What should I size the hardware against?

Against blood moon night rather than average use. On the seventh night the number of simultaneous entities multiplies and the server's real capacity becomes apparent. A plan that runs comfortably in normal play can fall short during a blood moon, so leaving headroom for the peak is necessary.

Why does the first boot take so long?

Random world generation is a single-threaded operation and can take a while depending on world size. The server accepts no connections during this time. Interrupting it leaves a corrupted save, so it has to be allowed to finish. A higher clocked processor shortens this step noticeably.

Which ports do I need to open?

TCP 26900 and UDP 26901-26902. These need to be reachable from outside for your server to appear in the public list. Port management and extra IP requests are handled from the customer panel.

Game servers

7 Days to Die Server Hosting

The resource profile of a 7 Days to Die server differs from other survival titles in two ways. First, world generation: a randomly generated map produces a sharp CPU and RAM spike on first boot, higher than normal in-game use. Second, the blood moon: on the seventh night the number of simultaneous entities multiplies, and the server's real capacity becomes apparent that night. Sizing hardware for average use is therefore misleading; you have to size for the blood moon.

What is a 7 Days to Die server?

A 7 Days to Die server hosts a persistent world where players gather by day and defend a base against attacks at night. The server software is installed through SteamCMD. What shapes its resource profile is the destructible world: because terrain and structures are fully modifiable, world state is tracked in more detail than in other survival games and grows over time. On blood moon nights a large number of enemies are simulated at once, so peak CPU load rises well above the average — the resource plan should be sized for that peak, not the average. Map size and player count together determine RAM.

Recommended plan by player count

These values map one to one onto the VDS plan steps in our catalogue. Intermediate values can also be selected in the configurator.

Players	RAM	vCPU	Storage	Intel i9-10920XDDR4 · Value	Ryzen 9 7950XDDR5 · Performance	Note
1-8	8 GB	4	60 GB	₺1.270,00 / mo	₺1.800,00 / mo	Standard world size with vanilla or a light mod list. The baseline plan with headroom left for the blood moon.
8-24	16 GB	6	120 GB	₺2.590,00 / mo	₺3.570,00 / mo	A large random world, active bases, heavy blood moon waves and a mod list.
24+	32 GB	8	200 GB	₺4.850,00 / mo	₺6.680,00 / mo	High player counts. Single-threaded entity computation on blood moon night becomes the limit at this level.

The amounts in the table are the monthly net price of each processor option and match the calculation in the configurator. The value option uses DDR4 memory, the performance option DDR5. Billing period (3, 6, 12, 24, 36 months) and extra resources are calculated in the configurator.

Prices exclude VAT (20%).

How to choose the hardware

An 8-player server runs at around 6 GB in normal play, but peak use rises noticeably on blood moon night, which is why 8 GB is the practical baseline. Random world generation temporarily needs more memory on first boot and takes a while because it is single-threaded. On the CPU side, entity AI and block physics are largely single-threaded, so clock speed comes before core count. On storage, region saves and block changes are written continuously, so NVMe visibly reduces save-related stalls.

Which processor family?

Most game servers run on a single thread, so per-core performance matters more than core count.

Intel i9-10920X

DDR4Value

The value option. DDR4 with a high core count; the most attractive per-resource pricing for standard world sizes up to eight players.

View plans

Ryzen 9 7950X

DDR5Performance

The performance option. Zen 4 with DDR5. Because entity AI and block physics run largely on one thread, single-core performance is what keeps the server standing on blood moon night. World generation also completes noticeably faster.

View plans

Setup steps

1Install with an Ubuntu 22.04 template and download the 7 Days to Die dedicated server via SteamCMD (app 294420).
2Set the world size, player limit and blood moon frequency in serverconfig.xml.
3Open TCP port 26900 and UDP ports 26901-26902.
4Wait for random world generation on first boot; this step is single-threaded and takes a while, and interrupting it produces a corrupted save.
5Set up automated backups; block changes are persistent and losing a base cannot be undone.
6Keep the server behind Fexwall; flood attacks on 26900 are absorbed by L3/L4 filtering.

Common mistakes

Sizing for average load. Peak CPU on blood moon nights sits well above the average.
Ignoring world data growth. Destructible terrain makes world state grow noticeably over time.
Choosing map size independently of player count. The two determine RAM together.

Migrating from another provider

The order matters when moving a live server: back up the game files and the database on the old server, install the same version on the new one, import the database, then update the address your players connect to. Move the database last — if both servers stay online together for a while, player data splits in two and cannot be merged afterwards. Do not shut the old server down until the new one is verified.

If you get stuck on a step, open a support ticket; we help with the installation steps.

What is included at Datafex

Fexwall L3/L4 DDoS filtering is included free on every plan. That is the layer a game server needs; a CDN in front of HTTP does not protect the game's UDP traffic.

Every plan uses NVMe SSD. The database runs on the same machine as the game server, so storage latency turns directly into in-game stutter.

Servers are in Türkiye, at the DGN data centre in Bursa. Transit is 100 Gbps domestic and 10 Tbps international.

Setup completes automatically within minutes. Extra IPs, rDNS and firewall rules are managed from the customer panel.

Frequently Asked Questions

Configure your server

Pick the plan that matches your player count, choose the operating system and start provisioning within minutes.

Buy a virtual server All game servers

Other game servers

Games that run on the same infrastructure with comparable resource needs. Each page lists RAM, vCPU and storage guidance by player count.

Server hardware and the operating system are included; the game's server software and any game licence are NOT included — you obtain and install those yourself. Our guides walk through the setup.

Game names and logos are property of their respective owners. Datafex is not an official partner or authorised reseller of these games.