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The safest automatic restart is a short, announced maintenance sequence: warn players at about five minutes, warn again at one minute, run saveworld, wait for the save to finish, issue shutdown, and let your service, panel, container, or watchdog start the server again. This prevents players from being surprised and avoids interrupting a world write.
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What the restart sequence should do
A restart scheduler should coordinate two separate jobs: the game-server shutdown and the process supervisor’s startup. The game server must close cleanly; the supervisor must then launch it again. Scheduling only a process kill is unsafe because it can interrupt a world write.
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The documented sequence for 7 Days to Die is:
- Choose a maintenance time in the server’s configured local timezone and publish it to players.
- About five minutes before maintenance, send an in-game warning such as
say "Server restarts in 5 minutes - finish your run.". - At about one minute remaining, send
say "Restart in 60 seconds.". - Run
saveworldto flush the world to disk. - Wait briefly for the save to complete. The 7 Days To Die Wiki guide specifies approximately 10 seconds.
- Run
shutdownfor a clean server exit. - Have systemd, a hosting panel, a container supervisor, or another watchdog start the server process again.
saveworld manually flushes the world to disk, while shutdown saves and exits cleanly. Killing the operating-system process can interrupt a write, so an automated job should never substitute a forced kill for the in-game shutdown.
Plan the maintenance window before configuring anything
Use one clearly defined timezone
Pick a low-activity window and state the timezone in the server rules, community announcement, and any status page. A schedule that says “daily at 04:00” without a timezone will shift for players in other regions and can shift again when daylight-saving rules change. Use the timezone configured on the machine or hosting panel as the source of truth, and make the player-facing announcement explicit.
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Avoid events and blood-moon sessions
Do not place a recurring restart over a group’s regular event, expedition, or blood-moon session. The five-minute message is a warning, not a guarantee that players can finish a long activity. After the final warning, players should stop starting quests, vehicle trips, building operations, or other actions that depend on uninterrupted uptime.
Set a deferral policy
If your management layer can check player count, configure it to delay maintenance while players are active. Add a maximum deferral, however, so a busy server does not postpone maintenance indefinitely. A delayed run should be logged and announced rather than silently skipped.
There is no universal, scientifically established best restart interval. Daily restarts may suit a small private server, while a busier community may choose a less frequent window. Select an interval based on activity, update practice, and the time needed for maintenance, then keep the warning schedule consistent.
Configure telnet administration
The Linux procedure described by the 7 Days To Die Wiki uses the server’s telnet administration socket. Telnet settings are in serverconfig.xml. The relevant entries are TelnetEnabled, TelnetPort, and TelnetPassword.
- Enable telnet with
TelnetEnabled. - Set a port with
TelnetPort. The guide gives 8081 as the default example, but you must verify the value against the installed release. - Set a strong
TelnetPasswordand keep it out of public documentation and chat.
Restart or reload the game server after changing configuration if the installed release requires it. Confirm that the scheduler connects to the same address and port shown in the active configuration; do not assume that every host or release uses 8081.
Protect the administration socket
Restrict telnet access to the scheduler host or a private management network when your hosting environment permits it. Do not expose an administration port to the public internet without an access-control plan. Store the password in a protected secret or environment variable rather than embedding it in a world-readable script.
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Linux: build a scheduler around a wrapper script
A reliable Linux setup has three layers: a wrapper that connects to telnet and sends the game commands, a service or watchdog that owns the server process, and a systemd timer that starts the maintenance job at the chosen time. Cron can run the same wrapper, but the guide notes weaker failure logging and no equivalent to systemd’s Persistent=true behavior for missed runs.
1. Define the wrapper’s responsibilities
The wrapper should authenticate to telnet, send the five-minute warning, wait until the one-minute point, send the final warning, issue saveworld, wait for completion, issue shutdown, and return a meaningful success or failure status. The exact telnet client and connection-handling code depends on the distribution and hosting image, so treat the implementation as an adapter to your environment rather than copying an unverified script.
