About AdminBolt
AdminBolt is a web hosting control panel. It lets you manage a server that hosts websites and domains from a web interface, so you don't have to open a terminal for every routine task. It is aimed at developers, agencies and small teams who want to run their own server.
At delivery, the cloud-init recipe has already run the official installer (curl -fsSL https://get.adminbolt.com/install.sh | bash) on a fresh server. The panel listens on https://SERVER_IP:8443. The installer output is kept in /home/adminbolt-install-log.txt.
There is no password to look up in a file. You generate a login link directly on the server with the bolt-cli admin-sso-generate command.
What you can do with AdminBolt
Automated official installer
The project's install script runs at delivery on a clean server. There is nothing to download or compile yourself.
Login through an SSO link
The bolt-cli admin-sso-generate command produces a login link to the admin area. You get into the panel without needing a password first.
Web panel on port 8443
The admin interface is served over HTTPS on port 8443 of the server's IP address. You can open it from any browser.
Installation log kept on disk
The full installer output is written to /home/adminbolt-install-log.txt. If you doubt that the installation went well, it is the first file to read.
Server dedicated to hosting
The panel is designed to be installed on a fresh server and take over its management. You keep full root access to the VPS.
Get started with AdminBolt
From order to production in a few minutes.
- 1
Order the VPS with AdminBolt
Choose a Linux VPS in Paris or Frankfurt, then tick AdminBolt in the "Applications" tab of the order form. Plan for at least 2 cores, 2 GB of RAM (4 GB recommended) and 20 GB of disk.
- 2
Connect to the server
Once the VPS is delivered, connect over SSH and check the end of the installation log. The installation can take a few minutes after the first connection.
Bashssh root@SERVER_IP tail -n 30 /home/adminbolt-install-log.txt - 3
Generate the login link
Run the command below on the server, then open the resulting link in your browser. It points to the panel on port 8443. Because the certificate is initially self-signed or not tied to a domain, the browser may show a warning.
Bashbolt-cli admin-sso-generate - 4
Secure it for production
Point a domain name to SERVER_IP at your registrar, then reach the panel through that name and enable HTTPS. Next, use the firewall to restrict port 8443 to the addresses that need it, and schedule regular backups, including VPS snapshots.
AdminBolt use cases
Host your clients' websites
An agency puts several clients' sites on a single VPS and manages them from one interface, keeping root access for the edge cases.
Replace shared hosting
You leave a shared plan that has become too limiting and take back control of the server configuration, while keeping a panel for everyday tasks.
Consolidate your own projects
A freelance developer gathers their sites and applications on one server instead of spreading them across several small hosting plans.
Try a panel before migrating
You evaluate AdminBolt on a fresh VPS before moving existing sites onto it, using [a Linux VPS](/vps-linux) that you can reinstall as often as you like.
AdminBolt FAQ
Connect to the server over SSH and run bolt-cli admin-sso-generate. The command returns a login link to the panel, served over HTTPS on port 8443 (https://SERVER_IP:8443).
More about AdminBolt
Operating system compatibility
The installation recipe states that AdminBolt officially supports only AlmaLinux 9 and Rocky Linux 9, not Debian or Ubuntu. The images offered with this application are Debian 12 and 13, plus Ubuntu 20.04, 22.04 and 24.04. The installer is run as is on the image you choose.
After delivery, read /home/adminbolt-install-log.txt and check that bolt-cli responds before you migrate anything. If the installation did not complete on your system, contact us or consult the project documentation before going further.
Resources to plan for
The stated minimum is 2 cores, 2 GB of RAM and 20 GB of disk, with 4 GB of RAM recommended. These figures cover the panel itself. Each hosted site then takes its share of memory and disk space, so size the server according to the number of sites you plan to run.
Panel access and security
Port 8443 is the administration port. Once your domain is configured, avoid leaving this port open to the whole Internet if you can: allow only your fixed IP addresses. Links generated by bolt-cli admin-sso-generate give access to the admin area, so treat them like passwords and do not share them.
Backups
The VPS does not back itself up just because the panel is installed. Plan an off-server backup of your sites and databases, in addition to VPS snapshots. Test a restore at least once before going live.
