Install UTP Connect

UTP Connect is your park's web page. It runs on a small rented server — a VPS — separate from your Minecraft server. One command installs it: the installer checks your server, installs what's missing, gets the HTTPS certificate, and gives you the two values your Minecraft server needs. You don't need to know Linux: you copy one line, then answer a few questions.

1. Rent a VPS#

Any provider will do: Hetzner, OVHcloud, Contabo, DigitalOcean, Scaleway… Pick the smallest plan that has:

• Ubuntu 24.04 as the system (Debian 12, Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux work too),
• 2 GB of memory (1 GB can work for a small park: the installer then adds a little swap, disk space lent as memory),
• about 20 GB of disk.

That costs around €4 to €6 a month. When the VPS is ready, your provider gives you its IP address (four numbers, like 203.0.113.42) and a root password or an SSH key.

2. Choose its address#

Your guests open UTP Connect at an address of its own. You have two ways to get one:

• A free address, such as expedition-island.utpmc.site. No domain to buy and nothing to set up now: you create it from your client area while the installer runs. One comes with each license. Go straight to step 3.
• An address of your own domain, such as connect.your-park.com, if you have a domain. It needs one record in your domain's settings, below.

With your own domain#

In your domain provider's dashboard, open the DNS settings and add a record:

It can take from a few minutes to an hour before the address works everywhere. You can carry on meanwhile: the installer checks it for you, and waits if needed.

3. Connect to your VPS#

You type commands on your VPS through a terminal:

• Windows: open PowerShell, or use PuTTY.
• Mac and Linux: open Terminal.

Then type, with your own IP address:

ssh [email protected]

Answer yes the first time, and give the password your provider sent you. You are now "on" your VPS: the command below runs there.

4. Run the installer#

Copy this line, paste it in your terminal (right-click pastes in PowerShell and PuTTY) and press Enter:

curl -fsSL https://ultimate-themepark.com/install.sh | bash

Choose 1) Install UTP Connect, then answer its questions:

1. Checks. The installer looks at your server: its system, memory, disk space and internet connection. If something stands in the way, it says what and how to fix it.

2. Which version is your plugin? Pick yours — the newest is selected already — and the installer installs the UTP Connect made for it. To check yours, type version UltimateThemePark in your Minecraft server's console, or look at your downloads.

3. Do you have a domain name?

   • No — the installer gives you a link to your client area, with your VPS's IP address already filled in. Open it in your browser, choose a name for your park — lowercase letters, numbers and dashes, such as expedition-island — and press Create the address. Back in the installer, type just that name: it adds .utpmc.site itself.
   • Yes — type your address without https://, for example connect.your-park.com.

   Either way, the installer checks that the address points to this server. If it doesn't yet, it says what to fix, and you can check again once it's done.

4. Install? Press Enter.

With a free address, the question looks like this:

  Do you have a domain name?

    1) Yes, I have my own domain  — connect.your-park.com, for instance
    2) No, give me a free address  — your-park.utpmc.site, made in your client area

  › 2

  1. Open your client area — the link fills in this server's IP address, 51.38.12.7:
      https://ultimate-themepark.com/account/address?ip=51.38.12.7
  2. Choose a name for your park, and create the address.
  3. Come back here, and type the name you chose.

  ? Your address's name (what comes before .utpmc.site)
  › expedition-island
  ✔ expedition-island.utpmc.site points to this server

Then it works on its own for a few minutes: it installs Docker (the tool that runs UTP Connect), opens the firewall, starts UTP Connect and gets its HTTPS certificate. Each step ends with a ✔ — or a ✘ with what to do.

5. Copy your link secret#

The installer ends like this:

━━ UTP Connect is installed

  Your park's page:  https://connect.your-park.com

  In your Minecraft server, open plugins/UltimateThemePark/config.yml and set:

      connect:
        url: "https://connect.your-park.com"
        secret: "kP3v…long random text…9xQ"

The secret is a long random password that only your Minecraft server will know: it's how UTP Connect recognises it. Copy the url and the secret — you need them in the next step. Keep the secret to yourself.

Open your address in your browser: you should see a welcome page.

To see the secret again later, type utp-connect on your VPS and choose Show the address and the link secret.

Next step: Link your server.

Coming back later: utp-connect#

The installer leaves a command behind. On your VPS, type:

utp-connect

and a menu opens:

UTP Connect lives in the folder /opt/utp-connect. Your music isn't put there by hand: you upload it from UTP Connect's administration — see Add your music.

Your free address#

Your free address lives in your client area, under Address: you can see where it points, change it, or delete it.

• Moving to a new VPS? Restore your backup there (see Updating and backups). When the installer says your address still points to the old server, open the link it gives: your client area offers to point it to the new one.
• Changing its name? Rename it in your client area, then straight away, on your VPS, type utp-connect and choose Change the address. Then put the new address in your Minecraft server's config.yml. Your guests can't connect in between.
• We check it answers. Once a day, we check that your UTP Connect answers at its address. If nothing has answered for 60 days, the address is released and you get an e-mail. A VPS you gave up passes its IP address on to someone else, and your park's name would go with it. Still need it? Create it again: it takes a minute.

A revoked license loses its free address.

If your machine already runs a panel#

If you host your Minecraft servers yourself with Pterodactyl or Pelican, you can run the installer on that machine too. UTP Connect runs next to your panel, with Docker, and you manage it from the utp-connect menu, as on a VPS of its own. The installer finds out what's there and adapts:

• The panel's website runs here (with nginx, Apache or Caddy): UTP Connect goes through the same web server, for its own address only. Your panel keeps working as it does.
• Wings runs here (the part that runs your Minecraft servers): UTP Connect uses the same Docker, next to your servers, which keep running.

Other setups#

Ports 80 and 443 already belong to something the installer doesn't know — Nginx Proxy Manager, Traefik, a Dokploy or Coolify panel? It says so, and offers to run UTP Connect on a port of its own: you then point your web server at it yourself, with WebSocket support.

To deploy it entirely by hand, the installation file is docker-compose.yml: keep only the utp-connect service, set UTP_VERSION (the newest build for your plugin: the releases list each with its protocol) and DOMAIN, and point your domain at its port 3000 with HTTPS. The music you upload is kept in the music folder next to the file: give it to UTP Connect's user first, with chown -R 1001:1001 music.

If something goes wrong#

The installer explains every problem in plain words. The most common ones:

Fixed it? Run utp-connect and choose Show the address and the link secret: it checks everything again and finishes the job.

Still stuck? Ask on our Discord, with the file /var/log/utp-connect-installer.log from your VPS: it holds everything the installer did.