How to Install Pterodactyl Panel

Introduction

Pterodactyl is a free, open-source game server management panel built with PHP, React, and Go. This guide covers the complete installation process.

Step 1: Install Dependencies

Install required packages including PHP, MySQL, Redis, and Nginx.

sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y php8.1 php8.1-{cli,gd,mysql,pdo,mbstring,tokenizer,bcmath,xml,fpm,curl,zip} mariadb-server nginx tar unzip git redis-server

Step 2: Install Composer

Download and install Composer for PHP dependency management.

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

Step 3: Download Pterodactyl

Create directory and download the latest Pterodactyl panel release.

mkdir -p /var/www/pterodactyl
cd /var/www/pterodactyl
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 4: Configure Database

Create a MySQL database and user for Pterodactyl.

mysql -u root -p
CREATE DATABASE panel;
CREATE USER 'pterodactyl'@'127.0.0.1' IDENTIFIED BY 'yourpassword';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON panel.* TO 'pterodactyl'@'127.0.0.1';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
exit;

Step 5: Install Panel

Run the Pterodactyl installation and configuration commands.

cp .env.example .env
composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader
php artisan key:generate --force
php artisan p:environment:setup
php artisan p:environment:database
php artisan migrate --seed --force
php artisan p:user:make

Step 6: Configure Nginx

Set up Nginx virtual host for the Pterodactyl panel.

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/pterodactyl.conf
# Add Pterodactyl Nginx configuration
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/pterodactyl.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/pterodactyl.conf
sudo systemctl restart nginx

Step 7: Set Up Cron Job

Configure cron job for scheduled tasks.

sudo crontab -e
# Add: * * * * * php /var/www/pterodactyl/artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1

Conclusion

Pterodactyl Panel is now installed and ready to manage your game servers. Access it via your domain and complete the initial setup.