# Webserver Configuration | Pterodactyl
Pterodactyl is an open-source game server management panel built with PHP, React, and Go. Designed with security in mind, Pterodactyl runs all game servers in isolated Docker containers while exposing a beautiful and intuitive UI to end users.

# # Webserver Configuration

WARNING

When using the SSL configuration you MUST create SSL certificates, otherwise your webserver will fail to start. See the Creating SSL Certificates documentation page to learn how to create these certificates before continuing.

TIP

If you are using Caddy With Automatic SSL, you do not have to create SSL certificates manually, Caddy will take care of it automatically.

First, remove the default NGINX configuration.

    rm /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default

Now, you should paste the contents of the file below, replacing `<domain>` with your domain name being used in a file called `pterodactyl.conf` and place the file in `/etc/nginx/sites-available/`, or — if on RHEL, Rocky Linux, or AlmaLinux, `/etc/nginx/conf.d/`.

    server {
        # Replace the example <domain> with your domain name or IP address
        listen 80;
        server_name <domain>;
        return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
    }

    server {
        # Replace the example <domain> with your domain name or IP address
        listen 443 ssl http2;
        server_name <domain>;

        root /var/www/pterodactyl/public;
        index index.php;

        access_log /var/log/nginx/pterodactyl.app-access.log;
        error_log  /var/log/nginx/pterodactyl.app-error.log error;

        # allow larger file uploads and longer script runtimes
        client_max_body_size 100m;
        client_body_timeout 120s;

        sendfile off;

        # SSL Configuration - Replace the example <domain> with your domain
        ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/<domain>/fullchain.pem;
        ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/<domain>/privkey.pem;
        ssl_session_cache shared:SSL:10m;
        ssl_protocols TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3;
        ssl_ciphers "ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-ECDSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305:ECDHE-RSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305:DHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384";
        ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on;

        # See https://hstspreload.org/ before uncommenting the line below.
        # add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=15768000; preload;";
        add_header X-Content-Type-Options nosniff;
        add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block";
        add_header X-Robots-Tag none;
        add_header Content-Security-Policy "frame-ancestors 'self'";
        add_header X-Frame-Options DENY;
        add_header Referrer-Policy same-origin;

        location / {
            try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
        }

        location ~ \.php$ {
            fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
            fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.3-fpm.sock;
            fastcgi_index index.php;
            include fastcgi_params;
            fastcgi_param PHP_VALUE "upload_max_filesize = 100M \n post_max_size=100M";
            fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
            fastcgi_param HTTP_PROXY "";
            fastcgi_intercept_errors off;
            fastcgi_buffer_size 16k;
            fastcgi_buffers 4 16k;
            fastcgi_connect_timeout 300;
            fastcgi_send_timeout 300;
            fastcgi_read_timeout 300;
            include /etc/nginx/fastcgi_params;
        }

        location ~ /\.ht {
            deny all;
        }
    }

### # Enabling Configuration

The final step is to enable your NGINX configuration and restart it.

    # You do not need to symlink this file if you are using RHEL, Rocky Linux, or AlmaLinux.
    sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/pterodactyl.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/pterodactyl.conf

    # You need to restart nginx regardless of OS.
    sudo systemctl restart nginx

First, remove the default NGINX configuration.

    rm /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default

Now, you should paste the contents of the file below, replacing `<domain>` with your domain name being used in a file called `pterodactyl.conf` and place the file in `/etc/nginx/sites-available/`, or — if on RHEL, Rocky Linux, or AlmaLinux, `/etc/nginx/conf.d/`.

    server {
        # Replace the example <domain> with your domain name or IP address
        listen 80;
        server_name <domain>;

        root /var/www/pterodactyl/public;
        index index.html index.htm index.php;
        charset utf-8;

        location / {
            try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
        }

        location = /favicon.ico { access_log off; log_not_found off; }
        location = /robots.txt  { access_log off; log_not_found off; }

        access_log off;
        error_log  /var/log/nginx/pterodactyl.app-error.log error;

