How long can you survive a post-apocalyptic world? A land overrun with an infected "zombie" population, where you compete with other survivors for limited resources. Will you team up with strangers and stay strong together? Or play as a lone wolf to avoid betrayal? This is DayZ - this is your story.
Here's what you need to run a DayZ dedicated server.
Small private server, 1-20 players, vanilla
Community server, 20-40 players with light mods
Large public server with heavy mods, 40-64 players
Start hosting from your own computer
Run a DayZ server on your desktop, laptop, VPS, or dedicated machine — GameCP automates Docker setup, resource allocation, and DayZ configuration instantly. Automatic port forwarding means your friends can connect without touching your router. Start local, scale to a VPS when you're ready.
Skip the manual SteamCMD installation, port forwarding, and systemd configuration. Install on your own computer and start hosting instantly.
The full manual process to host a DayZ dedicated server on a VPS. Or install GameCP on your own computer and skip all of this.
Set your server settings, then install Docker, SteamCMD, and pull the DayZ container image.
# Update system and install Docker sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y docker.io sudo systemctl enable --now docker # Create game server directory sudo mkdir -p /opt/gameserver # Install SteamCMD sudo mkdir -p /opt/steamcmd curl -sqL "https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/client/installer/steamcmd_linux.tar.gz" | sudo tar zxvf - -C /opt/steamcmd # Server configuration export AUTO_UPDATE="1" export WORKSHOP_UPDATE="1" # Pull the container image docker pull ghcr.io/ptero-eggs/games:dayz
Download the DayZ dedicated server using Steam App ID 223350.
# Download DayZ server files (App ID: 223350)
/opt/steamcmd/steamcmd.sh \
+force_install_dir /opt/gameserver \
+login ${STEAM_USER} \
+app_update 223350 validate \
+quitDayZ requires 5 ports to be open for game traffic and queries.
sudo ufw allow 2302/udp sudo ufw allow 27016/udp sudo ufw allow 2305/udp sudo ufw allow 2303/udp sudo ufw allow 2304/udp
Start the DayZ server using the configuration from Step 1.
docker run -d \ --name dayz-server \ -p 2302:2302/udp \ -p 27016:27016/udp \ -p 2305:2305/udp \ -p 2303:2303/udp \ -p 2304:2304/udp \ -e AUTO_UPDATE="1" \ -e WORKSHOP_UPDATE="1" \ -v /opt/gameserver:/opt/gameserver \ -w /opt/gameserver \ ghcr.io/ptero-eggs/games:dayz \ ./DayZServer -port=2302 -profiles=profiles -bepath=battleye -config=serverDZ.cfg -mod= -serverMod= -dologs -adminlog -netlog -freezecheck
GameCP automates every step above: Docker, SteamCMD, port forwarding, startup, and config. Install on your own PC and deploy a DayZ server in under 5 minutes.
Deploy with GameCPExplore step-by-step setup guides for other popular games supported by GameCP.
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