Dedicated Servers

New dedicated server

When getting started with the panel, you should add a dedicated server (VDS/VPS, container, physical server) to run GameAP Daemon on.

Go to the “Administration” → “Dedicated Servers” page and click the “Create” button. A window opens with a ready-made installation command — separate ones for Linux and for Windows.

Certificates are created and passed to the daemon by the panel itself: there is no need to generate and sign them manually.

The setup key is valid for 1 hour and is single-use — it is revoked once the daemon has successfully registered. The key is shared across the whole panel, so reopening the “Create” window issues a new key, and a previously copied command stops working.

What you need on the dedicated server

Superuser rights (root on Linux, administrator on Windows).
Outgoing access to the panel on port 31718/TCP — the daemon uses it to talk to the panel over gRPC. This is the only panel port a running daemon needs.
Outgoing access to github.com and api.github.com — gameapctl and the daemon itself are downloaded from there.
For the Linux script: curl, tar and install installed.
Architecture: amd64, arm64, 386 or arm.

Port 8025 is the panel web interface and API. It is needed by the administrator’s browser and by the curl command in the installation one-liner, but a running daemon does not require it.

Port 31717 is what the daemon reports as its own during registration. In GameAP 4 the panel does not establish incoming connections to the daemon, so there is no need to open this port on the dedicated server.

Installation on Linux

Copy the command from the Linux tab and run it on the dedicated server as root:

bash <(curl -fsSL 'https://your-panel/nodes/setup/zItWHWlI4RKPl9ZsYc3y3WgdKq7mNvBx')

The script checks the environment, installs gameapctl into /usr/local/bin (or updates it if it is already installed), and then runs gameapctl daemon install. That installs GameAP Daemon, creates the gameap user, installs SteamCMD, registers the daemon in the panel and starts it as the gameap-daemon systemd service.

The command must be run as root, not through sudo: the bash <(...) process substitution does not survive sudo, and the script will stop with an error. If you are not working as root, download the script to a file and run it:

curl -fsSL 'https://your-panel/nodes/setup/zItWHWlI4RKPl9ZsYc3y3WgdKq7mNvBx' -o gameap-setup.sh
sudo bash gameap-setup.sh

Installation paths:

Item	Path
Daemon	`/usr/bin/gameap-daemon`
Configuration	`/etc/gameap-daemon/gameap-daemon.yaml`
Certificates	`/etc/gameap-daemon/certs`
Working directory	`/srv/gameap`
SteamCMD	`/srv/gameap/steamcmd`
Logs	`/var/log/gameap-daemon/output.log`

Installation on Windows

There is no PowerShell one-liner, installation is done through gameapctl:

Download the gameapctl archive for your architecture from the gameapctl releases page. The archive is named gameapctl-<version>-windows-amd64.zip.
Unpack the archive and run gameapctl.exe.
In the GameAP Daemon section click Install.
Paste the string from the Windows tab in the panel into the Connect URL field.
Click Install.

The same can be done with a command in the console:

gameapctl daemon install --connect=grpc://your-panel:31718/zItWHWlI4RKPl9ZsYc3y3WgdKq7mNvBx

Installation paths:

Item	Path
Daemon	`C:\gameap\daemon\gameap-daemon.exe`
Configuration	`C:\gameap\daemon\gameap-daemon.yaml`
Certificates	`C:\gameap\daemon\certs`
Working directory	`C:\gameap`
SteamCMD	`C:\gameap\steamcmd`
Logs	`C:\gameap\daemon\logs\output.log`

The daemon is registered as the GameAP Daemon service.

Advanced installation settings

The creation window has a collapsible “Advanced Settings” block:

Process manager — what should manage game server processes. On Linux systemd, docker, podman, tmux and simple are available, on Windows — winsw, shawl and simple. Selected automatically by default. See details on the Process Managers page.
GitHub — build the daemon from source instead of using a ready-made release.
Branch — repository branch, if the daemon is built from source.