        # allow larger file uploads and longer script runtimes
        client_max_body_size 100m;
        client_body_timeout 120s;

        sendfile off;

        location ~ \.php$ {
            fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
            fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.3-fpm.sock;
            fastcgi_index index.php;
            include fastcgi_params;
            fastcgi_param PHP_VALUE "upload_max_filesize = 100M \n post_max_size=100M";
            fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
            fastcgi_param HTTP_PROXY "";
            fastcgi_intercept_errors off;
            fastcgi_buffer_size 16k;
            fastcgi_buffers 4 16k;
            fastcgi_connect_timeout 300;
            fastcgi_send_timeout 300;
            fastcgi_read_timeout 300;
        }

        location ~ /\.ht {
            deny all;
        }
    }

### # Enabling Configuration

The final step is to enable your NGINX configuration and restart it.

    # You do not need to symlink this file if you are using RHEL, Rocky Linux, or AlmaLinux.
    sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/pterodactyl.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/pterodactyl.conf

    # You need to restart nginx regardless of OS.
    sudo systemctl restart nginx

First, remove the default Apache configuration.

    a2dissite 000-default.conf

Now, you should paste the contents of the file below, replacing `<domain>` with your domain name being used in a file called `pterodactyl.conf` and place the file in `/etc/apache2/sites-available`, or — if on RHEL, Rocky Linux, or AlmaLinux, `/etc/httpd/conf.d/`.

Note: When using Apache, make sure you have the `libapache2-mod-php8.3` package installed or else PHP will not display on your webserver.

    <VirtualHost *:80>
        # Replace the example <domain> with your domain name or IP address
        ServerName <domain>

        RewriteEngine On
        RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !=on
        RewriteRule ^/?(.*) https://%{SERVER_NAME}/$1 [R,L]
    </VirtualHost>

    <VirtualHost *:443>
        # Replace the example <domain> with your domain name or IP address
        ServerName <domain>
        DocumentRoot "/var/www/pterodactyl/public"

        AllowEncodedSlashes On

        php_value upload_max_filesize 100M
        php_value post_max_size 100M

        <Directory "/var/www/pterodactyl/public">
            Require all granted
            AllowOverride all
        </Directory>

        SSLEngine on
        SSLCertificateFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/<domain>/fullchain.pem
        SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/<domain>/privkey.pem
    </VirtualHost>

### # Enabling Configuration

Once you've created the file above, simply run the commands below. If you are on RHEL, Rocky Linux, or AlmaLinux you do not need to run the commands below! You only need to run `systemctl restart httpd`.

    # You do not need to run any of these commands on RHEL, Rocky Linux, or AlmaLinux
    sudo ln -s /etc/apache2/sites-available/pterodactyl.conf /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/pterodactyl.conf
    sudo a2enmod rewrite
    sudo a2enmod ssl
    sudo systemctl restart apache2

First, remove the default Apache configuration.

    a2dissite 000-default.conf

Now, you should paste the contents of the file below, replacing `<domain>` with your domain name being used in a file called `pterodactyl.conf` and place the file in `/etc/apache2/sites-available`, or — if on RHEL, Rocky Linux, or AlmaLinux, `/etc/httpd/conf.d/`.

Note: When using Apache, make sure you have the `libapache2-mod-php8.3` package installed or else PHP will not display on your webserver.

    <VirtualHost *:80>
        # Replace the example <domain> with your domain name or IP address
        ServerName <domain>
        DocumentRoot "/var/www/pterodactyl/public"

        AllowEncodedSlashes On

        php_value upload_max_filesize 100M
        php_value post_max_size 100M

        <Directory "/var/www/pterodactyl/public">
            AllowOverride all
            Require all granted
        </Directory>
    </VirtualHost>

### # Enabling Configuration

Once you've created the file above, simply run the commands below. If you are on RHEL, Rocky Linux, or AlmaLinux you do not need to run the commands below! You only need to run `systemctl restart httpd`.

