Run a DayZ Standalone server on Linux without living in an SSH session. One script installs the server, keeps it and its mods updated, backs it up, restarts it when it crashes, and captures the diagnostics you need when it does. An optional web GUI gives you all of it in a browser.
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fiskce/DayZ-Server-Manager-Linux/main/install.sh | bash
The optional web GUI — more screenshots below.
- Interactive setup —
setupasks a handful of questions and writesconfig.ini,serverDZ.cfgandbeserver_x64.cfgfor you. - Automatic installation — SteamCMD and the server files, in one command.
- Mods that actually download — one SteamCMD call per mod with retries, so a large mod timing out no longer takes the whole batch down with it.
- Cheap update checks —
checkmodsasks the Steam API what changed and flags it; the download happens during your next restart, not while people are playing. - Crash diagnostics — when the monitor finds a dead server it saves the RPT,
memory and disk state,
journalctl,dmesg, the console log and the exit code into a timestamped folder before restarting. - Backups — the mission folder and server profile, with configurable retention.
- RCon built in —
rcon playersreads the port and password out of your BattlEye config, so credentials never go in your shell history or crontab. - systemd or cron —
systemdwrites user units that survive reboots. - Web GUI — optional, standard-library Python, no dependencies to install.
A Linux server, a non-root user to run it as, and a Steam account that
owns DayZ (mod downloads fail otherwise). install.sh handles the packages
for Debian/Ubuntu, Fedora/RHEL, Arch and openSUSE.
Never run a game server as root.
sudo adduser --disabled-password --gecos "" dayz
sudo su - dayzcurl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fiskce/DayZ-Server-Manager-Linux/main/install.sh | bashThat installs the dependencies, downloads the manager, and offers to run setup.
Or install manually
cd ~
curl -fsSLO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fiskce/DayZ-Server-Manager-Linux/main/dayzserver.sh
curl -fsSLO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fiskce/DayZ-Server-Manager-Linux/main/dayzweb.py
mkdir -p webui && curl -fsSL -o webui/index.html \
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fiskce/DayZ-Server-Manager-Linux/main/webui/index.html
chmod +x dayzserver.sh./dayzserver.sh setup # asks for your Steam login, ports, server name, RCon password
./dayzserver.sh install # downloads SteamCMD and the DayZ server files
./dayzserver.sh startSteamCMD prompts for your Steam password and Steam Guard code the first time.
Neither is ever stored in config.ini — only your username is.
If mpmissions is empty: SteamCMD occasionally skips the mission files. Create
serverfiles/mpmissionsand copy the mission from DayZ Central Economy.
| Command | Short | What it does |
|---|---|---|
setup |
Interactive configuration. Start here. | |
status |
stat |
State, uptime, build, players, pending updates. --json for scripts. |
start |
st |
Back up, apply pending updates, start the server. |
stop |
sp |
Graceful shutdown, force-kill after 90s. |
restart |
r |
Stop then start. |
monitor |
m |
Restart if it crashed, capturing diagnostics first. For cron. |
console |
c |
Attach to the live server console. |
install |
i |
Install SteamCMD and the server files. |
update |
u |
Check for and apply a server update. |
validate |
v |
Verify the server files with SteamCMD. |
workshop |
ws |
Download, update and link all mods. |
checkmods |
chm |
Ask Steam what changed; flag it for the next start. |
updateconfig |
uc |
Rebuild the workshop= launch line from workshop.cfg. |
mods add|remove|list |
Manage mods by ID or workshop URL. | |
players |
p |
Current player count. |
rcon <command> |
rc |
Send a BattlEye RCon command. |
backup |
b |
Archive the mission folder and server profile. |
wipe |
wi |
Wipe players and storage. |
cleancache |
cc |
Clear SteamCMD caches (keeps your Steam login). |
cleanserver |
cs |
Delete everything and start over (keeps your Steam login). |
web start|stop|status |
Control the web GUI. | |
systemd |
sd |
Write systemd user units. |
version |
Show the version. |
Add mods by ID or by pasting the workshop URL:
./dayzserver.sh mods add 1559212036
./dayzserver.sh mods add "https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2545327648"
./dayzserver.sh workshop # download and link them
./dayzserver.sh updateconfig # rebuild the workshop= launch line
./dayzserver.sh mods listupdateconfig is the one that saves you: it builds the workshop="@a;@b" line
in config.ini from what is actually installed, so a mod you added but never
downloaded cannot produce a launch line the server rejects.
Mod names are resolved automatically and written back into workshop.cfg.
Symlinks are lowercased with spaces replaced by underscores, because a space in
a mod name corrupts the semicolon-separated -mod= list.
Run checkmods on a schedule. It costs one API request, downloads nothing, and
leaves a flag that the next start acts on:
0 */2 * * * /home/dayz/dayzserver.sh checkmods > /dev/null 2>&1Set discord_webhook_url in config.ini to be told when a mod changes.
