Troubleshooting

Start with:

sudo hostable doctor <server>
sudo hostable logs <server> --lines 200
sudo systemctl status hostabled

#Friends cannot connect

1. hostable list: is it active and which port?
2. sudo ss -ltnup | grep <port>: is something actually listening?
3. sudo ufw status: the port should be allowed.
4. Your VPS provider's dashboard firewall: open the same port (UDP for Palworld and ARK, TCP for Minecraft).
5. Clients and server on different game versions? Update the server.

#"port N is already in use by another process"

Another service holds the port, often an old hand-made unit. sudo ss -ltnup | grep <port> shows the owner. Stop and disable it, then start the Hostable one.

#"N player(s) are online"

Intentional. Ask them to leave or add --force.

#"cannot reach the server console"

The server is stopped, still starting (Minecraft takes a minute to open RCON) or RCON is off. For imported Minecraft servers, set enable-rcon=true, rcon.port and rcon.password in server.properties, restart once, then re-import.

#Palworld setting does nothing

A co-op WorldOption.sav overrides the INI. See Palworld.

#"Cannot read /etc/hostable/operator-token"

Run with sudo.

#SteamCMD fails to start or segfaults

Steam's tools are 32-bit x86. They do not run on ARM VPSes or under Rosetta. Use an x86_64 VPS for Palworld and ARK.

#The VPS froze or the server was killed

That is out-of-memory. dmesg | grep -i "killed process" confirms it. See Small VPS for swap and sizing.

#Disk is almost full

sudo hostable disk, then sudo hostable disk --clean journal. Review old server copies it lists under /home.