Dedicated Linux Server - Automatic Server Restart Script

As the title says, I was after creating a working script that basically runs every X hours, and executes the following:

• servermsg to all players about a restart x mins prior
  
• quitting and restarting the server
  
• wait for a minute
  
• executing the start-server.sh file to start the server again

Intro

To schedule this script I used

crontab -e

in Linux, which is a basic task scheduler. In addition, I went the route of using Linux's screen, as you can create screens, name them, run them in the background, and shut them down. Sounds like a great solution to compartmentalising the tasks.

restart-server.sh

This is what I got:
- For restart-server.sh

#!/bin/bash

screen -d -r proj_z

screen -S proj_z -X stuff 'servermsg "RESTART after 1 minute."\r'

sleep 55

screen -S proj_z -X stuff 'servermsg "RESTART in 5 seconds."\r'

sleep 1

screen -S proj_z -X stuff 'servermsg "RESTART in 4 seconds."\r'

sleep 1

screen -S proj_z -X stuff 'servermsg "RESTART in 3 seconds."\r'

sleep 1

screen -S proj_z -X stuff 'servermsg "RESTART in 2 seconds."\r'

sleep 1

screen -S proj_z -X stuff 'servermsg "RESTART in 1 second."\r'

sleep 1

screen -S proj_z -X stuff 'servermsg "RESTART"\r'

sleep 1

screen -X -S proj_z quit

screen -wipe proj_z

sleep 5

# restart
screen -dmS proj_z sh ~/Steam/proj_z/start-server.sh

scheduling using crontab -e

- For scheduling using

crontab -e

# m h  dom mon dow   command
*/120 * * * * sh /home/steam/Zomboid/Server/restart-server.sh

(for some reason it went into a never-ending loop if I use hours for the time instead)

first server start-up

- Once you set both of those up, just launch your server using the sh file for the server start:

  screen -dmS proj_z sh ~/Steam/proj_z/start-server.sh 

Enjoy your auto-refreshing server.

DONE

Let me know if you have any questions, this guide assumes you already know how to setup a dedicated server. Doh.

Credits to this post [theindiestone.com] as it helped me a lot, but seems a little outdated.

[Zigla Nauthiz]

Hi man, great guide but I have a couple of newbie questions hehe
1) In the restart-server.sh, why is that the path to start-server.sh? isnt in Zomboid/Server?
2) When scheduling, I do I have to be also in Zomboid/Server?
3) When scheduling, can I just copy paste what you shared? 120 is the hours?
4) So your user where you installed SteamCMD is called proj_z? Then I think if I replace all of those with my own (pz) should be fine right?

first time working with Linux commands so thank you for your patience :)

[🅾️rder💲]

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