New Tutorial - Pelican Gameserver Panel

tutorials/game-panel-pelican/01.en.md

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+---
+SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
+path: "/tutorials/game-panel-pelican"
+slug: "game-panel-pelican"
+date: "2025-06-12"
+title: "Installing Pelican Panel on Ubuntu"
+short_description: "Set up Pelican Panel with PHP, MySQL, Docker, NGINX, and SSL on a server."
+tags: ["Ubuntu", "Pelican", "Game Server", "Docker", "NGINX"]
+author: "Philipp Bornträger"
+author_link: "https://github.com/PhilCode-creator"
+author_img: "https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/55019948"
+author_description: ""
+language: "en"
+available_languages: ["en"]
+header_img: "header-7"
+cta: "cloud"
+---
+
+## Introduction
+
+⚠️ **Note:** This tutorial only installs the **web interface** of Pelican Panel.
+To provision and manage actual game servers, you **must also install [Wings](https://pelican.dev/docs/wings/install)** on your target machines.
+
+Pelican Panel is a modern, open-source game server management panel designed for containerized environments. Built with Laravel and Docker, it provides a powerful web interface for deploying and managing game servers.
+
+This guide explains how to install and configure Pelican Panel on a server running Ubuntu 24.04.
+
+**Prerequisites**
+
+* A server with Ubuntu 24.04
+* Root or sudo privileges
+* A registered domain name pointing to the server’s IP address
+* Basic familiarity with Linux command-line operations
+
+**Example terminology**
+
+* Username: `holu`
+* Domain: `example.com`
+
+## Step 1 - Update the System
+
+Start by updating your package index and upgrading any existing packages:
+
+```bash
+sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
+```
+
+This ensures compatibility and applies security patches.
+
+## Step 2 - Install Required Software
+
+* **Add the PHP Repository**
+
+  Add the `ondrej/php` PPA to access PHP 8.2 and related extensions:
+  ```bash
+  sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php -y
+  sudo apt update
+  ```
+
+<br>
+
+* **Install Required Packages**
+
+  Install NGINX, MySQL, PHP 8.2, and supporting modules required by Laravel:
+  ```bash
+  sudo apt install -y \
+    nginx mysql-server sqlite3 \
+    php8.2 php8.2-cli php8.2-common php8.2-mysql php8.2-sqlite3 php8.2-fpm \
+    php8.2-mbstring php8.2-xml php8.2-bcmath php8.2-curl php8.2-zip php8.2-gd php8.2-intl \
+    curl git unzip software-properties-common
+  ```
+
+## Step 3 - Configure MySQL
+
+Secure the database server:
+
+```bash
+sudo mysql_secure_installation
+```
+
+Then create a database and user for Pelican:
+
+```bash
+sudo mysql -u root -p
+```
+
+Inside the MySQL shell:
+
+> Replace `YourSecurePassword` with a strong, unique password. You can generate one using `openssl rand -base64 20`.
+
+```sql
+CREATE DATABASE pelican;
+CREATE USER 'pelicanuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'YourSecurePassword';
+GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON pelican.* TO 'pelicanuser'@'localhost';
+FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
+EXIT;
+```
+
+## Step 4 - Install Docker
+
+Pelican uses Docker to isolate game environments. Install Docker Engine and its dependencies as explained in the official Docker documentation:
+
+* [Install Docker Engine on Ubuntu](https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/ubuntu/#install-using-the-repository)
+
+Enable and start the Docker service:
+
+```bash
+sudo systemctl enable docker
+sudo systemctl start docker
+```
+
+Optionally, add your user to the Docker group:
+
+> Replace `holu` with your actual username.
+
+```bash
+sudo usermod -aG docker holu
+```
+
+You may need to log out and back in for changes to take effect.
