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Server Panel

Overview

The panel runs game servers in Docker containers on your own machines, for a homelab or as a hosting service. It is built around problems that come up in practice:

  • Steam logins stay secret, Steam Guard included: passwords are write-only and only reach the job that downloads the game.
  • Ports are handed out by role (game, query, RCON), and router port forwards or cloud firewalls follow the servers.
  • Nodes connect outbound, so a machine running game servers needs no open management port and no certificate.
  • Tenants keep groups of people and their servers apart, with fine-grained permissions down to single files.
  • Games are described in a declarative template; Pterodactyl and Pelican eggs can be imported.

How it works

Section titled “How it works”
Browser, phone app ──HTTPS──▶ Panel ◀──WebSocket (outbound)── Agent on each node ──▶ Docker
Integrations ──API, webhooks──▶ Panel                          Panel ──▶ PostgreSQL
  • The panel is one service with a PostgreSQL database. It serves the web interface, the API and the live console, and stores users, servers and encrypted secrets.
  • A node is a machine that runs game servers. On it runs the agent, a container with access to Docker. The agent dials the panel and keeps that connection open; commands, console lines, files and stats travel over it.
  • Game servers run as containers on the node, one per server, with their files in a folder on the node. Installs and Steam updates run in separate, short-lived job containers.

Because the agent connects out, a node can sit behind NAT or a firewall. Players connect to the node’s game ports directly; the panel is never in the game traffic.

Homelab or hosting

Section titled “Homelab or hosting”

The setup wizard asks how the panel will be used, and chooses defaults accordingly. Everything can be changed later.

Homelab Hosting
Users trusted untrusted tenants
Network NAT, router port forwards public addresses, cloud firewalls
Webhooks and push services on the LAN allowed blocked
New nodes normal containers read-only containers

Next

Section titled “Next”