Conceptually, its command order is:
- Open the configured telnet socket and authenticate with
TelnetPassword. - Send
say "Server restarts in 5 minutes - finish your run.". - Wait until the one-minute warning point.
- Send
say "Restart in 60 seconds.". - Send
saveworld. - Wait approximately 10 seconds, or use a completion signal if your management layer provides one.
- Send
shutdown. - Exit with a status that systemd can record in its journal.
Log connection failures, authentication failures, command-send failures, and the final exit status. If authentication fails, the wrapper must not continue as though the save and shutdown succeeded.
2. Connect the wrapper to the server supervisor
The process supervisor should be responsible for starting the game server after a clean shutdown. In a systemd deployment, the game server normally has a service unit with its working directory, executable, user, and restart policy. The maintenance wrapper should request the in-game shutdown; it should not call kill -9 or otherwise terminate the process forcibly.
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3. Add a systemd timer
Create a oneshot service for the wrapper and a timer that triggers it at the maintenance time. The timer’s calendar expression must use the machine’s timezone unless you explicitly include a timezone in the expression. A conceptual unit contains:
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- A oneshot service whose
ExecStartpoints to the executable wrapper. - A timer with an
OnCalendarvalue for the chosen daily or weekly window. Persistent=truewhen you want systemd to run a missed timer after the host comes back online.
Use the installed unit names and file paths from your distribution. After creating or changing units, reload systemd, enable the timer, and inspect its next-run value. A typical verification flow is:
- Reload unit files with
systemctl daemon-reload. - Enable the timer so it starts at boot with
systemctl enable --now <maintenance-timer>. - Check the calculated schedule with
systemctl list-timers. - Review wrapper output with
journalctl -u <maintenance-service>.
Replace angle-bracketed names with the unit names you actually created. Run a controlled maintenance attempt during a quiet period before making the schedule recurring, and verify that the server supervisor starts the process afterward. The documented procedure is a guide, not a claim that a particular unit file has been tested on your host.
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Windows and managed hosting
Windows scheduled tasks
On Windows, use Task Scheduler or the provider’s scheduled-task feature to run the same logical sequence. The task must be able to reach the server’s telnet interface or management API, send both warnings, perform saveworld, allow time for the save, and send shutdown. Configure the game-server service or panel to start the process after the clean exit.
Run the task under an account with permission to execute the wrapper and read its protected credentials. Configure a history or output log so a failed connection is visible instead of looking like a successful restart.
Managed panels
Some providers offer daily scheduled restarts directly. Host Havoc describes daily scheduled restarts, while WinterNode recommends scheduled tasks and notes that CSMM or ServerTools can supply in-game warnings. WGS documents daily warning messages at 10, 5, and 1 minutes for 7 Days to Die.
Panel labels and restart behavior change over time, so confirm whether the panel performs a clean in-game shutdown or simply stops the process. If it only stops the process, use a command-capable integration for saveworld and shutdown, or choose a panel workflow that explicitly supports clean shutdown.
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Choose a management approach
| Option | Warning mechanism | Save and shutdown handling | Who restarts the process | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Custom telnet script with systemd or cron | Scripted say commands |
Explicit saveworld, then shutdown |
systemd or the host supervisor | Linux administrators who want direct control |
| CSMM | Scheduled commands, broadcast templates, and player-count-aware triggers | Configured commands | Host or service layer | Administrators who prefer a web UI |
| ServerTools | Built-in countdown | Mod handles the countdown and save | External service | Modded servers already using ServerTools |
| 7dtdServerUpdateUtility | Configurable in-game, Discord, and Twitch announcements | Clean shutdown and update workflow | Utility or watchdog | Servers combining updates with restarts |
| WGS or another hosting panel | Provider-defined warnings; WGS documents 10-, 5-, and 1-minute warnings | Panel-managed | Provider platform | Hands-off hosting |
CSMM
CSMM’s documented feature set includes scheduled commands, broadcast templates, and triggers that can take player count into account. You still need to verify what command the host uses for a clean shutdown and how the host starts the process afterward.