+
+## Step 5 -  Install Composer
+
+Composer is used to manage PHP dependencies. Install it globally:
+
+```bash
+curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php
+sudo mv composer.phar /usr/local/bin/composer
+```
+
+## Step 6 - Download and Install Pelican Panel
+
+Create a directory and extract the panel files:
+
+```bash
+sudo mkdir -p /var/www/pelican
+cd /var/www/pelican
+curl -L https://github.com/pelican-dev/panel/releases/latest/download/panel.tar.gz | sudo tar -xzv
+```
+
+Install PHP dependencies:
+
+```bash
+sudo chown -R $USER:www-data /var/www/pelican
+sudo chmod -R 775 /var/www/pelican
+composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader
+```
+
+## Step 7 - Configure the Application
+
+Pelican provides an setup command:
+
+```bash
+php artisan p:environment:setup
+```
+
+## Step 8 - Set Permissions
+
+Ensure proper ownership and access permissions for Laravel to function correctly:
+
+```bash
+sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/pelican
+sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/pelican/storage /var/www/pelican/bootstrap/cache
+```
+
+Secure the environment file:
+
+```bash
+sudo chmod 640 /var/www/pelican/.env
+```
+
+## Step 9 - Configure SSL with Certbot
+
+Install Certbot via Snap to enable HTTPS:
+
+```bash
+sudo apt install snapd -y
+sudo snap install core
+sudo snap refresh core
+sudo snap install --classic certbot
+sudo ln -s /snap/bin/certbot /usr/bin/certbot
+```
+
+Obtain an SSL certificate for your domain:
+
+```bash
+sudo certbot --nginx -d example.com
+```
+
+Enable automatic certificate renewal:
+
+```bash
+sudo systemctl enable snap.certbot.renew.timer
+sudo certbot renew --dry-run
+```
+
+## Step 10 - Configure NGINX
+
+Remove the default configuration:
+
+```bash
+sudo rm /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default
+```
+
+Create a new configuration file:
+
+```bash
+sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/pelican.conf
+```
+
+Paste the following, replacing `example.com` accordingly:
+
+```nginx
+server {
+    listen 80;
+    server_name example.com;
+    return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
+}
+
+server {
+    listen 443 ssl;
+    server_name example.com;
+
+    root /var/www/pelican/public;
+    index index.php;
+
+    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/fullchain.pem;
+    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/privkey.pem;
+
+    location / {
+        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
+    }
+
+    location ~ \.php$ {
+        include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
+        fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.2-fpm.sock;
+    }
+
+    location ~ /\.ht {
+        deny all;
+    }
+}
+```
+
+Enable the site and restart NGINX:
+
+```bash
+sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/pelican.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
+sudo nginx -t
+sudo systemctl restart nginx
+```
+
+## Step 11 - Complete the Web Installer
+
+Navigate to your domain in a browser:
+
+```
+https://example.com/installer
+```
+
+Follow the on-screen prompts to create an administrator account and complete the setup.
+
+When it asks about the database information, use the information from step 3. In this example, we used:
+
+* Database Driver: MySQL
+* Database Name: pelican
+* Database Username: pelicanuser
+* Database Password: YourSecurePassword'
+
+## Conclusion
+
+* Ensure the following services are active and enabled:
+
+  ```bash
+  sudo systemctl status nginx
+  sudo systemctl status php8.2-fpm
+  sudo systemctl status docker
+  ```
+
+* Consider securing your server with UFW:
+
+  ```bash
+  sudo apt install ufw
+  sudo ufw allow OpenSSH
+  sudo ufw allow 'Nginx Full'
+  sudo ufw enable
+  ```
+
+* Keep your system and Pelican Panel updated to receive security patches and new features.
+
+#### References
+
+* [Pelican Panel Documentation](https://pelican.dev/docs)
+* [Certbot Documentation](https://certbot.eff.org/)
+
+##### License: MIT
+
+<!--
+
+Contributor's Certificate of Origin
+
+By making a contribution to this project, I certify that:
+
+(a) The contribution was created in whole or in part by me and I have
+    the right to submit it under the license indicated in the file; or
+
+(b) The contribution is based upon previous work that, to the best of my
+    knowledge, is covered under an appropriate license and I have the
+    right under that license to submit that work with modifications,
+    whether created in whole or in part by me, under the same license
+    (unless I am permitted to submit under a different license), as
+    indicated in the file; or
+
+(c) The contribution was provided directly to me by some other person
+    who certified (a), (b) or (c) and I have not modified it.
+
+(d) I understand and agree that this project and the contribution are
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+    information I submit with it, including my sign-off) is maintained
+    indefinitely and may be redistributed consistent with this project
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+
+Signed-off-by: Philipp Bornträger <heydraundphilipp@gmail.com>
+
+-->