest Panel release:

Bash

curl -Lo panel.tar.gz https://github.com/pterodactyl/panel/releases/latest/download/panel.tar.gz
tar -xzvf panel.tar.gz
chmod -R 755 storage/* bootstrap/cache/

Step 5 - Create the Database and User

Bash

mariadb -u root -p

Create the database and user (replace YOUR_STRONG_PASSWORD):

SQL

CREATE USER 'pterodactyl'@'127.0.0.1' IDENTIFIED BY 'YOUR_STRONG_PASSWORD';
CREATE DATABASE panel;
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON panel.* TO 'pterodactyl'@'127.0.0.1' WITH GRANT OPTION;
exit

Step 6 - Configure and Install the Panel

Copy the environment file and install PHP dependencies:

Bash

cp .env.example .env
COMPOSER_ALLOW_SUPERUSER=1 composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader

Generate the application key:

Bash

php artisan key:generate --force

⚠️

Important Note: Back up your APP_KEY from .env. Losing it makes encrypted data irrecoverable.

Step 7 - Run the Interactive Setup

Run the built-in setup wizards:

Bash

php artisan p:environment:setup
php artisan p:environment:database
php artisan p:environment:mail

Create the first admin user:

Bash

php artisan migrate --seed --force

Create the first admin user:

Bash

php artisan p:user:make

Step 8 - Set Correct Permissions

On Ubuntu/Debian (Nginx uses www-data):

Bash

chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/pterodactyl/*

Step 9 - Enable Cron + Queue Worker (Required)

Pterodactyl uses queues for background jobs

9.1 Add the cron job

Bash

sudo crontab -e

Add:

Bash

* * * * * php /var/www/pterodactyl/artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1

9.2 Create the systemd queue worker

Bash

nano /etc/systemd/system/pteroq.service

Paste:

INI

[Unit]
Description=Pterodactyl Queue Worker
After=redis-server.service

[Service]
User=www-data
Group=www-data
Restart=always
ExecStart=/usr/bin/php /var/www/pterodactyl/artisan queue:work --queue=high,standard,low --sleep=3 --tries=3
StartLimitInterval=180
StartLimitBurst=30
RestartSec=5s

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Enable services

Bash

sudo systemctl enable --now redis-server
sudo systemctl enable --now pteroq.service

Step 10 - Configure Nginx (Optional but Recommended)

On Ubuntu/Debian (Nginx uses www-data):

10.1 Remove the default Nginx site

Bash

rm /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default

10.2 Create the Panel site config (HTTP)

Bash

nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/pterodactyl.conf

Paste (replace < domain > with your domain or server IP):

Nginx

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name ;

    root /var/www/pterodactyl/public;
    index index.html index.htm index.php;
    charset utf-8;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
    }

    location = /favicon.ico { access_log off; log_not_found off; }
    location = /robots.txt  { access_log off; log_not_found off; }

    access_log off;
    error_log  /var/log/nginx/pterodactyl.app-error.log error;

    client_max_body_size 100m;
    client_body_timeout 120s;

    sendfile off;

    location ~ \.php$ {
        fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.3-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_index index.php;
        include fastcgi_params;
        fastcgi_param PHP_VALUE "upload_max_filesize = 100M \n post_max_size=100M";
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        fastcgi_param HTTP_PROXY "";
        fastcgi_intercept_errors off;
        fastcgi_buffer_size 16k;
        fastcgi_buffers 4 16k;
        fastcgi_connect_timeout 300;
        fastcgi_send_timeout 300;
        fastcgi_read_timeout 300;
    }

    location ~ /\.ht {
        deny all;
    }
}

This is based on the official Nginx configuration template

Enable and restart Nginx:

Bash

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/pterodactyl.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/pterodactyl.conf
sudo systemctl restart nginx

Step 11 - SSL (HTTPS) with Certbot (Optional)

Pterodactyl’s documentation provides a simple Certbot flow for SSL certificates.

Install Certbot + Nginx plugin:

Bash

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y certbot
sudo apt install -y python3-certbot-nginx

Replace example.com with your domain:

Create a certificate (example)

Bash

certbot certonly --nginx -d example.com

Add this to root crontab to attempt renewal daily at 23:00:

Auto-renew (recommended)

Cron

0 23 * * * certbot renew --quiet --deploy-hook "systemctl restart nginx"

Access Your Panel

Once Nginx is running, open:

http://YOUR_SERVER_IP (HTTP), or
https://YOUR_DOMAIN (if SSL is configured)

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Install Pterodactyl Panel on a Dedicated Server

Before You Begin

Supported operating systems

Requirements (Dependencies)

Step 1 - Update the Server

Step 2 - Install Dependencies (Ubuntu/Debian)

Step 3 - Install Composer (v2)

Step 4 - Download the Pterodactyl Panel

Step 5 - Create the Database and User

Step 6 - Configure and Install the Panel

Step 7 - Run the Interactive Setup

Step 8 - Set Correct Permissions

Step 9 - Enable Cron + Queue Worker (Required)

Step 10 - Configure Nginx (Optional but Recommended)

Step 11 - SSL (HTTPS) with Certbot (Optional)

Access Your Panel

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