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High-Availability Game Server Orchestration & Edge Security

Pterodactyl Panel

Company: Personal Project

Architected a self-hosted gaming infrastructure using the Pterodactyl Panel and Docker, enabling secure, containerized Minecraft Bedrock hosting. Developed a security-first deployment strategy using reverse proxies and hardened firewall rules to allow public access while maintaining internal network integrity.

The Objective

I wanted to build a robust, scalable, and secure gaming environment for a "client" (my daughter) that mimicked professional game hosting services. The goal was to deploy a Minecraft Bedrock instance while ensuring high performance and rigorous security standards.

The Solution: Pterodactyl Panel Integration

Rather than a basic standalone server, I implemented Pterodactyl, an open-source, Docker-based game management panel. This added a layer of enterprise-grade management to the project:

  • Containerized Workloads: Deployed game instances within isolated Docker containers (using Pterodactyl's "Wings" nodes) to ensure resource capping and system stability.

  • Granular Resource Allocation: Configured specific CPU, RAM, and Disk I/O limits to optimize the performance of the Minecraft Bedrock engine.

  • Automated Life-cycle Management: Set up automated backups, schedules, and a web-based UI for remote management.

Security & Public Access Strategy

Exposing a home network to the internet for public play requires a sophisticated security posture. I implemented:

  • Secure Reverse Proxying: Leveraged tools to hide the home IP address and manage SSL/TLS encryption.

  • Firewall Logic: Configured specific port-forwarding and IP-whitelisting to prevent unauthorized access and mitigate common DDoS vulnerabilities.

  • Daemon Security: Hardened the Linux environment hosting the Pterodactyl "Wings" to ensure the host system remained isolated from the game server environment.

Technical Skills Showcased

  • Containerization: Docker, Docker-compose, and Image Management.

  • Systems Administration: Linux (Ubuntu/Debian), Web Server Management (Nginx/Apache), and PHP/MySQL stack.

  • Networking: Port Forwarding, NAT Traversal, SSL/TLS, and Edge Security.

  • User Experience (UX): Tailoring a complex backend into a simplified, accessible interface for the end-user.