Hosting a server

Updating the server

An update replaces the program and the folders that come with it (tools/, modules/, examples/), or the Docker image. Everything else is your data and stays: server.toml, the TLS certificate, resources, mods, storage, bans.

Which version is running

./Node-Server --version

It prints, for example, Node-Server v1.12.0. The start-up banner shows the same version.

Where releases are

Server releases are the server-v… tags on GitHub. Each release’s description says what changed, whether a default changed, and whether players need a new launcher. Read it before you update.

Windows

Stop the server.
Download the new archive and unpack it into the same folder over the old files. Let Explorer replace them.
Start the server and check the version in the banner.

From PowerShell, unpacking with replacement looks like this:

$zip = "$HOME\Downloads\Node-Server-1.12.0-windows-x64.zip"
Expand-Archive $zip -DestinationPath C:\NodeMP -Force

Without -Force the command refuses to overwrite files.

Linux

With the service from Server on Linux:

cd /tmp
url=https://github.com/NodeMP-BeamNG/releases/releases/download/server-v1.12.0
curl -LO "$url/Node-Server-1.12.0-linux-x64.tar.gz"
curl -LO "$url/Node-Server-1.12.0-linux-x64.tar.gz.sha256"
sha256sum -c Node-Server-1.12.0-linux-x64.tar.gz.sha256

Then stop the service, unpack the archive over the old files and start it again:

sudo systemctl stop nodemp
sudo tar -xzf Node-Server-1.12.0-linux-x64.tar.gz -C /opt/nodemp
sudo chown -R nodemp:nodemp /opt/nodemp
sudo systemctl start nodemp

Unpacking over the folder replaces exactly what the archive holds. Your resources/, including your copies of the examples, isn’t in the archive and isn’t touched.

Docker

Load the new image and use its tag:

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

In compose.yaml, change the image: line to the new tag and run docker compose up -d. With docker run, remove the old container and start a new one with the same -v and variables. The data/ folder doesn’t change. To go back, put the previous tag back.

What survives an update

server.toml stays as it is. A setting the new version brings takes its default until you add it to the file; the server doesn’t add it for you. In Docker there’s no file: a new setting takes its default until you set its variable. The one exception is the move to 1.9.0, below.
node_cert.pem and node_key.pem aren’t in the archive and are only made when missing. Keep them: players who joined by address remember the certificate and won’t connect to a server with a different one.
resources/, content/, storage/, bans.json are yours, and the update doesn’t touch them. If a resource of yours uses the database module’s db.lua, copy the new modules/db.lua into it.
integrity/ belongs to a game version, not a server version. After a BeamNG update, make it again (Strict file check).
Native modules in modules/ are checked at load. One built for an incompatible interface version is refused with a request to rebuild it. Lua resources need no rebuilding.

Since server 1.8.0 the server has no chat commands of its own; resources add them. A resource that called node.commands stops at that line with attempt to index a nil value (field 'commands'). Update it, or start from examples/chat-commands (Chat and commands).

Settings since 1.9.0

Since server 1.9.0, server.toml has a new layout: lower-case keys in tables named for what they set. You don’t have to redo the file by hand.

On the first start of 1.9.0 the server rewrites a file in the old layout with the same settings and keeps the old one next to it as server.toml.old. The log says server.toml was in the legacy layout: rewritten in the new one with the same settings.
The new file has [server] and [listing], like a fresh one, plus every other setting whose value wasn’t the default. A key the server doesn’t read isn’t carried over, and the log names it.
The NODE_* variables are the same as before, so a server set up through them, the Docker image included, notices nothing.
If the server can’t write the new file, it says so in the log and reads the old one as it is.

