First steps with your Pterodactyl panel: from admin account to first server

Your Pterodactyl VPS comes with the panel and its agent, Wings, already installed and linked. What remains is preparing the panel and creating your game servers. This guide follows the natural order of a first setup, from signing in to your first server online.

1. Sign in and secure the admin account

The panel address and the administrator credentials are available in your client area at me.nvhcloud.com. Sign in, then open your account (icon at the top right):

• change the initial password to a long, unique one;
• enable two-step verification with an app such as Google Authenticator or Aegis. This account controls all your servers: it deserves the extra protection.

The admin account opens the administration area, through the gear icon or at /admin on the panel. Steps 2 to 6 happen there.

2. Check that the node is online

In Pterodactyl, the machine running the servers is a node. Open Nodes in the admin area: your node should show a green heart, meaning the panel can talk to Wings. A red heart means Wings is not responding; check it over SSH:

systemctl status wings
journalctl -u wings -n 50 --no-pager

3. Add ports (allocations)

Each game server needs at least one IP address and port pair, called an allocation. In Nodes, open your node, then the Allocation tab. Enter the VPS IP address and the ports to create, one by one or as a range:

Create a few more than you need: some games want a second port for status queries or remote console. If you enabled a firewall on the VPS, open these ports there too, TCP and UDP, plus the panel (80 and 443), Wings (8080) and SFTP (2022) ports. See configuring UFW.

4. Import an egg

An egg is the template that describes how to install and run a game: Docker image, install script, startup command and variables. Built-in eggs are grouped into Nests: Minecraft, Rust, Source games and voice servers. For a missing game such as FiveM or Palworld, download its JSON egg from the community pelican-eggs repository on GitHub, then in Nests click Import Egg and choose the file and target nest.

5. Create a game server

In Servers, click Create New and fill in the form from top to bottom:

1. Name and owner: the Server Owner is the account that will see the server on its dashboard, yours or a customer's.
2. Allocation: pick the main port created in step 3, plus additional ports if the game needs them.
3. Limits: CPU, memory and disk, see the next step.
4. Nest and Egg: the game to install. Game-specific variables appear at the bottom (version, server name, FiveM licence key, Steam token for some games).

On submit, the server starts installing: Wings downloads the image and the game files. Follow progress in the server console, and start it when done. If installation hangs, see our guide to SteamCMD install errors (in French).

6. Set resource limits

• CPU Limit: a percentage of one core. 100 means one core, 200 two cores; 0 removes the limit.
• Memory and Disk Space: in MiB. Leave at least 1 to 2 GB of memory free for the system, the panel and Wings.
• Database, Allocation and Backup Limit: how many databases, extra ports and backups the server can create itself. All three are 0 by default: unless you raise them, the create database and create backup buttons stay disabled.

All of these can be changed later from the server page in the admin area, Build Configuration tab.

7. Manage files and connect over SFTP

The server's Files tab lets you edit and upload files from the browser. For large transfers (Minecraft world, FiveM resources, maps), use SFTP: the details are in the server's Settings tab.

• Host: the VPS address, port 2022 (not 22, which is the VPS's own SSH);
• Username: your username followed by a dot and the server's short ID, for example admin.1a2b3c4d;
• Password: your panel account password.

MySQL databases can also be created from the Databases tab, as long as a database host is declared under Databases in the admin area. To install one properly, see securing MariaDB (in French).

8. Backups and schedules

Once the backup limit is set, the Backups tab creates an archive of the server in one click: do it before every game or mod update. These archives stay on the VPS: for real safety, regularly copy the important ones elsewhere.

The Schedules tab automates recurring work. A schedule is defined like a cron line (minute, hour, day) and chains actions: send a console command, start, stop or restart the server, create a backup. A useful example: a restart every night at 5 am, preceded by a warning message to players. It frees the memory of games that use more and more over time.

9. Give access to other people

For a team member, open the Users tab of the server and invite them by email, ticking only the permissions they need: console, files, power, backups. They never get access to the admin area.

For a customer renting a server, create their account under Users in the admin area, then make them the owner of their server. They only see the servers that belong to them.

Frequently asked questions

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