AzerothCore 3.3.5a

Requirements#

The heavy part is the build: it needs about 1.5 GB of RAM per compile job. A running server is fine with 2–3 GB.

OS

Debian 13, as root

RAM for the build *

4 GB comfortable

2 GB with swap and one job

Build time *

15–30 min on 4 cores

1–2 h on 1–2 cores

Running *

2–3 GB RAM, 2 vCPU

for 20–30 players

Disk *

40 GB comfortable

25 GB is tight

Open ports (TCP)

3724, 8085

login, game

Game client

3.3.5a

on the player's PC

* Estimates, they depend on the machine. Check the real numbers with the commands in Maintenance. The playerbots module needs far more (hundreds of bots want 8+ GB RAM) and is not used here.

Before the long command you need two things: tmux, so a dropped SSH session doesn't kill the build, and the number of compile jobs for your machine.

Install tmux and open a session:

apt update && apt install -y tmux && tmux new -s azeroth

Detach without stopping the build: Ctrl+B, then D. Come back with:

tmux attach -t azeroth

Then, inside tmux, work out J: the number of compile jobs. It takes the smaller of your core count and your RAM at about 1.5 GB per job.

J=$(awk -v c=$(nproc) '/MemTotal/{m=int($2/1024/1024*10/15); if(m<1)m=1; if(m>c)m=c; print m}' /proc/meminfo) && echo "J=$J (cores: $(nproc), RAM: $(free -h | awk '/Mem:/{print $2}'))"

J only lives in this tmux session. With less than 3 GB of RAM, add swap. This is for a regular VM; in an LXC container swap is set by the Proxmox host.

fallocate -l 4G /swapfile && chmod 600 /swapfile && mkswap /swapfile && swapon /swapfile && echo '/swapfile none swap sw 0 0' >> /etc/fstab

The whole install is one chain joined with &&: if any step fails, the rest don't run. Paste it inside tmux after J is set.

export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive && V=0.8.36-1 && apt update && apt install -y git cmake make gcc g++ clang libssl-dev libbz2-dev libreadline-dev libncurses-dev libboost-all-dev lsb-release gnupg wget p7zip-full nodejs npm && npm install pm2 -g &&
mkdir -p ~/mysqlpackages && cd ~/mysqlpackages &&
wget "https://dev.mysql.com/get/mysql-apt-config_${V}_all.deb" &&
wget "https://dev.mysql.com/downloads/gpg/?file=mysql-apt-config_${V}_all.deb&p=37" -O mysql-apt-config_${V}_all.deb.asc &&
gpg --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys A8D3785C &&
gpg --verify mysql-apt-config_${V}_all.deb.asc mysql-apt-config_${V}_all.deb &&
dpkg -i ./mysql-apt-config_${V}_all.deb && apt update && apt install -y mysql-server libmysqlclient-dev &&
rm -v ~/mysqlpackages/mysql-apt-config_${V}_all* &&
mysql -e "DROP USER IF EXISTS 'acore'@'localhost'; CREATE USER 'acore'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'acore' WITH MAX_QUERIES_PER_HOUR 0 MAX_CONNECTIONS_PER_HOUR 0 MAX_UPDATES_PER_HOUR 0; CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS acore_world DEFAULT CHARACTER SET UTF8MB4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci; CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS acore_characters DEFAULT CHARACTER SET UTF8MB4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci; CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS acore_auth DEFAULT CHARACTER SET UTF8MB4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci; GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON acore_world.* TO 'acore'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION; GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON acore_characters.* TO 'acore'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION; GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON acore_auth.* TO 'acore'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;" &&
git -C ~/ clone https://github.com/azerothcore/azerothcore-wotlk.git --branch master --single-branch azerothcore &&
git -C ~/azerothcore/modules clone https://github.com/azerothcore/mod-anticheat &&
rm -rf ~/server/data && mkdir -p ~/server/data && cd ~/server/data &&
wget https://github.com/wowgaming/client-data/releases/download/v20.0/data.zip && 7z x data.zip && rm data.zip &&
mkdir -p ~/azerothcore/build && cd ~/azerothcore/build &&
cmake ../ -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=$HOME/server/ -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=/usr/bin/clang -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=/usr/bin/clang++ -DWITH_WARNINGS=1 -DTOOLS_BUILD=db-only -DSCRIPTS=static -DMODULES=static &&
make -j $J install &&
cp -n ~/server/etc/authserver.conf.dist ~/server/etc/authserver.conf &&
cp -n ~/server/etc/worldserver.conf.dist ~/server/etc/worldserver.conf &&
cp -n ~/server/etc/modules/Anticheat.conf.dist ~/server/etc/modules/Anticheat.conf &&
sed -i -E "s|^DataDir = .*|DataDir = \"$HOME/server/data\"|" ~/server/etc/worldserver.conf &&
sed -i -E "s|^LogsDir = .*|LogsDir = \"$HOME/server/logs\"|" ~/server/etc/*.conf &&
mkdir -p ~/server/logs &&
pm2 start $HOME/server/bin/authserver --name authserver -- -c $HOME/server/etc/authserver.conf &&
pm2 start $HOME/server/bin/worldserver --name worldserver -- -c $HOME/server/etc/worldserver.conf &&
pm2 startup && pm2 save

What it does, in order: packages and pm2, MySQL from the MySQL repository, the databases and the acore user, the source code, prebuilt client data, the compile, configs, start and autostart.

