---
title: Installation
description: Installation guide for Pterodactyl Daemon 0.6 (Legacy)
---

<Callout type="error" title="This Software is Abandoned">
This documentation is for **abandoned software** which does not receive any security updates or support
from the community. This documentation has been left accessible for historical reasons.

You should be installing and using [Wings](/wings/installing) in production environments with
[Pterodactyl Panel 1.0](/panel/getting-started).
</Callout>

<Callout type="warn">
This specific software is for Pterodactyl v0.7 and **must not be used for Pterodactyl v1.0**. If you have installed 1.0 you should use [Wings](/wings/installing) instead.
</Callout>

## Supported Systems

| Operating System | Version |     Supported      | Notes                                                       |
| ---------------- | ------- | :----------------: | ----------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Ubuntu**       | 18.04   | ✅ | Documentation written assuming Ubuntu 18.04 as the base OS. |
|                  | 20.04   | ✅ |                                                             |
| **CentOS**       | 7       |     ⚠️      | Extra repos are required                                    |
|                  | 8       | ✅ |                                                             |
| **Debian**       | 9       | ✅ |                                                             |
|                  | 10      | ✅ |                                                             |

## System Requirements

In order to run the Daemon you will need a system capable of running Docker containers. Most VPS and almost all
dedicated servers should be capable of running Docker, but there are edge cases.

If your provider makes use of `Virtuozzo`, `OpenVZ` (or `OVZ`), or `LXC` then you will most likely be unable to
run the Daemon. If you are unsure what your host is using there are a couple of options. The easiest is to check
their website, or reach out to their support team.

If you want to take a different approach, try using `lscpu` and checking what the virtualization type listed is. An
example of this is shown below which shows my hypervisor running with full virtualization — this means it will
support Docker without issues. If you see `KVM` for the vendor, chances are you're fine as well.

```bash
dane@daemon:~$ lscpu | grep 'vendor\|type'
Hypervisor vendor:     VMware
Virtualization type:   full
```

If that doesn't work for some reason, or you're still unsure, you can also run the command below and as long as it
doesn't report `Xen` or `LXC` you're probably okay to continue.

```bash
dane@daemon:~$ sudo dmidecode -s system-manufacturer
VMware, Inc.
```

## Dependencies

Pterodactyl's Daemon requires the following dependencies be installed on your system in order for it to operate.

* Docker
* Nodejs (`v10`, `v12`, higher versions likely work, but are untested)
* `node-gyp`
* `tar`
* `unzip`
* `make`, `gcc` (`gcc-c++` on CentOS), `g++`
* `python`

### Installing Docker

For a quick install of Docker CE, you can execute the command below:

```bash
curl -sSL https://get.docker.com/ | CHANNEL=stable bash
```

If you would rather do a manual installation, please reference the official Docker documentation for how to install Docker CE on your server. Some quick links
are listed below for commonly supported systems.

* [Ubuntu](https://docs.docker.com/install/linux/docker-ce/ubuntu/#install-docker-ce)
* [CentOS](https://docs.docker.com/install/linux/docker-ce/centos/#install-docker-ce)
* [Debian](https://docs.docker.com/install/linux/docker-ce/debian/#install-docker-ce)

<Callout type="warn" title="Check your Kernel">
Please be aware that some hosts install a modified kernel that does not support important docker features. Please
check your kernel by running `uname -r`. If your kernel ends in `-xxxx-grs-ipv6-64` or `-xxxx-mod-std-ipv6-64` you're
probably using a non-supported kernel. Check our [Kernel Modifications](/wings/daemon-0.6/kernel-modifications) guide for details.
</Callout>

#### Start Docker on Boot

If you are on an operating system with systemd (Ubuntu 16+, Debian 8+, CentOS 7+) run the command below to have Docker start when you boot your machine.

```bash
systemctl enable docker
```

#### Enabling Swap

On most systems, docker will be unable to setup swap space, you can check if this is the case by running `docker info`.
If it outputs `WARNING: No swap limit support` near the bottom, this is the case. Enabling swap is completely optional,
but we recommended doing it if you will be hosting for others, and to prevent OOM errors.

To do so, open `/etc/default/grub` as a root user, and find the line starting with `GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT`. Make
sure the line includes `swapaccount=1`.

After doing that, simply run `sudo update-grub` followed by `sudo reboot` to restart the server and have swap enabled.
Below is an example of what the line should look like, _do not copy this line verbatim, it often has additional
OS specific parameters._

```text
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="swapaccount=1"
```

### Installing Nodejs

NodeJS is also super easy to install! Simply run the command below to make the package accessible to your system.

```bash
curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_10.x | sudo -E bash -
apt -y install nodejs make gcc g++
```

<Callout type="info" title="Other OS Distributions">
If you are using CentOS, [please follow these instructions](https://nodejs.org/en/download/package-manager/#enterprise-linux-and-fedora). Ubuntu and Debian users may also follow the [official
instructions provided by Nodejs](https://nodejs.org/en/download/package-manager/#debian-and-ubuntu-based-linux-distributions).
</Callout>

## Installing Daemon Software

<Callout type="error" title="This Software is Abandoned">
This documentation is for **abandoned software** which does not receive any security updates or support
from the community. This documentation has been left accessible for historical reasons.

You should be installing and using [Wings](/wings/installing) in production environments with
[Pterodactyl Panel 1.0](/panel/getting-started).
</Callout>

The first step for installing the daemon is to make sure we have the required directory structure setup. To do so,
run the commands below.

```bash
mkdir -p /srv/daemon /srv/daemon-data
cd /srv/daemon
```

<Callout type="warn" title="OVH/SYS Servers">
If you are using a server provided by OVH or SoYouStart please be aware that your main drive space is probably allocated to
`/home`, and not `/` by default. Please consider using `/home/daemon-data` for server data. This can be easily
set when creating the node.
</Callout>

The next step is to download the software and unpack the archive.

```bash
curl -L https://github.com/pterodactyl/daemon/releases/download/v0.6.13/daemon.tar.gz | tar --strip-components=1 -xzv
```

Finally, we need to install the dependencies that allow the Daemon to run properly. This command will most likely
take a few minutes to run, please do not interrupt it.

```bash
npm install --only=production --no-audit --unsafe-perm
```

## Configure Daemon

Once you have installed the daemon and required components, the next step is to create a node on your installed Panel
Once you have done that there will be a tab called Configuration when you view the node.

Simply copy and paste the code block and paste it into a file called `core.json` in `/srv/daemon/config` and save it.
You may also use the Auto-Deployment feature rather than manually creating the files.

## Starting the Daemon

To start your daemon simply move into the daemon directory and run the command below which will start the daemon in
foreground mode. Once you are done, use `CTRL+C` to terminate the process. Depending on your server's internet connection
pulling and starting the Daemon for the first time may take a few minutes.

```bash
sudo npm start
```

### Daemonizing (using systemd)

Running Pterodactyl Daemon in the background is a simple task, just make sure that it runs without errors before doing
this. Place the contents below in a file called `wings.service` in the `/etc/systemd/system` directory.

```text
[Unit]
Description=Pterodactyl Wings Daemon
After=docker.service

[Service]
User=root
#Group=some_group
WorkingDirectory=/srv/daemon
LimitNOFILE=4096
PIDFile=/var/run/wings/daemon.pid
ExecStart=/usr/bin/node /srv/daemon/src/index.js
Restart=on-failure
StartLimitInterval=600

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
```

Then, run the commands below to reload systemd and start the daemon.

```bash
systemctl enable --now wings
```
