firefrost-operations-manual/docs/troubleshooting/nc1-cleanup-guidelines.md

NC1 Server Cleanup Guidelines

Overview

This document provides safe cleanup procedures for the NC1 Charlotte server to prevent accidental deletion of critical game files.

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Critical Warning: Know What You're Deleting

THE GOLDEN RULE: Always list files before deleting them with ls -lah to verify what will be removed.

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Safe Cleanup Procedures

1. Journal/Log Cleanup (SAFE)

# Clean systemd journals
journalctl --vacuum-time=7d
journalctl --vacuum-size=1G

# Clean old logs
find /var/log -type f -name "*.log.*" -mtime +30 -delete
find /var/log -type f -name "*.gz" -mtime +30 -delete

2. Docker Cleanup (SAFE)

# Remove unused containers, networks, images
docker system prune -af --volumes

# Remove old images only
docker image prune -a

3. APT Cache Cleanup (SAFE)

apt-get clean
apt-get autoclean
apt-get autoremove -y

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Game Server Specific Cleanup

❌ DANGEROUS - DO NOT USE

# THESE WILL DELETE CRITICAL FILES:
rm -f /var/lib/pterodactyl/volumes/<uuid>/*.zip
rm -rf /var/lib/pterodactyl/volumes/<uuid>/backups

✅ SAFE - Server-Specific Cleanup

Hytale Server

UUID: 13c80cb8-f6f8-4bfe-9cdb-823d7e951584

Critical Files - NEVER DELETE:

• Assets.zip (3.3GB) - Core game assets
• Server/ directory - Server binaries
• hytale-downloader* - Update tool
• config.json - Server configuration
• .hytale-downloader-credentials.json - Auth tokens
• universe/ - World data (unless intentionally wiping)

Safe to Delete:

cd /var/lib/pterodactyl/volumes/13c80cb8-f6f8-4bfe-9cdb-823d7e951584

# Old manual backups (verify first!)
ls -lah universe-backup-*.tar.gz
rm -f universe-backup-*.tar.gz  # Only after verifying dates

# Server package after extraction
rm -f Server-Package.zip

# Old backup directory (ONLY if you have external backups)
ls -lah backups/  # Verify first!
rm -rf backups/   # ONLY if confirmed backed up elsewhere

# Old logs
rm -f logs/*.log.*.gz

Minecraft Servers (ATM 10, etc.)

Critical Files - NEVER DELETE:

• world/ - Main world
• world_nether/ - Nether dimension
• world_the_end/ - End dimension
• Server JAR files
• server.properties
• ops.json, whitelist.json

Safe to Delete:

cd /var/lib/pterodactyl/volumes/<minecraft-uuid>

# Old crash reports
rm -rf crash-reports/*.txt

# Old logs
rm -f logs/*.log.gz

# Old backups (verify externally backed up first!)
ls -lah *backup*.tar.gz
rm -f *backup*.tar.gz  # Only after external verification

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Pre-Cleanup Checklist

Before ANY cleanup operation:

1. Stop affected servers (if deleting from server directories)
2. List files to be deleted:

   ls -lah <target-directory>
   

3. Verify file sizes and dates - ensure you're not deleting recent/large critical files
4. Have external backups - if deleting backups, ensure they exist elsewhere
5. Document what you're deleting - take notes for recovery if needed

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Emergency Recovery

If You Accidentally Deleted Critical Files

Hytale Assets.zip Recovery:

cd /var/lib/pterodactyl/volumes/13c80cb8-f6f8-4bfe-9cdb-823d7e951584

# Re-download using hytale-downloader
./hytale-downloader-linux-amd64 -download-path Server-Package.zip

# Extract nested Assets.zip
unzip -j Server-Package.zip Assets.zip

# Verify size (should be 3.3GB)
ls -lh Assets.zip

# Clean up package
rm Server-Package.zip

Hytale World Data Recovery:

If you deleted universe/ or its contents:

# Check for backup tarballs
ls -lah universe-backup-*.tar.gz

# Restore from most recent backup
tar -xzf universe-backup-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.tar.gz

# If no backup exists, server will generate fresh world on restart

Minecraft World Recovery:

# Check for world backups
ls -lah world-backup-*.tar.gz

# Restore
tar -xzf world-backup-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.tar.gz

# If no backup, you may have lost the world permanently

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Disk Space Analysis Before Cleanup

Always analyze first to target the actual space hogs:

# Check overall disk usage
df -h

# Find largest directories
du -h --max-depth=1 / | sort -hr | head -20

# Find largest files
find / -type f -size +100M -exec ls -lh {} \; 2>/dev/null | sort -k5 -hr | head -20

# Check Pterodactyl volumes specifically
du -h --max-depth=2 /var/lib/pterodactyl/volumes/ | sort -hr | head -20

# Check Docker space usage
docker system df

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Recommended Cleanup Schedule

Weekly:

• Docker system prune
• Journal vacuum (keep 7 days)
• Old log rotation

Monthly:

• Review game server backups
• Clean old crash reports
• APT cache cleanup

Quarterly:

• Full disk analysis
• Archive old game server backups to external storage
• Review Pterodactyl volume usage

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Space Reclamation Examples

From our 2026-02-16 cleanup session:

Action	Space Reclaimed
Delete Hytale backups	~10GB
Journal vacuum (7d)	3.7GB
Docker system prune	3.5GB
Total	17.42GB

Lessons learned:

• ✅ Cleaned journals safely
• ✅ Removed Docker cruft
• ❌ Accidentally deleted Assets.zip with wildcard *.zip
• ❌ Accidentally wiped Hytale world (was in /backups/)

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Command Safety Tips

Use Specific Patterns, Not Wildcards

# ❌ DANGEROUS - Deletes ALL zip files:
rm -f *.zip

# ✅ SAFE - Only deletes backup zips:
rm -f backup-*.zip
rm -f *-backup.zip

# ✅ SAFER - List first, then delete:
ls -lah *.zip
# Review output, then delete specific files
rm -f specific-file.zip

Always Use -i for Interactive Deletion

# Prompts before each deletion:
rm -i *.zip

# Prompts before recursive deletion:
rm -ri backups/

Use find with Confirmation

# Find and list candidates:
find /var/log -name "*.gz" -mtime +30 -ls

# Review, then delete:
find /var/log -name "*.gz" -mtime +30 -delete

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Pterodactyl Panel Considerations

Prefer Panel-based operations when possible:

• Backups: Use Pterodactyl's built-in backup system
• File deletion: Use file manager (provides trash/restore)
• Server reinstall: Use panel reinstall feature

Only use SSH/direct access when:

• Bulk operations needed
• Panel is unavailable
• Advanced troubleshooting required

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Quick Reference: What NOT to Delete

Hytale (13c80cb8-f6f8-4bfe-9cdb-823d7e951584)

❌ Assets.zip
❌ Server/
❌ hytale-downloader*
❌ config.json
❌ .hytale-downloader-credentials.json
❌ universe/ (unless wiping intentionally)

Minecraft (All servers)

❌ world*/
❌ *.jar (server files)
❌ server.properties
❌ ops.json, whitelist.json
❌ Recent backups (check dates!)

System-Wide

❌ /var/lib/pterodactyl/volumes/ (entire directory)
❌ Critical Docker images (in use)
❌ Recent journals (< 7 days)

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Last Updated: 2026-02-16
NC1 Server: 216.239.104.130 (Charlotte, NC datacenter)
Maintained by: Firefrost Gaming