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Managing Servers

This guide covers everyday operations: starting, stopping, and inspecting your Hytale servers using the hsm binary.

Using hsm

The main entrypoint for managing servers is the hsm TUI:

sudo hsm       # Launch interactive TUI (install, updates, status, logs)

From the TUI you can:

  • Install or repair servers (wizard).
  • Start / stop / restart all servers.
  • Check status and logs.
  • Run game or plugin updates.
  • View server configuration.

TUI Navigation

The TUI uses keyboard navigation:

  • Arrow Keys (↑/↓) or j/k: Navigate menu items
  • Arrow Keys (←/→) or h/l: Switch between tabs
  • Enter: Select/execute action
  • Esc or q: Exit current view (returns to main menu)
  • Ctrl+C or q (from main menu): Quit application

TUI Tabs

Install Tab

  • Run Installation Wizard: Interactive wizard to configure and install servers
  • Configure number of servers, ports, hostname, max players
  • Set JVM arguments and admin password
  • Automatically installs Java 25 and dependencies
  • Guides through Hytale OAuth authentication
  • Downloads server files via hytale-downloader

Updates Tab

  • Update Game: Download and install latest Hytale server files
  • Update Plugins: Update server plugins and addons
  • Enable Auto-Update Monitor: Automatically check for updates (future feature)

Servers Tab

  • Start All Servers: Launch all server instances
  • Stop All Servers: Gracefully stop all running servers
  • Restart All Servers: Restart all server instances
  • View Server Logs: View logs for a specific server
  • Scale Up Servers: Add more server instances
  • Scale Down Servers: Remove server instances

Tools Tab

  • Edit Server Configs: Edit shared server configuration files
  • View Server Status: View detailed server status dashboard
  • Shows all servers with their current status (running/stopped)
  • Displays port numbers and tmux session names
  • Auto-updates every 2 seconds
  • Color-coded status indicators

Console and logs via tmux

Servers run inside tmux sessions for easy console access:

# List all tmux sessions
tmux ls

# Attach to server 1 console
tmux attach-session -t hytale-server-1

# View server logs
tail -f data/logs/server-*.log

When attached to a tmux session:

  • Press Ctrl+B, then D to detach without stopping the server.
  • Type commands directly into the Hytale server console.

Where servers live

By default, server data is stored in the data/ directory:

data/
├── Server/HytaleServer.jar   # Server JAR
├── Assets.zip                # Assets file
├── config.json               # Server config
├── universe/                 # World data
├── logs/                     # Server logs
└── ...

Each server runs in its own tmux session named hytale-server-N (where N is the server number).

Real-time status

The TUI provides real-time server status in multiple ways:

Status Bar

The bottom status bar shows: - Number of servers running vs stopped (e.g., "2 running, 1 stopped") - Current operation status (e.g., "Starting all servers...") - Error messages if operations fail

Status is updated automatically every 2 seconds and after server operations (start/stop/restart).

Server Status Page

Access the detailed status page via Tools Tab → View Server Status:

  • Table view showing all servers:
  • Server ID
  • Status (running/stopped) with color coding
  • Port number
  • Tmux session name
  • Auto-refreshes every 2 seconds
  • Real-time updates when servers start/stop

This page is useful for monitoring all servers at a glance and verifying their current state.