DayZ is the unforgiving zombie-survival sim where every encounter could be your last. A dedicated server with Steam Workshop mods and full Central Economy (loot) control lets you build the exact hardcore world you want. This step-by-step guide shows you how to set up a DayZ server in minutes — no manual install, no command line.
Pick a plan sized for your DayZ community. We recommend about 6–10 GB of RAM; start smaller and upgrade in one click as you add players or mods. DayZ plans start at $14.99/mo.
Check out and your DayZ server provisions automatically in under 60 seconds, with console access right away — no manual install, no command line.
Once your DayZ server is online, share its address (IP and port) with your friends so they can join. Start, stop and restart it anytime from the control panel.
Your DayZ server supports Steam Workshop, Central Economy, XML loot, Mods, FTP/SFTP. Install Steam Workshop mods and Central Economy straight from the one-click installer, or upload your own from the control panel — then tweak settings in the visual config editor.
Enable scheduled automatic backups, set restart timers, and monitor CPU, RAM and player counts from the dashboard. Always-on DDoS protection and 24/7 support keep your DayZ server stable.
Ready to start? Deploy your DayZ server in under 60 seconds — 7-day money-back guarantee.
DayZ spreads its networking across separate ports, and they are not all set in the same place. The game port is passed on the command line, while the query and client ports live in the server config file.
| Port role | Set via | Value in Bohemia's documentation |
|---|---|---|
| Game port | -port= launch parameter | 2302 |
| Steam query | steamQueryPort in the server config file | 2305 |
| Client port | clientPort in the server config file | 2304 |
These are the values shown in Bohemia's documentation rather than fixed constants: the same wiki's Linux hosting guide runs its worked example on -port=2301. The documentation describes -port= as the port the dedicated server listens on, steamQueryPort as the setting that defines the Steam query port, and clientPort as an integer value that forces the port clients connect with.
BattlEye is configured separately from the server config file. BEServer_x64.cfg has to sit in the same folder as BEServer_x64.dll, and the location of that folder can be customized with the -bePath and -profiles startup parameters.
Two parameters are listed as supported:
RConPassword — sets the password used by a remote admin tool such as BEC or Dart.RestrictRCon — enables or disables RCon functions covering kick, ban and connection restrictions.What you install is the server build, published on Steam under its own app IDs rather than as part of the game. Bohemia's Linux guide installs it through SteamCMD with +app_update 223350 for the stable branch and +app_update 1042420 for the experimental branch. The documented command signs in with +login your_login, where you substitute your own Steam login for your_login. The guide adds that the server is updated with the same commands used to install it.
On Linux the guide installs lib32gcc-s1 on Debian, glibc.i686 and libstdc++.i686 on RHEL, and glibc, lib32-glibc and nano on Arch. It warns against running the server as root: with the server running as an unprivileged user, an attacker who compromises it will find it more difficult to access the rest of the operating system; all actions in that guide are performed as a normal user or under sudo.
Mods come from the Steam Workshop, and the documented download uses app ID 221100 — not the 223350 ID that installs the server itself. The guide pulls each mod with +workshop_download_item 221100 <modID>, which places the content under steamapps/workshop/content/221100/<modID>. Each mod folder is then symlinked into the server root, the contents of that mod's keys/ folder are symlinked into the server's own keys/ directory, and the server is started with a semicolon-separated list such as "-mod=1559212036;1564026768;".
The two switches behave differently. -mod= loads the specified sub-folders for different mods, separated by semicolons. -serverMod= loads the specified sub-folders for server-side mods that are not broadcast to clients, using the same separator. For both, the documentation notes that absolute paths and multiple stacked folders are possible.
Signature handling is governed by verifySignatures, documented as verifying .pbo files against .bisign files, with the config template stating that only the value 2 is supported.
The server will not launch at all. The config file has no default name. The documentation explains that its real name is determined by the -config command line option used when launching the dedicated server, and that when none is specified the server will not launch because of the mandatory settings.
The server does not show up in the browser. The documentation attaches this symptom directly to steamQueryPort, describing it as the setting that should fix a server not being visible in the client server browser.
Players cannot connect after a game update. With forceSameBuild = 1, the server only allows connections from clients running the same .exe revision as the server. The setting takes a value of 0 or 1.
Restarts are driven from messages.xml, documented at mpmissions\dayzOffline.chernarusplus\db\messages.xml and noted as a file you may need to create. A shutdown is defined by a message with a deadline set and the shutdown flag enabled. The dependency matters: the shutdown flag is ignored if the countdown flag is not set.
With a countdown active, the message is sent 90 minutes before the deadline, then at 60, 45, 30, 20, 15, 10, 5, 2 and finally 1 minute before it is met. Messages have a maximum length of 160 characters and support three placeholders: #name for the server's name, #port for its port and #tmin for the minutes remaining. #tmin only works when it is used with a countdown flag.