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Hosting a server

Server in Docker

The image runs on any Linux with Docker, including systems older than Ubuntu 24.04. It already has Lua 5.1 for the obfuscator and a container health check.

Load the image

Section titled “Load the image”

The image comes with the release as a file. Download nodemp-server-v1.12.0-image.tar from the release page and load it into Docker:

Terminal window
docker load -i nodemp-server-v1.12.0-image.tar

Docker answers Loaded image: nodemp-server:1.12.0-d939044. That tag is what you run.

How the container works

Section titled “How the container works”
  • Settings are environment variables only. The image doesn’t read server.toml: each setting has a variable of its own, NODE_NAME for [server] name and so on. The full list is on server.toml.
  • Everything the server writes lives in /data: resources, mods, storage, bans, logs. The program’s own folder is read-only.
  • The server runs as user id 10001. The data folder must belong to it.
  • The TLS certificate must be in /data too. By default the server puts it next to the program, which is read-only. The two variables below move it to /data/tls.

Prepare the data folder

Section titled “Prepare the data folder”
Terminal window
mkdir -p data && sudo chown 10001:10001 data

Run it

Section titled “Run it”
Terminal window
docker run -d --name nodemp --restart unless-stopped \
  -p 30814:30814/tcp -p 30814:30814/udp \
  -v "$PWD/data:/data" \
  -e NODE_TLS_CERT=/data/tls/node_cert.pem \
  -e NODE_TLS_KEY=/data/tls/node_key.pem \
  -e NODE_NAME="Friday freeroam" \
  -e NODE_MAP=/levels/west_coast_usa/info.json \
  nodemp-server:1.12.0-d939044

To follow the log:

Terminal window
docker logs -f nodemp

To change a setting, remove the container (docker rm -f nodemp) and run it again with new variables. The data/ folder isn’t touched.

The same with Compose

Section titled “The same with Compose”

With Compose the settings are easier to edit in a file. Put compose.yaml next to the data/ folder:

services:
  nodemp:
    image: nodemp-server:1.12.0-d939044
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports: ["30814:30814/tcp", "30814:30814/udp"]
    volumes: ["./data:/data"]
    stdin_open: true
    tty: true
    env_file: .env
    environment:
      NODE_TLS_CERT: /data/tls/node_cert.pem
      NODE_TLS_KEY: /data/tls/node_key.pem
      NODE_NAME: Friday freeroam
      NODE_MAP: /levels/west_coast_usa/info.json

Put secrets such as the server key (Get listed) into a .env file next to it, readable only by you (chmod 600 .env). Until you have secrets the file can be empty, but it must exist (touch .env). Then:

Terminal window
docker compose up -d
docker compose logs -f

After editing compose.yaml, run docker compose up -d again: Compose recreates the container and data/ stays as it is.

The console

Section titled “The console”

stdin_open and tty give the server a terminal, and with it a console. To reach it:

Terminal window
docker attach nodemp

Under Compose without a container_name, docker compose ps shows the container’s name. To leave without stopping the server, press Ctrl+P, then Ctrl+Q. With docker run, add -it to get a console.

Resources and mods

Section titled “Resources and mods”

Copy resources into data/resources/ and mods into data/content/. User 10001 must be able to read them, so run sudo chown -R 10001:10001 data after copying. The server reads mods when it starts, so restart the container afterwards (docker restart nodemp).

Native modules live inside the image, not in /data: to add one, build your own image on top of this one.

Next

Section titled “Next”