How to Install Pterodactyl Panel Securely

Install PHP 8.3 (shipped with Ubuntu 24.04), MariaDB, Redis, Nginx, and the tools the installer needs.

sudo apt update
# PHP 8.3 is the version packaged with Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
sudo apt install -y php8.3 php8.3-{cli,gd,mysql,pdo,mbstring,tokenizer,bcmath,xml,fpm,curl,zip} \
  mariadb-server nginx tar unzip git redis-server

Install Composer for PHP dependency management into a system path.

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

Create a dedicated database and a user whose rights are limited to that one database. Never let the panel use the MariaDB root account. Use a long random password.

sudo mysql
-- Run inside the MariaDB prompt:
CREATE DATABASE panel;
-- Bind the user to 127.0.0.1 and give it a strong, unique password
CREATE USER 'pterodactyl'@'127.0.0.1' IDENTIFIED BY 'CHANGE_ME_long_random_password';
-- Grant privileges ONLY on the panel database, nothing server-wide
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON panel.* TO 'pterodactyl'@'127.0.0.1';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Create the web root, download the latest release, and set ownership to the web server user so nothing runs as root.

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

Copy the environment file, install dependencies without dev tools, generate the app key, and run the guided setup.

sudo cp .env.example .env
sudo composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader
sudo php artisan key:generate --force   # generates the unique APP_KEY; never share it
sudo php artisan p:environment:setup
sudo php artisan p:environment:database
sudo php artisan migrate --seed --force
sudo php artisan p:user:make            # create the first admin user
# Hand the files to the web server user so the app never runs as root
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/pterodactyl

Add the server block, enable it, then issue a free Let's Encrypt certificate so the panel is only reachable over TLS.

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/pterodactyl.conf   # paste the official Pterodactyl Nginx block
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/pterodactyl.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t && sudo systemctl restart nginx
# Free TLS certificate, auto-configured for Nginx:
sudo apt install -y certbot python3-certbot-nginx
sudo certbot --nginx -d panel.yourdomain.com

Allow SSH and HTTPS only, then register the scheduler. Keep the panel and the system updated regularly.

sudo ufw allow OpenSSH
sudo ufw allow 'Nginx Full'
sudo ufw enable
# Scheduler: runs Pterodactyl's queued tasks every minute
sudo crontab -e
# Add this line:
* * * * * php /var/www/pterodactyl/artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1