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AzerothCore Debian 12 Install Guide

This is a quickstart guide for installing AzerothCore to a Debian 12 server from your Windows PC. For a more in-depth tutorial, see the official AzerothCore Installation Guide.

Requirements
Debian Setup
SSH Setup
AzerothCore Installation
Maintenance
Common Problems
Other Resources

Requirements

PuTTY

A Windows program for sending commands to the server.

Debian 12

A server with Debian 12 installed. (ex: 4gb/4core VPS from OVH)

Optional

HeidiSQL

A Windows program for connecting to the servers SQL database. Not used in this guide. If you want to connect to your database using HeidiSQL, read this

Debian Setup

Use PuTTY to connect to your Debian server using the IP address and login credentials supplied by the hosting provider.

For each step copy the entire code block and paste it into the PuTTY terminal with right click, then hit enter.

If you're logged in as root...

Create a new user with sudo privileges and switch to it.

read -p "New username: " USERNAME
adduser "$USERNAME"
usermod -aG sudo "$USERNAME"
su - "$USERNAME"

sudo sed -i 's/^#\?PermitRootLogin .*/PermitRootLogin no/' /etc/ssh/sshd_config
sudo systemctl reload ssh

Change Default SSH Port

sudo sed -i 's/^#Port 22\+$/Port 55022/' /etc/ssh/sshd_config
sudo systemctl restart sshd

(Remember to use 55022 as the SSH port from now on)

Setup Firewall

sudo apt install ufw
sudo ufw default deny incoming
sudo ufw default allow outgoing
sudo ufw allow 55022
sudo ufw allow 3724
sudo ufw allow 8085
sudo ufw enable

Get Dependencies

sudo apt update && sudo apt install 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 fail2ban -y && sudo npm install pm2 -g

Get MySQL

Visit the MySQL APT repository to verify the latest version.

# Version
MYSQL_APT_CONFIG_VERSION=0.8.34-1
# # # # #
mkdir -p ~/mysqlpackages && cd ~/mysqlpackages
# Download
wget "https://dev.mysql.com/get/mysql-apt-config_${MYSQL_APT_CONFIG_VERSION}_all.deb"
wget "https://dev.mysql.com/downloads/gpg/?file=mysql-apt-config_${MYSQL_APT_CONFIG_VERSION}_all.deb&p=37" -O mysql-apt-config_${MYSQL_APT_CONFIG_VERSION}_all.deb.asc
# Verify
gpg --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys A8D3785C
gpg --verify mysql-apt-config_${MYSQL_APT_CONFIG_VERSION}_all.deb.asc mysql-apt-config_${MYSQL_APT_CONFIG_VERSION}_all.deb
# Install
sudo DEBIAN_FRONTEND="noninteractive" dpkg -i ./mysql-apt-config_${MYSQL_APT_CONFIG_VERSION}_all.deb
sudo apt update
sudo DEBIAN_FRONTEND="noninteractive" apt install -y mysql-server libmysqlclient-dev
# Cleanup
rm -v mysql-apt-config_${MYSQL_APT_CONFIG_VERSION}_all* && unset MYSQL_APT_CONFIG_VERSION

Setup SQL Database

sudo mysql <<'EOF'
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;
EOF

SSH Setup

This is an optional step that involves creating a key file and disabling password-based SSH logins to increase security of the Debian server and SQL database.

▫️▫️▫️

FileZilla

This step requires FileZilla, a Windows program for transferring files to/from the server.

Key Generation

Debian Public Key

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "Debian12"
cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

Windows Private Key

Use Filezilla to connect to the server and navigate to home/USERNAME/ssh/
Copy the id_ed25519 file to your PC and load it into puttygen.exe (located in the PuTTY folder)
Generate a private key .ppk file. Store this file somewhere safe and make a backup.

PuTTY

PuTTY1 PuTTY2

FileZilla

HeidiSQL

HeidiSQL12 HeidiSQL2

Disable Password Logins

After confirming that key-based login works, disable password logins.

sudo sed -i -E 's/#?PasswordAuthentication yes/PasswordAuthentication no/' /etc/ssh/sshd_config
sudo rm /etc/ssh/sshd_config.d/*
sudo service ssh restart

AzerothCore Installation

Clone Repository

git -C ~/ clone https://github.com/azerothcore/azerothcore-wotlk.git --branch master --single-branch azerothcore

Add Anticheat Module

git -C ~/azerothcore/modules clone https://github.com/azerothcore/mod-anticheat

Get Data Files

rm -rf ~/server/data &&
mkdir -p ~/server/data && cd ~/server/data &&
wget https://github.com/wowgaming/client-data/releases/download/v17/data.zip &&
7z x data.zip && rm data.zip

Build Core

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 $(nproc) install

Edit Configs

# Copy .dist
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
# Data Directory
sudo sed -i -E "s|^DataDir = .*|DataDir = \"/home/$USER/server/data\"|" ~/server/etc/worldserver.conf
# Logs Directory
sudo sed -i -E "s|^LogsDir = .*|LogsDir = \"/home/$USER/server/logs\"|" ~/server/etc/*.conf
mkdir -p ~/server/logs

Launch Server

pm2 start $HOME/server/bin/authserver --name authserver -- -c $HOME/server/etc/authserver.conf
pm2 start $HOME/server/bin/worldserver --name worldserver -- -c $HOME/server/etc/worldserver.conf
eval "$(pm2 startup | grep sudo)"
pm2 save
pm2 attach $(pm2 id worldserver | tr -d '[][:space:]')

Create GM account

account create USERNAME PASSWORD

account set gmlevel USERNAME 3 -1

Detach from the worldserver with Ctrl+C.

