Frequently Asked Questions

Panelra is a cloud-based management platform for Rust game servers. It replaces the need to juggle separate RCON clients, monitoring tools, the uMod website, backup scripts, and wipe reminders. You install a lightweight agent on your Linux server, and everything from plugin management to wipe scheduling is controlled through a single real-time dashboard.

Sign up for a free account, add a host in the dashboard and copy the one-line install command it shows you (it contains a token unique to that host). Run it on your Linux server and the agent connects to the platform over an encrypted outbound connection, with no inbound ports to open for the agent. Your host appears in the dashboard within seconds.

The agent is a lightweight background service (systemd) that runs on your game server host. It talks to the platform over an encrypted connection that it opens itself (outbound HTTPS on port 443), so no inbound ports are opened for it. It only performs actions you authorize through the dashboard.

The agent runs on 64-bit (x86_64) Linux with systemd: Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 24.04 and Debian 12. Plan for about 12 GB of RAM and 30 GB of disk per Rust server. Windows is not currently supported.

No. Panelra manages the server software on your existing host. You still need a VPS or dedicated server from your hosting provider (OVH, Hetzner, etc.). Think of Panelra as the control panel that sits on top of your server.

Free during the open beta. Pricing will be announced before the beta ends.

Yes. Panelra handles the full installation: SteamCMD setup, dependencies, game server download, systemd service creation, and initial configuration. Just click 'Create Instance', choose your settings (max players, world size, seed, ports), and the platform does the rest.

Panelra detects when a new Rust update is available. Enable auto-update or click Update now. Players get a single in-game warning 5 minutes before the update, then the server is saved, stopped, updated and started again. When auto-update is on, the panel shows when the next update will happen. More about Rust server monitoring and update notices.

The agent detects the crash, Panelra records it in the crash history and alerts you in the panel and through your Discord webhook. If the server keeps crashing and restarting, crash loop detection flags it. A frozen server can be force restarted from the dashboard. See how crash alerts work.

Yes. Add a restart schedule to any server: every day, weekdays, weekends or custom days, at the hour and minute you choose in your own time zone. Players get chat warnings during a countdown (5 minutes is recommended), the world is saved, and the server restarts. A daily restart at a quiet hour keeps memory use in check. Learn more about Rust server restart schedules.

Yes. While a restart or wipe countdown is running, a Cancel button appears in the panel. Cancelling stops the countdown and the server keeps running as normal. Once the countdown has ended and the server is shutting down, it can no longer be cancelled. See how the graceful countdown works.

A force restart stops the server process and starts it again immediately, without a countdown, chat warning or world save. It is meant for a server that is frozen, not responding to RCON, stuck while starting or stuck in a crash loop, where a normal graceful restart cannot run. More about restarts and force restart.

If a server starts but never finishes loading, Panelra raises a stuck while starting alert in the panel and on your Discord webhook. From the alert you can force restart the server. Check the server's console and crash history for the plugin or map error that stopped it. See all crash and downtime alerts.

Yes. Each server runs as a separate instance with its own ports, configuration, and plugins, and you manage all of them from the same dashboard. Plan for about 12 GB of RAM and 30 GB of disk per Rust server.

Yes. When creating or configuring an instance, you can provide a custom map URL (from rustmaps.com or similar). The map is downloaded automatically on server start. You can also switch between procedural and custom maps between wipes.

Yes. You can choose between the public (stable) and staging (beta) Steam branches when installing or updating your server. This is useful for testing upcoming Rust patches before they go live.

Wipe weekly (pick a day and time), monthly (pick a date and time), on specific dates, on Facepunch forced wipe days, or right now with Wipe now. Pending wipe countdowns can be cancelled. Learn more about automated wipe scheduling.

Yes. Each wipe can be map-only (players keep their blueprints) or map and blueprints. For example, you can run weekly map wipes with a monthly blueprint wipe. See map and blueprint wipe options.

Players are warned in chat before the wipe. Panelra can take a pre-wipe backup, then stops the server, deletes the map (and blueprints, if chosen), applies the new seed or map, and starts the server again. While the new map is generated the panel shows a Generating map state.

Yes. Panelra knows Facepunch's monthly forced wipe day (the first Thursday of each month), and you can schedule your server to wipe on forced wipe days, with or without a blueprint wipe.

Panelra shows a banner when a forced wipe is within 7 days. Your forced wipe schedule runs on forced wipe day, with or without a blueprint wipe, and a regular schedule can be set to skip a wipe when the forced wipe is only a few days away or when the server was wiped recently, so players do not get two wipes back to back. Learn more about forced wipe handling.

