System requirements

Check these before you install HF Panel. The installer checks the most important ones itself and stops, before it changes anything, when one is not met.

Operating system

HF Panel installs on a freshly installed, 64-bit server running one of these releases:

Important:

• Interim Ubuntu releases (for example 26.10) are not supported: they lose security updates after nine months.
• Install on a clean server. Do not install HF Panel on a server that already runs another control panel, websites, a mail server or a database you want to keep. The download script refuses to run when it finds another control panel.

Newer versions of Nginx, Apache, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, Redis and Node.js can be installed later under Server Admin › System › Software versions, and extra PHP versions under Server Admin › System › PHP & Node.js.

Hardware

The installer stops when the server has less than 1 GB of memory or less than 5 GB of free disk on /. Its summary also warns when there is less than 2 GB of memory or 10 GB of free disk. On servers with less than 4 GB of memory, HF Panel adds a swap file.

Virtualisation

A VPS must be a full virtual machine that runs systemd: KVM, VMware, Hyper-V, Xen, or a dedicated server. Containers (OpenVZ, LXC, Docker) are not supported, because the panel manages services, the firewall and disk quotas itself. The installer detects a container and stops.

Network

• A public IPv4 address on the server. IPv6 is used too when the server has it.
• A domain name you control for the server's addresses, for example yourdomain.com, which gives server.yourdomain.com, panel.yourdomain.com and the others. See DNS setup.
• Access to your server provider's settings, to set the reverse DNS (PTR) of the IP. Without it, email from the server is likely to go to spam.
• Outgoing internet access during the installation, for packages, Let's Encrypt, the licence check and the HF Panel download.
• Outgoing port 25 for email. Many providers block it on new accounts; ask them to open it, or the server cannot deliver email to other mail servers.

Ports

The installer opens these in the server's firewall (ufw). If your provider also has a cloud firewall or security group, open the same ports there.

The full list, including ports that stay closed to the outside: Ports.

Access

• Root access: log in as root, or run sudo -i first.
• The installer asks its questions on the keyboard, so run it in a normal SSH session. It also works when piped through curl … | bash. Without a keyboard (an automated install), give every answer as an option: see Customise the installation.

Licence

The installer asks for a licence key (HFL-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX), which is tied to the server's public IPv4 address. Type T at that question to start a free 14-day trial instead. See Licensing.

What the installer checks

Related

• DNS setup
• Install
• Troubleshoot the installation