Set Realm IP

sudo mysql <<'EOF'
UPDATE `acore_auth`.`realmlist` SET `address` = 'x.x.x.x' WHERE `id` = 1;
EOF

Change x.x.x.x to the public IP address of your Debian12 server.

Finish!

You should now be able to log into AzerothCore by setting your WoW clients realmlist.wtf to the public IP address of the Debian12 server. ex: set realmlist 12.345.67.890

Maintenance

Change SQL Password

This changes the password for the acore database user. The guide uses default "acore/acore" SQL credentials.

# Prompt for new password
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
# Update SQL user
sudo mysql <<EOF
ALTER USER 'acore'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY '${MYSQL_PASSWORD}';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EOF
# Update configs
sudo sed -i -E "s|= \"127.0.0.1;3306;acore;[^;]*;|= \"127.0.0.1;3306;acore;${MYSQL_PASSWORD};|" ~/server/etc/*.conf
# Cleanup
unset MYSQL_PASSWORD

Modify Config Files

This script can be extended to include all your preferred config settings. Running it will delete the .conf files and remake them from the .dist before applying changes.

#!/bin/bash
# Helper: Reset and update configs
update_config() {
    local config_file="$1"
    declare -n settings="$2"
    cp -f "${config_file}.dist" "$config_file"
    for key in "${!settings[@]}"; do
        sudo sed -i -E "s|^($key\s*=\s*).*|\1${settings[$key]}|" "$config_file"
    done
}
# Authserver.conf
declare -A auth_settings=(
    ["LogsDir"]="\"$HOME/server/logs\""
)
# Worldserver.conf
declare -A world_settings=(
    ["DataDir"]="\"$HOME/server/data\""
    ["LogsDir"]="\"$HOME/server/logs\""
    ["StartPlayerLevel"]="1"
)
# Anticheat.conf
declare -A anticheat_settings=(
    ["LogsDir"]="\"$HOME/server/logs\""
)
#### Add your modules here ####

# Apply updates
update_config "$HOME/server/etc/authserver.conf" auth_settings
update_config "$HOME/server/etc/worldserver.conf" world_settings
update_config "$HOME/server/etc/modules/Anticheat.conf" anticheat_settings
#### Add your modules here ####

Core Update Command

This creates a shortcut command to automate the core update process.

cat <<'EOF' >> ~/.bash_aliases
alias acoreupdate='
WORLD_ID="$(pm2 id worldserver | tr -d "[][:space:]")"
CORE_UPDATED=0

# Helper: Check for updates
update_repo() {
    local REPO_PATH="$1"
    git -C "$REPO_PATH" fetch origin
    LOCAL_HASH=$(git -C "$REPO_PATH" rev-parse HEAD)
    REMOTE_HASH=$(git -C "$REPO_PATH" rev-parse "@{upstream}")
    if [ "$LOCAL_HASH" != "$REMOTE_HASH" ]; then
        git -C "$REPO_PATH" pull
        CORE_UPDATED=1
    fi
}

# Helper: Build and restart
update_core() {
    cd "$HOME/azerothcore/build" &&
    cmake ../ -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX="$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 "$(nproc)" install &&
    pm2 send "$WORLD_ID" "saveall" &&
    pm2 send "$WORLD_ID" "server restart 10" &&
    echo "Restarting worldserver in 10 seconds..." &&
    sleep 12 &&
    pm2 restart "$WORLD_ID" &&
    pm2 attach "$WORLD_ID"
}

# Check for updates
update_repo "$HOME/azerothcore"
update_repo "$HOME/azerothcore/modules/mod-anticheat"
##### Add your modules here #####

# Build and restart
if [ "$CORE_UPDATED" -eq 1 ]; then update_core; else echo "AzerothCore is up-to-date."; fi
'
EOF
source ~/.bash_aliases

Now you can pull the latest changes from GitHub, build the updated core, and restart the worldserver all with one command:

Update AzerothCore

acoreupdate

Common Problems

Double check the realm address.

Crash loop causing incomplete error logs.

Stop worldserver with pm2 stop and start it with pm2 start --no-autorestart to get a full error log.

Good things to know that this guide does not cover.

Domain name and DNS setup for "set realmlist logon.server.com"
Wordpress registration site & acore-cms plugin SOAP connection.
Automated database backups to Google Drive using cron and rclone.

AzerothCore Debian 12 Install Guide

Table of Contents

Requirements

PuTTY

Debian 12

Optional

HeidiSQL

Debian Setup

First Login

Create a new user with sudo privileges and switch to it.

Disable remote root login

Change Default SSH Port

Setup Firewall

Get Dependencies

Get MySQL

Setup SQL Database

SSH Setup

FileZilla

Key Generation

Debian Public Key

Windows Private Key

Key-based Login Setup

FileZilla

Disable Password Logins

AzerothCore Installation

Clone Repository

Add Anticheat Module

Get Data Files

Build Core

Edit Configs

Launch Server

Create GM account

Set Realm IP

Finish!

Maintenance

Change SQL Password

Modify Config Files

Core Update Command

Update AzerothCore

Common Problems

Successful login but cant enter the realm.

Crash loop causing incomplete error logs.

Good things to know that this guide does not cover.

Other Resources