Yes. For each wipe you can keep the current seed, use a new random seed, set a custom seed, or load a custom map from a URL. More on seeds and custom maps in wipe scheduling.

Panelra supports both Oxide (uMod) and Carbon. Install either one from the dashboard with a single click. Uninstalling a framework stops the server first and restores it to vanilla. Learn more about the Oxide and Carbon plugin manager.

Browse the uMod plugin catalog directly in the dashboard and search by name or tag. Click install, and Panelra downloads the plugin, places it in the correct directory, and loads it. No SSH or FTP needed. See the plugin manager.

Yes. Each installed plugin has a config editor accessible from the dashboard. You can view and modify plugin configuration JSON files directly in your browser, then reload the plugin to apply changes.

Yes, if you turn on plugin auto-update. Panelra checks uMod for new versions and updates your plugins automatically. You can also update plugins manually.

Yes. You can upload custom .cs plugin files directly through the dashboard. For more advanced mods, you can also upload .dll Harmony mods and framework extensions.

Panelra tracks player names, Steam IDs, connect and disconnect times, session durations, IP addresses with approximate location (country and city), playtime, and kill/death statistics. Public Steam profile data such as VAC and game bans is also shown.

Yes. Bans are team-wide: a banned player is blocked when they try to join any server in your team. Bans can be permanent or temporary. Learn more about player management and bans.

Yes. Panelra records PvP kills and deaths, so you can see per-player combat stats and K/D ratios for your server.

Yes. The live map shows player positions on your server map and updates every few seconds. It needs a small companion plugin that you can install from the dashboard.

Yes. In-game F7 reports land in a report inbox in the dashboard, where you can review them, dismiss them, or act on the reported player. See F7 report management.

You can kick and ban players (permanently or for a set time), add admin notes for your team, handle F7 reports and broadcast messages, all from the dashboard. The Moderator role gets exactly these tools without any server control. See all moderation tools.

Yes. Panelra has built-in team management with five roles: Owner, Admin, Operator, Moderator and Viewer. Moderators can kick, ban, write notes, handle F7 reports and broadcast without controlling the server, and Viewers have read-only access. Everyone gets their own login, so nobody shares the RCON password, and actions are recorded in the team activity log. Learn more about admin roles and team access.

Moderators handle players without touching the servers themselves. They can kick and ban players, write admin notes, work through F7 reports and broadcast messages to the server. They cannot start, stop, restart, wipe or change the settings of a server. It is a good fit for community staff who need moderation tools but not server control. See all five team roles.

Invite team members by email from the team settings page. They receive an invitation link, create their account (or sign in if they already have one), and join your team with the role you assigned.

Yes. You can save an instance's configuration (settings, framework, plugins, permission groups, extensions and backup schedules) as a reusable template and apply it when you create a new server.

Panelra backs up your server data (not the base game files, which can be downloaded again from Steam). Backups are compressed and uploaded to cloud storage. Create them manually, on a schedule, or automatically before a wipe. Learn more about Rust server backups.

Yes, with one click. Panelra downloads the backup, verifies its SHA-256 checksum, and restores the files. See how one-click restore works.

The dashboard shows live player counts, server FPS, entity counts, uptime, host CPU, RAM and disk usage, and recent log entries, all updated in real time. Historical charts cover players and FPS. Learn more about Rust server monitoring.

Panelra alerts you when a server crashes, keeps crashing and restarting, stops responding, gets stuck while starting, or when a host or its agent goes offline. Alerts appear in the in-panel alerts inbox and can also be sent to a Discord webhook. See every alert type.

Yes. The built-in console streams server logs in real-time and lets you execute RCON commands directly from your browser. Quick-action buttons for common commands (serverinfo, player list, save, broadcast, restart in 5 or 1 minutes) are included. Full command history is logged with timestamps. Learn more about the web RCON console.

Not for the agent: it only makes outbound HTTPS connections on port 443. Your players still need the usual Rust ports: game and query ports 28015 and 28017 (UDP) and the Rust+ port 28082 (TCP) for each server.

The agent runs as a systemd service and connects out to the platform over an encrypted WebSocket on port 443. If the connection drops, it reconnects automatically. It authenticates with the per-host token included in your install command.

Panelra manages server.cfg, plugin files, and framework files. It uses RCON for runtime configuration changes and the filesystem for persistent changes. Changes come from what you set in the dashboard, including the schedules and auto-updates you turn on.

Absolutely. Panelra doesn't lock you out of anything. You can still SSH in and manage your server directly. Panelra is an additional layer of control, not a replacement for direct access.

Panelra stores your desired server configuration and periodically compares it with the running server via RCON. If the server drifts from your desired config (for example, someone changed a setting via RCON directly), Panelra detects it and can correct it.