Old guides still show the old names. Write the new ones: a table with an old name in the new file works, but the server then converts the file again, drops the comments you wrote in it and replaces server.toml.old. Where each key went:

Before 1.9.0	Since 1.9.0
`[General] Name`	`[server] name`
`[General] Port`	`[server] port`
`[General] MaxPlayers`	`[server] max_players`
`[General] MaxCars`	`[server] cars_per_player`
`[General] Map`	`[server] map`
`[Content] Folder`	`[server] mods`
`[General] IP`	`[server] address`
`[General] Console`	`[server] console`
`[Directory] Url`	`[listing] url`
`[Directory] HostId`	`[listing] host_id`
`[Directory] HostSecret`	`[listing] host_secret`
`[Directory] Description`	`[listing] description`
`[Directory] Mode`	`[listing] mode`
`[Directory] Tags`	`[listing] tags`
`[Directory] Preview`	`[listing] preview`
`[Directory] Public`	`[listing] public`
`[Directory] TestDrive`	`[listing] guests`
`[Directory] Fingerprint`	`[listing] fingerprint`
`[Directory] CaFile`	`[listing] ca_file`
`[Directory] RedeemFailOpen`	`[listing] admit_when_down`
`[Directory] AllowInsecure`	`[listing] allow_http`
`[General] VerifyGame`	`[integrity] verify`
`[General] IntegrityDir`	`[integrity] manifests`
`[Network] TlsCert`	`[network] tls_cert`
`[Network] TlsKey`	`[network] tls_key`
`[Network] StateRelayRadius`	`[network] relay_radius`
`[Network] LagGraceSec`	`[network] lag_grace_sec`
`[Network] AuthTakeoverSec`	`[network] seat_takeover_sec`
`[Network] AuthReleaseSec`	`[network] seat_release_sec`
`[Network] DisconnectSec`	`[network] disconnect_sec`
`[Network] SendQueueBudgetMB`	`[network] send_queue_budget_mb`
`[Network] MaxConnectionsPerIp`	`[network] max_connections_per_ip`
`[Network] MaxConnections`	`[network] max_connections`
`[Network] ConnectionLimitExempt`	`[network] connection_limit_exempt`
`[Network] HandshakeTimeoutSec`	`[network] handshake_timeout_sec`
`[Network] DownloadStallSec`	`[network] download_stall_sec`
`[Chat] MaxLength`	`[chat] max_length`
`[Chat] RatePerSec`	`[chat] rate_per_sec`
`[Chat] Burst`	`[chat] burst`
`[Chat] LogToConsole`	`[chat] log`
`[Chat] LogHiddenCommands`	`[chat] masked_commands`
`[General] Debug`	`[logs] debug`
`[Log] MaxSizeMB`	`[logs] max_size_mb`
`[Log] Keep`	`[logs] keep`
`[Log] Date`	`[logs] date`
`[Network] StatsIntervalSec`	`[logs] netstats_sec`
`[Sync] Variant`	`[sync] variant`
`[Sync] HoldTight`	`[sync] hold_tight`
`[Sync] SteerLead`	`[sync] steer_lead`
`[Sync] VerboseTrace`	`[sync] verbose_trace`
`[Sync] TraceRate`	`[sync] trace_rate`
`[Http] CaFile`	`[http] ca_file`
`[Http] Insecure`	`[http] insecure`
`[Http] AllowPrivateNetworks`	`[http] allow_private_networks`
`[Resources] Obfuscate`	`[resources] obfuscate`
`[Experimental] NodeGrab`	`[experimental] node_grab`

Resources since 1.10.0

Since server 1.10.0 a resource’s Lua reaches only its own folder: it can’t read server.toml, delete files elsewhere, run programs or read environment variables (what a resource can do). The example resources and the db module work as before. A resource that wrote files next to the server, ran a backup script or read a setting from the environment now gets nil or an error naming [resources] trusted. If you trust it, list it:

[resources]
trusted = ["backup"]

When players need a new launcher

The launcher and the server speak a versioned protocol. Server 1.12.0 speaks v23, like the releases before it: launchers from version 1.1.23 and client mods from version 1.6.25 join it as before. When a release changes the protocol, its description says so prominently, and an old launcher is refused with a request to update. The launcher offers Update now by itself, and the client mod is updated before every join. Update your server at the same time as players get the new launcher.