This page shows how to run Stratum as a background service on Linux, so it starts at boot and restarts after a crash. The examples use systemd.
Create the user and set permissions
Create a system user for the server, then give it the install directory and the data directory:
sudo useradd --system --home /opt/stratum --shell /usr/sbin/nologin stratum
sudo mkdir -p /opt/stratum /srv/stratum/data
sudo unzip "stratum-<version>-linux-x64.zip" -d /opt/stratum
sudo chmod +x /opt/stratum/StratumServer
sudo chown -R stratum:stratum /opt/stratum /srv/stratumReplace <version> with the release tag without its leading v. The first start downloads and prepares the matching Vintage Story files, so either prepare the install as the service user first or wait for the network to be online before starting the service. network-online.target waits only when the system has an enabled wait-online service.
The first start writes patched files into the install directory, so the service user must be able to write there.
systemctl stop stratum sends a graceful stop signal and the server saves before it exits. Set TimeoutStopSec high enough for your world to save; if systemd’s stop timeout expires, it can terminate the process before the save finishes. The example uses five minutes.
Service file
Create /etc/systemd/system/stratum.service:
[Unit]
Description=Stratum Vintage Story Server
Wants=network-online.target
After=network-online.target
[Service]
Type=simple
User=stratum
WorkingDirectory=/opt/stratum
ExecStart=/opt/stratum/StratumServer --dataPath /srv/stratum/data --stratum-no-banner
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=10
TimeoutStopSec=300
StandardOutput=journal
StandardError=journal
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.targetReplace /opt/stratum with your install directory, /srv/stratum/data with your data path, and stratum with the system user that should run the server.
Enable and start the service:
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable stratum
sudo systemctl start stratumCheck the status and follow the logs:
sudo systemctl status stratum
sudo journalctl -u stratum -fVintage Story also writes files under Logs in the data folder, including stratum-audit.log. Check those files if you need records beyond the systemd journal.
Console access
Stratum does not provide an interactive console under systemd. To run commands on a running server, use the in-game staff commands. For one-off console commands, stop the service and run the server by hand:
sudo systemctl stop stratum
cd /opt/stratum
sudo -u stratum ./StratumServer --dataPath /srv/stratum/data
sudo systemctl start stratumScheduled restarts
Run /restart 30 in game to stop the server after a 30-minute countdown. The command needs the stratum.restart privilege. Roles with auto-grant, normally admin, do not receive it, so grant it with /roles grant admin stratum.restart if admins should use it. The command exits the server process; configure the service’s restart behavior if the process should start again.
Thirty seconds before a scheduled restart, players are warned to pick up their items. The items still on the ground are removed at the moment of the restart. This is on by default, and you can turn it off with Performance.Restart.ClearGroundItemsBeforeStop.
By default the server exits with code 0 on restart. systemd treats a clean exit as success, so Restart=on-failure does not start the server again after /restart. To have /restart bring the server back, set Performance.Restart.ExitCode in stratum-performance.json to a non-zero value, such as 1, and keep Restart=on-failure. Restart=always also starts the server after a clean stop, which you may not want. The default countdown warns at 300, 120, 60, 45, 30, 15, and 5 seconds and clears ground items 30 seconds before shutdown.
Firewall
Open the server port. The default port is 42420, over both TCP and UDP:
sudo ufw allow 42420/tcp
sudo ufw allow 42420/udpVintage Story uses TCP for the connection and can use UDP for game traffic. Open both protocols for the server port.
If you changed the port, open that port instead.