ServerTools
ServerTools documentation says it begins a warning countdown, saves at one minute remaining, and automatically begins the shutdown process when its configured time is reached. It also states that ServerTools cannot automatically restart a server. You therefore need an external service, panel, or watchdog for startup.
7dtdServerUpdateUtility
7dtdServerUpdateUtility documents scheduled restarts, manual or countdown announcements, clean shutdown, watchdog restart behavior, and notices through Discord, Twitch, and in-game channels. It is suited to administrators who want update operations and restarts in one workflow.
Container images and image-specific settings
The RunOnFlux image exposes FLUX_RESTART_TIME for a daily restart and FLUX_RESTART_WARN_MINUTES for chat warnings. Its documented defaults include five minutes and a repeated one-minute warning. These variables belong to that image; they are not universal 7 Days to Die settings. Check the image documentation and make sure its shutdown hook performs a clean game-server exit.
Warning design that players can act on
Five-minute message
Use a short message that states the action and the deadline: say "Server restarts in 5 minutes - finish your run." It tells players to stop beginning activities that cannot be completed safely.
One-minute message
The final warning should be unambiguous: say "Restart in 60 seconds." Do not bury it in a long announcement or combine it with unrelated chat.
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Optional longer countdowns
A panel or mod may offer 10-, 5-, and 1-minute announcements, as WGS documents. More warnings can help a public server, but they should not replace the final save-and-shutdown sequence. Keep the messages consistent so players learn the routine.
Verification checklist
- The published maintenance time includes the server’s local timezone.
- The telnet port, password, and enabled state match the active
serverconfig.xml. - The wrapper authenticates successfully and records failures.
- The five-minute and one-minute messages appear in game.
saveworldis issued before shutdown and receives enough time to finish.shutdownis used instead of an operating-system kill.- The supervisor or panel starts the server again after exit.
- The timer’s next run and timezone are correct.
- A journal, panel history, or task log records both the maintenance job and the subsequent server start.
Troubleshooting common failures
Players see no warning
Check that the wrapper connected to the correct host and telnet port, that telnet is enabled, and that authentication succeeded. Confirm that the task actually ran at the expected local time. A successful scheduler invocation does not prove that the game command was accepted.
The world does not save before shutdown
Confirm that saveworld precedes shutdown and that the wrapper waits for completion. The guide’s approximate 10-second wait is a baseline, not a guarantee for every world or host. If saves take longer on your installation, increase the delay or use a completion indication supplied by your management layer.
The server stays offline after maintenance
Inspect the supervisor log and the maintenance job’s exit status separately. The game may have shut down correctly while the restart layer was disabled, pointed at the wrong unit, blocked by permissions, or configured not to start after a normal exit. Correct the startup responsibility in the supervisor or panel rather than changing the game command sequence.
The timer runs at the wrong hour
Compare the timer’s timezone with the timezone communicated to players. Check daylight-saving changes and the host’s clock. A missed-run policy such as systemd’s Persistent=true can intentionally run a job after downtime; decide whether that behavior is appropriate for your server and explain it to administrators.
Maintenance is repeatedly deferred
If a player-count trigger is enabled, inspect its threshold and maximum deferral. A busy server needs a defined cutoff so maintenance eventually occurs. Announce the deferred window when the trigger moves it, rather than leaving players to infer what happened.
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Keep the schedule predictable, publish it in the community’s normal channels, and reserve emergency restarts for incidents that cannot wait. Treat warnings as a player-safety feature and clean shutdown as a data-integrity requirement. Recheck panel, utility, mod, container, and game-server documentation after upgrades because labels, defaults, and command behavior can change between releases.
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