• Don't need the anti-cheat module? Remove the two lines with mod-anticheat and Anticheat.conf.
• If wget for MySQL returns 404, the version in V is out of date. Take the current one from the mysql-apt-config download page on dev.mysql.com.

The server is ready when both processes in pm2 show online and the worldserver log has the line World Initialized.

pm2 status && pm2 logs worldserver --lines 30 --nostream

On first start worldserver fills the databases itself. The log shows Applying '...sql' lines for a few minutes. To follow it live:

pm2 logs worldserver

Leave with Ctrl+C; the server keeps running.

Once the AC> prompt appears, you can create an account.

Accounts are created in the worldserver console. The login is a plain username, not an email.

Open the console:

pm2 attach $(pm2 id worldserver | tr -d '[][:space:]')

In the console, with your own name and password:

account create USERNAME PASSWORD
account set gmlevel USERNAME 3 -1

The second command gives the account admin rights (level 3) on all realms. Ctrl+C only detaches you; the server keeps running under pm2.

Check that the account exists and has its rights:

mysql -e "SELECT a.id, a.username, aa.gmlevel, aa.RealmID FROM acore_auth.account a LEFT JOIN acore_auth.account_access aa ON aa.id = a.id;"

The username is stored in capitals, gmlevel should be 3 and RealmID should be -1.

Out of the box the database holds a local realm address. Players from the internet can log in but can't enter the world until you change it.

Write the address to the database. Replace x.x.x.x with the external IP or domain that clients connect to:

mysql -e "UPDATE acore_auth.realmlist SET address='x.x.x.x' WHERE id=1;"

Check it:

mysql -e "SELECT id,name,address,port FROM acore_auth.realmlist;"

authserver rereads the realm list about every 10 seconds. If it didn't pick up the change, restart it:

pm2 restart authserver

Ports#

Forward these two ports on your router to the server. Never open 3306 (MySQL), 7878 or 3443 to the outside.

Client#

Players need a 3.3.5a client. In realmlist.wtf (in Data/<locale>, for example Data/enUS) put one line:

set realmlist x.x.x.x

Maintenance#

Day-to-day control goes through pm2. Updates and backups come down to a few commands.

Resource usage#

Real memory and CPU per process (the RSS column is in kilobytes). Best checked 10–15 minutes after start:

ps -eo pid,comm,rss,pcpu --sort=-rss | head -n 6 && free -h

Update#

Set J first (the command from step 1), then:

cd ~/azerothcore && git pull && git -C modules/mod-anticheat pull && cd build && cmake ../ -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=$HOME/server/ -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=/usr/bin/clang -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=/usr/bin/clang++ -DWITH_WARNINGS=1 -DTOOLS_BUILD=db-only -DSCRIPTS=static -DMODULES=static && make -j $J install && pm2 restart authserver worldserver

The world applies new SQL updates itself on restart. The community guide also has a ready-made acoreupdate alias that does the same in one command and warns players first.

Database backup#

Uses the default user and password; change them here if you changed them.

for db in acore_auth acore_characters acore_world; do mysqldump -uacore -pacore $db > ~/$db-$(date +%F).sql; done

Configs#

They live in ~/server/etc/: worldserver.conf and authserver.conf. Edit the line you need, then pm2 restart worldserver. The .conf.dist files stay untouched as a reference.

Change the database password#

The default is acore/acore. This command from the community guide asks for a new password and updates both MySQL and the configs:

while true; do read -s -p "Set a new SQL password: " MYSQL_PASSWORD && echo; read -s -p "Retype SQL password: " MYSQL_PASSWORD_CONFIRM && echo; [ "$MYSQL_PASSWORD" = "$MYSQL_PASSWORD_CONFIRM" ] && break || echo "Passwords did not match."; done; unset MYSQL_PASSWORD_CONFIRM && mysql -e "ALTER USER 'acore'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY '${MYSQL_PASSWORD}'; FLUSH PRIVILEGES;" && sed -i -E "s|= \"127.0.0.1;3306;acore;[^;]*;|= \"127.0.0.1;3306;acore;${MYSQL_PASSWORD};|" ~/server/etc/*.conf && unset MYSQL_PASSWORD && pm2 restart authserver worldserver

Security#

For a server that's reachable from the internet, what matters most is the database password, closed ports and SSH keys.

• Database password. The default is acore/acore. MySQL only listens on localhost, so it's tolerable to start with, but change it (see Maintenance).
• Ports. Only 3724 and 8085 face the internet. Don't forward 3306 (MySQL), 7878 or 3443.
• Root. The processes run as root, which is fine for an isolated VM. Nothing blocks it, but forums advise against it: if the server is open to everyone, a separate user is safer.
• Firewall on a VPS. On a VPS facing the internet directly (not behind a home router), turn on the firewall. SSH is allowed first so you don't lock yourself out.

apt install -y ufw fail2ban && ufw default deny incoming && ufw default allow outgoing && ufw allow 22/tcp && ufw allow 3724/tcp && ufw allow 8085/tcp && ufw --force enable

• SSH key instead of a password. Debian forbids root password login over SSH by default, so you need a key either way. Creating one is covered in the WoW Forever guide.
• Admin rights. Only your own account should have gmlevel 3.

Troubleshooting#

Most install failures come down to running out of memory, leftovers from a previous attempt, or the realm address.

pm2 logs are in ~/.pm2/logs, the server's own logs in ~/server/logs:

tail -n 50 ~/server/logs/Server.log

If there's no Server.log, ls ~/server/logs shows what's there.