AMP (Application Management Panel) by CubeCoders is a commercial game server control panel. It’s popular with communities and small hosts because it’s easy to install and supports a long list of games (Minecraft, Valheim, Rust, ARK, CS2, Palworld, Satisfactory, 7 Days to Die, Project Zomboid and many more through its “Generic” templates). It includes a web console, file manager, scheduled tasks, automatic updates and backups, and user permissions.

Open-source alternatives: Pterodactyl (more complex, Docker-based) and LinuxGSM (command line).

Licensing

AMP requires a licence key from CubeCoders. Editions differ in how many instances (game servers) you can run and in features for hosting businesses. Buy the edition that fits your use from the CubeCoders website. The licence is activated during setup.

Requirements

  • Ubuntu or Debian (AMP also supports other distributions and Windows).
  • RAM and CPU for the games you’ll run: AMP itself is light, but game servers aren’t. See Minecraft server RAM and game server VPS.
  • Disk for game files and backups. SteamCMD games can be tens of GB each.

Install

CubeCoders provides an installer script:

bash <(wget -qO- getamp.sh)

Read it first if you prefer (wget getamp.sh -O getamp.sh && less getamp.sh). The script:

  • installs dependencies and the AMP packages from CubeCoders’ repository;
  • creates an amp system user;
  • asks for an admin username and password;
  • optionally installs Docker (instances can run in containers for isolation), and sets up HTTPS with a domain.

When it finishes, open the ADS (Application Deployment Service) web interface. By default that’s http://<server-ip>:8080, or your HTTPS domain if you chose that option. Then enter your licence key.

HTTPS

If you didn’t set HTTPS up in the installer, put Nginx in front of the ADS port with a Let’s Encrypt certificate, and keep port 8080 closed publicly. AMP uses WebSockets for the console, so include the Upgrade headers. See Nginx WebSocket proxy and Let’s Encrypt.

Create your first game server

  1. In ADS, click Create Instance.
  2. Choose the application, for example Minecraft, or a SteamCMD game such as Valheim (many are under the “Generic” module templates).
  3. Give it a name, and create it. AMP assigns ports automatically. Note them, because they must be open in the firewall.
  4. Open the instance: Configuration for game settings (server name, passwords, RAM, version), then Update to download the game files, and Start.

For Minecraft, pick the server type (Paper, Forge, NeoForge, Fabric, Vanilla, Bedrock) and the version under Configuration → Minecraft Server Settings.

Firewall

Open the ports each instance uses, and the panel:

sudo ufw allow 443/tcp               # panel behind HTTPS
sudo ufw allow 25565/tcp             # example: Minecraft instance
sudo ufw allow 2456:2457/udp         # example: Valheim instance

AMP can manage firewall rules on some systems itself. Double-check with sudo ufw status. See UFW.

Users and permissions

Create users and roles in ADS (Configuration → User Management). Give friends access to start, stop and restart a specific instance, without full admin rights. Enable 2FA for admin accounts.

Scheduling, updates and backups

  • Scheduler: daily restarts with warnings, automatic updates when a game update is released, and periodic backups.
  • Backups: AMP keeps backups per instance (with retention settings), and can send them to S3-compatible storage. Copy them off the server. See backup strategy.
  • Updating AMP itself: sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade (from CubeCoders’ repository), then upgrade the instances with ampinstmgr --UpgradeAll as the amp user, or through the panel.

Useful command-line tool

sudo su -l amp
ampinstmgr --ShowInstancesList      # list instances
ampinstmgr --StartAllInstances
ampinstmgr --UpgradeAll

Quick reference

Item Value
Installer bash <(wget -qO- getamp.sh)
Panel (ADS) port 8080 by default (put HTTPS in front)
CLI ampinstmgr (as user amp)
Licence required (CubeCoders)
Isolation optional Docker per instance

Related: Pterodactyl panel and Valheim dedicated server.

  • Game Server
  • Self-Hosting
  • Linux