The panel appends the selected values to the installation command:

bash <(curl -s '...') --config='process_manager.name=docker' --github --branch=master

Manual installation

If the automatic script does not fit — a non-standard distribution, your own package installation rules, installation into a prepared image — the daemon can be registered manually.

Download the gameap-daemon binary for your platform from the daemon releases page and place it on the dedicated server.
Open the “Create” window in the panel and take the connect URL of the form grpc://host:port/key from the Windows command.
Run the registration:

gameap-daemon enroll --connect=grpc://your-panel:31718/zItWHWlI4RKPl9ZsYc3y3WgdKq7mNvBx

The daemon connects to the panel, creates a dedicated server record in it, receives the certificates (ca.crt, server.crt, server.key with 0600 permissions in a directory with 0700 permissions) and writes the configuration file.

Flag	Linux default	Windows default	Purpose
`--connect`	—	—	Connect URL. Required
`--config-path`	`/etc/gameap-daemon/gameap-daemon.yaml`	`C:\gameap\daemon\gameap-daemon.yaml`	Where to write the configuration
`--certs-dir`	`/etc/gameap-daemon/certs`	`C:\gameap\daemon\certs`	Where to save the certificates
`--work-path`	`/srv/gameap`	`C:\gameap`	Game servers working directory
`--steamcmd-path`	`/srv/gameap/steamcmd`	`C:\gameap\steamcmd`	SteamCMD directory
`--listen-ip`	`0.0.0.0`	`0.0.0.0`	IP the daemon reports about itself. With `0.0.0.0` it is detected automatically
`--listen-port`	`31717`	`31717`	Port the daemon reports about itself

The enroll command overwrites the configuration file completely — without merging with existing settings and without a backup. If the daemon has already been configured, save the configuration beforehand.

After registering the daemon you should register it as a system service and start it yourself.

If the installation fails

Message	Cause
`This script must be run as root.`	The script was not run as root. Download it to a file and run it through `sudo`, as shown above
`Error: 'curl' is required but not installed.`	The server does not have `curl`, `tar` or `install`. Install the missing package and try again
`Unsupported architecture: ...`	There are no ready-made builds for the server architecture
`Failed to detect latest gameapctl version`	No access to `api.github.com`, or the GitHub API limit is exhausted (60 requests per hour from one address). Wait or install gameapctl manually
`cannot reach gRPC server at ...`	Port 31718 of the panel is not reachable from the dedicated server. Check the firewall and the panel address — see GRPC API
The link returns `403`	The setup key has expired or has been reissued. Open the “Create” window again and copy the new command

Editing dedicated servers

To edit a dedicated server (node), go to “Administration” → “Dedicated Servers” page, then select the dedicated server you want to edit and click on the “Edit” button.

Description of parameters

Basic

Name

Dedicated server name. It can take any non-empty value, it does not affect any features.

Working directory

This directory contains the basic scripts for managing the processes of game servers. Subdirectories of the working directory contain the files of game servers. For the specified path, game server directory is assigned. The default is /srv/gameap.

Path to SteamCMD

Path to the SteamCMD directory (the steamcmd.sh script is located there). The default is /srv/gameap/steamcmd.

IP list

List of IP or hosts where game servers will run.

Scripts

Command templates the panel uses to manage game servers on this dedicated server. Filling them in is optional: if a field is empty, the default command is used.

GameAP Daemon

Daemon connection details. They are filled in automatically when the dedicated server is registered, and usually do not need to be changed manually.

In GameAP 4 the connection is established by the daemon: it connects to the panel over gRPC itself and keeps a persistent connection. The panel does not connect to the daemon.

GameAP Daemon host and port

The address and port the daemon reported about itself during registration. The default port is 31717. The values are informational — the panel does not use them to connect, and there is no need to open this port on the dedicated server.

Legacy fields from GameAP 3, where the panel connected to the daemon itself. They are not used in GameAP 4 and do not need to be filled in.