Installation

Install HF Panel on a fresh Linux server, licence it, keep it up to date, move accounts to it, or remove it.

HF Panel installs with one command on a fresh Ubuntu, Debian, Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux or CentOS Stream server. The installer checks the server first, asks a few questions, sets up everything in about 15 minutes and finishes with your sign-in addresses. This section takes you through it in order.

Installation guide

Follow these pages in order for a new server:

System requirements: supported systems, hardware, virtualisation, network and ports.
DNS setup: the DNS and reverse DNS records to add, ideally before you install.
Install at a hosting provider: the server to choose, firewall, port 25, reverse DNS and DNS at every popular VPS and cloud provider.
Install: the install command and what happens while it runs.
Customise the installation: every installer option and unattended installs.
After installation: your addresses, first sign-in and the one-time checks.
Troubleshoot the installation: what to do when the installer stops.

Running the server

Licensing: licence keys, the free trial, IP binding and the Licence screen.
Updating: new versions from the panel or the command line.
Migrating: bring accounts from another server, copy sites from another host, or move accounts between your own servers.
Uninstalling: remove the panel, with or without the hosting data.

The install command

bash

cd /home && curl -o latest -L https://cdn.hostfog.com/latest && bash latest

Run it as root on the server. On a server that already has HF Panel, the same command updates it.

Note: the installer is safe to run again. If a step fails, fix the cause and run the same command: it continues where it can.

Check a server first

To see whether a server is ready before installing anything, add --check:

bash

cd /home && curl -o latest -L https://cdn.hostfog.com/latest && bash latest --check

It checks the system, memory, disk, other control panels, the ports HF Panel needs, name resolution, the public address and whether email can leave (outgoing port 25), marks each ✔, ! or ✘, and changes nothing.

When something stops the installation

The installer repairs the common problems by itself. Before installing it checks the package system, the package sources, the disk, memory and name servers. If a step then fails with an error it knows — a package source listed twice, a cut-off package installation, a missing key, a full disk, the package lock held by automatic updates — it fixes it, shows fixed, carrying on with what it did, and continues where it stopped. For anything else it stops and shows the last lines of the log; after fixing the cause, run the same command again. The same checks run on demand with hf-agent autofix.

If the connection drops during the installation

If your SSH connection or the internet drops while the installer runs, connect again and run the same command. It sees that the installation did not finish and carries on where it stopped, with the answers you already gave (domain, email, company and options): the finished steps are checked quickly, the rest are done, and at the end it asks for the admin login, as a first installation does. It does not treat the server as installed and "update" it.

To keep a long installation going even if the connection drops, start it inside screen or tmux (apt-get install -y screen, then screen, then the install command; after a drop, screen -r brings it back).