./dayzserver.sh web startLive status, player count and one-click controls. Every button runs the same
dayzserver.sh command you would type yourself, so the CLI and the GUI can
never disagree about what your server is doing.
 |
 |
| Console — live server output, with an RCon box underneath. | Mods — add by ID or workshop URL; see what is downloaded and linked. |
 |
 |
| Config — edit all three config files, with secrets redacted. | Logs — monitor history, the latest RPT, and the GUI's own log. |
Backups and crash reports get their own tab:
A password is generated and printed once on first run; only its PBKDF2 hash is stored.
The GUI can start, stop and wipe your server, so it binds 127.0.0.1 by
default. Reach it from your desktop over an SSH tunnel:
ssh -L 8080:127.0.0.1:8080 dayz@your-server
# then open http://127.0.0.1:8080
To expose it on your network instead, set web_bind=0.0.0.0 in config.ini —
and put it behind a reverse proxy with HTTPS. Plain HTTP over a network means
your password crosses it in the clear.
Your Steam login, Discord webhook and password hash are replaced with
placeholders before config.ini is ever sent to the browser.
Screenshots are from a demo instance with simulated server data.
./dayzserver.sh systemd
systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user enable --now dayzserver.service
systemctl --user enable --now dayzserver-monitor.timer
systemctl --user enable --now dayzserver-checkmods.timer
systemctl --user enable --now dayzweb.service # optional
sudo loginctl enable-linger dayz # so it survives logout and starts at bootenable-linger is not optional if you want the server up after you disconnect.
@reboot /home/dayz/dayzserver.sh start > /dev/null 2>&1
*/1 * * * * /home/dayz/dayzserver.sh monitor > /dev/null 2>&1
0 */2 * * * /home/dayz/dayzserver.sh checkmods > /dev/null 2>&1
# */30 * * * * /home/dayz/dayzserver.sh backup > /dev/null 2>&1monitor restarts the server only if it crashed or was shut down remotely.
Stopping it yourself with ./dayzserver.sh stop removes the lockfile, so the
monitor leaves it alone.
Use messages.xml in your mission DB folder, or RCon:
0 */3 * * * /home/dayz/dayzserver.sh rcon "#shutdown"With the monitor or a systemd service in place, it comes straight back up, applying any pending mod updates on the way.
setup configures RCon for you. To use it, install bercon-cli once:
sudo curl -L -o /usr/local/bin/bercon-cli \
https://github.com/WoozyMasta/bercon-cli/releases/latest/download/bercon-cli-linux-amd64
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/bercon-cliThen:
./dayzserver.sh rcon players
./dayzserver.sh rcon "#shutdown"The port and password are read from your BattlEye config, so they stay out of your shell history and your crontab.
Configuring RCon by hand
Edit serverfiles/battleye/beserver_x64.cfg:
RConPassword your-strong-password
RConPort 2306
RestrictRCon 0
The RCon port must differ from the game port. After the first launch the server
generates beserver_x64_active_*.cfg and reads that instead — delete the
generated file after changing the password.
Check BattlEye opened the port with ss -lun | grep 2306.
| Path | What it is |
|---|---|
config.ini |
Manager settings. Contains your Steam username — mode 600. |
workshop.cfg |
One mod ID per line; names are filled in automatically. |
serverfiles/ |
The DayZ server, mods and BattlEye config. |
serverprofile/ |
Server logs, RPT files and crash dumps. |
backup/ |
Mission and profile archives. |
crashlogs/ |
One folder per crash, with everything needed to diagnose it. |
monitor.log |
Starts, crashes and automatic restarts. |
tmux.log |
The live server console. |
last_exit_code |
The server's exit code from its last run. |
A mod will not download. Large mods time out on Steam's side. The script
already retries five times (workshop_retries in config.ini). If it still
fails, ./dayzserver.sh cleancache then try again.
SteamCMD reports a stale version. ./dayzserver.sh cleancache clears its
metadata cache without logging you out.
The server starts, then immediately stops. Check cat ~/last_exit_code and
tail -n 50 ~/tmux.log. A malformed serverDZ.cfg or a mod in workshop=
that is not installed are the usual culprits — run updateconfig to fix the
second.
Clients get a version mismatch. Your mods are out of date. Run
./dayzserver.sh workshop then ./dayzserver.sh updateconfig.
Nothing runs because of a missing library. SteamCMD needs 32-bit gcc/glibc.
On Debian/Ubuntu: sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386 && sudo apt update && sudo apt install lib32gcc-s1.
./tests/run_tests.sh65 checks against a throwaway $HOME with stubbed SteamCMD, tmux and package
tooling — including regression tests for both reported mod-download bugs and the
web GUI's authentication, CSRF and secret-redaction behaviour. No DayZ licence
or Steam credentials required.
Originally by @fiskce, with @tootlejack, @thelastnoc and @haywardgg.
Significant improvements in this version come from @runtime-legend's community fork — the crash diagnostics, the workshop retry logic, Steam API update polling, and launch-line generation all originated there. Thanks for the fork and for reporting the download bug with a working patch attached.
Issues and pull requests are welcome. Please run ./tests/run_tests.sh before
opening a PR, and add a test for anything you fix.
Use at your own risk. You are free to copy, modify and fork this, but please keep the credits intact.