Managing the AzerothCore Warcraft Server

Introduction

This page covers basic operation and updating for an AzerothCore (WotLK) server on Ubuntu. It assumes your database and other prerequisite services are already installed and running. For full installation and configuration documentation, see azerothcore.org.

Getting started: Connect to the server using SSH (PuTTY on Windows is fine). Log in with a sudo-privileged account. If the server is running, stop authserver and worldserver before updating.

Operating the Server

What are these services? AzerothCore runs two processes: authserver (login/authentication) and worldserver (the game world). If either is stopped, players will not be able to log in or play.

1. Log in to the server using a sudo-privileged account and/or the user designated to maintain AzerothCore.
2. Authserver controls

   sudo service ac-authserver start

   sudo service ac-authserver stop

   sudo service ac-authserver restart

3. Worldserver controls

   sudo service ac-worldserver start

   sudo service ac-worldserver stop

   sudo service ac-worldserver restart

4. Switch to the server user (if you build/update as a dedicated user).

   su - azeroth

Updating the Server

1. Stop the servers:

   sudo service ac-worldserver stop

   sudo service ac-authserver stop

   Stop worldserver first, then authserver, to ensure active sessions shut down cleanly.

2. Navigate to the source code directory:

   cd /home/azeroth/azerothcore-wotlk/

   This is the folder containing the AzerothCore source code.

3. Update the source code:

   git pull origin main

   This pulls the latest changes from the AzerothCore repository.

4. Update installed modules (if you use them):

   cd modules/

   cd mod-solo-lfg/ && git pull && cd ../

   cd mod-better-item-reloading/ && git pull && cd ../

   cd mod-eluna/ && git pull && cd ../

   cd mod-ah-bot/ && git pull && cd ../

   cd ../

   Modules are maintained separately. If a module falls behind, it may break the build until it is updated or removed.

5. Configure and build:

   cd build/

   cmake ../ -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/home/azeroth/azerothcore-wotlk/env/dist/ -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=/usr/bin/clang -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=/usr/bin/clang++ -DWITH_WARNINGS=1 -DTOOLS_BUILD=all -DSCRIPTS=static -DMODULES=static

   This configures the build and sets the install destination (where the updated binaries will be installed).

   make -j 11 && make install

   This compiles and then installs the updated server binaries. The number 11 here represents the total available processor cores of the system minus one. You can use nproc --all to determine the number of cores available on your system.

6. Start the servers:

   sudo service ac-authserver start

   sudo service ac-worldserver start

   Start authserver first, then worldserver.

Force Updating the Server

Note: Use this only if a regular update fails and you want to start from a clean source checkout.

1. Stop the servers:

   sudo service ac-worldserver stop

   sudo service ac-authserver stop

   Stop worldserver first, then authserver.

2. Back up configuration files and scripts:

   sudo mkdir -p /home/azeroth/backup/ac-$(date +%F)

   sudo cp -a /home/azeroth/azerothcore-wotlk/env/dist/etc /home/azeroth/backup/ac-$(date +%F)/

   sudo cp -a /home/azeroth/azerothcore-wotlk/env/dist/bin/lua_scripts /home/azeroth/backup/ac-$(date +%F)/ 2>/dev/null || true

   sudo cp -a /home/azeroth/azerothcore-wotlk/env/dist/bin/scripts /home/azeroth/backup/ac-$(date +%F)/ 2>/dev/null || true

   This creates a dated backup folder and copies your current server configuration (env/dist/etc) and any Lua/script folders if present. After the rebuild, restore files as needed (for example, re-copy your worldserver.conf, authserver.conf, and custom Lua/scripts back into the new install).

3. Delete the source directory:

   rm -r -f /home/azeroth/azerothcore-wotlk/

   This removes the existing source code folder so you can clone a fresh copy.

4. Clone a fresh copy into the same path:

   git clone https://github.com/azerothcore/azerothcore-wotlk.git --branch master --single-branch /home/azeroth/azerothcore-wotlk/

   This downloads a fresh copy of the AzerothCore source code.

   cd /home/azeroth/azerothcore-wotlk/

   mkdir -p build

5. Reinstall modules (if you use them):

   cd modules/

   git clone https://github.com/azerothcore/mod-solo-lfg.git

   git clone https://github.com/azerothcore/mod-better-item-reloading.git

   git clone https://github.com/azerothcore/mod-eluna.git

   git clone https://github.com/azerothcore/mod-ah-bot.git

   Because the source directory was deleted, modules must be cloned again (or restored from backup).

6. Configure the build:

   cd ../build

   cmake ../ -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/home/azeroth/azerothcore-wotlk/env/dist/ -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=/usr/bin/clang -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=/usr/bin/clang++ -DWITH_WARNINGS=1 -DTOOLS_BUILD=all -DSCRIPTS=static -DMODULES=static

   This configures the build and sets the install destination.

7. Compile and install:

   make -j 11 install

   This builds and installs the server. If it succeeds, start the services.

8. Start the servers:

   sudo service ac-authserver start

   sudo service ac-worldserver start

Server Map Data

The server requires map/client data (dbc/maps/vmaps/mmaps). If AzerothCore changes how it reads data, you may need to refresh your data. The easiest approach is to download the latest prebuilt data from the client-data releases repository.

Download New Map Data:

1. Delete old map data (example path):

   cd ~/server && rm -rf data/ && mkdir -p data/ && cd data/

   This assumes your server install is in ~/server and your data lives in ~/server/data. If you install to /home/azeroth/azerothcore-wotlk/env/dist/, update these paths to match your setup.

2. Download the latest data.zip:

   wget [paste-release-url-here]

   Open the releases page, find the newest data.zip, copy its link, and paste it into wget. Example:

   wget https://github.com/wowgaming/client-data/releases/download/v16/data.zip

   The example URL may not be the latest release; always use the newest data.zip from the releases page.

3. Extract:

   unzip data.zip

   After extracting, you should have folders like dbc, maps, vmaps, and mmaps.

Compile New Map Data:

To generate map data yourself (instead of downloading it), you need access to a 3.3.5a (Build 12340) client. A simple layout is:

• ~/client/ (your WoW client files)
• ~/server/ (your server install, including the extractor tools in ~/server/bin/)

If your install path is different (for example, /home/azeroth/azerothcore-wotlk/env/dist/), adjust the commands accordingly.

1. Delete old map data:

   cd ~/server && rm -rf data/ && mkdir -p data

2. Extract maps:

   cd ~/client && ~/server/bin/map_extractor

3. Extract vmaps:

   cd ~/client && mkdir -p vmaps && ~/server/bin/vmap4_extractor && ~/server/bin/vmap4_assembler Buildings vmaps

   Note: If vmap4_extractor is interrupted, delete the Buildings directory before retrying.

4. Generate mmaps:

   cd ~/client && mkdir -p mmaps && ~/server/bin/mmaps_generator

   Note: Generating mmaps can take a long time, depending on CPU and disk speed.

5. Install the new data into the server data directory:

   mv dbc maps vmaps mmaps Cameras ~/server/data/ && rm -rf Buildings

   Important: mv -r is not valid for mv. Use plain mv as shown above.