    # You do not need to run any of these commands on RHEL, Rocky Linux, or AlmaLinux
    sudo ln -s /etc/apache2/sites-available/pterodactyl.conf /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/pterodactyl.conf
    sudo a2enmod rewrite
    sudo systemctl restart apache2

Before adding our custom configuration, let's remove the default one. You can do it either by deleting the contents of config file or by deleting the config file completely and than creating a new one from scratch. The config file path is `/etc/caddy/Caddyfile`.

To delete the config file completely, run the following command:

    rm /etc/caddy/Caddyfile

Then continue with an editor of your choice to write the config.

You should paste the contents of the file below, replacing `<domain>` with your domain name.

    {
        servers :443 {
            timeouts {
                read_body 120s
            }
        }
    }

    # Replace the example <domain> with your domain name or IP address
    <domain> {
        root * /var/www/pterodactyl/public

        file_server

        php_fastcgi unix//run/php/php8.3-fpm.sock {
            root /var/www/pterodactyl/public
            index index.php

            env PHP_VALUE "upload_max_filesize = 100M
            post_max_size = 100M"
            env HTTP_PROXY ""
            env HTTPS "on"

            read_timeout 300s
            dial_timeout 300s
            write_timeout 300s
        }

        header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=16768000; preload;"
        header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff"
        header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block;"
        header X-Robots-Tag "none"
        header Content-Security-Policy "frame-ancestors 'self'"
        header X-Frame-Options "DENY"
        header Referrer-Policy "same-origin"

        request_body {
            max_size 100m
        }

        respond /.ht* 403

        log {
            output file /var/log/caddy/pterodactyl.log {
                roll_size 100MiB
                roll_keep_for 7d
            }
            level INFO
        }
    }

TIP

If you are using Cloudflare DNS in proxy mode, refer to this tutorial, to see how to configure Caddy to use DNS challenge for obtaining SSL certificates.

### # Enabling Configuration

The final step is to restart Caddy.

    systemctl restart caddy

Before adding our custom configuration, let's remove the default one. You can do it either by deleting the contents of config file or by deleting the config file completely and than creating a new one from scratch. The config file path is `/etc/caddy/Caddyfile`.

To delete the config file completely, run the following command:

    rm /etc/caddy/Caddyfile

Then continue with an editor of your choice to write the config.

You should paste the contents of the file below, replacing `<domain>` with your domain name.

The only two differences are that we have suffixed the `<domain>` with `:80` and in the global config at `servers` directive, we have changed the port from `:443` to `:80`.

    {
        servers :80 {
            timeouts {
                read_body 120s
            }
        }
    }

    # Replace the example <domain> with your domain name or IP address
    <domain>:80 {
        root * /var/www/pterodactyl/public

        file_server

        php_fastcgi unix//run/php/php8.3-fpm.sock {
            root /var/www/pterodactyl/public
            index index.php

            env PHP_VALUE "upload_max_filesize = 100M
            post_max_size = 100M"
            env HTTP_PROXY ""
            # env HTTPS "on" # IMPORTANT: this is commented out, to disable HTTPS

            read_timeout 300s
            dial_timeout 300s
            write_timeout 300s
        }

        header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=16768000; preload;"
        header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff"
        header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block;"
        header X-Robots-Tag "none"
        header Content-Security-Policy "frame-ancestors 'self'"
        header X-Frame-Options "DENY"
        header Referrer-Policy "same-origin"

        request_body {
            max_size 100m
        }

        respond /.ht* 403

        log {
            output file /var/log/caddy/pterodactyl.log {
                roll_size 100MiB
                roll_keep_for 7d
            }
            level INFO
        }
    }

### # Enabling Configuration

The final step is to restart Caddy.

    systemctl restart caddy

#### # Next Step: Wings Installation

Help us improve this page.
(opens new window)