How to Open Ports for Your 7 Days to Die Server
Which ports to open for 7 Days to Die, why UDP matters more than TCP, and how to verify your ports are reachable from the outside.
Required Ports
Open these in your DustBowl.Games control panel firewall settings:
| Port | Protocol | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| 26900 | UDP | Primary game traffic |
| 26901 | UDP | Additional game port |
| 26902 | UDP | Additional game port |
| 26903 | UDP | Additional game port |
| 26900 | TCP | Steam query (server browser) |
| 8080 | TCP | Web dashboard (optional) |
| 8081 | TCP | Telnet remote console (optional) |
The UDP ports are the critical ones. 7DTD game traffic is UDP — if you only open TCP, players can't connect even though the server browser might show the server as online.
The Most Common Mistake
Opening only TCP 26900 and wondering why nobody can join. The server browser query uses TCP 26900, so the server appears in the list — but the actual game connection is UDP 26900. Both need to be open.
Optional Ports
- 8080 TCP — web dashboard. Only open this if you use the built-in web server (
ControlPanelEnabled=truein serverconfig.xml). Don't expose it publicly without a password. - 8081 TCP — Telnet. Only open if
TelnetEnabled=true. Restrict to trusted IPs if possible since Telnet is unencrypted.
Verifying Port Connectivity
Once your server is running and shows "GameServer started" in the logs:
- Go to https://canyouseeme.org
- Enter port
26900 - Select UDP if the tool supports it, otherwise TCP
- Hit Check
If it says "Success," the port is reachable. If it says "Error" or times out, the firewall rule isn't in place or the server isn't actually listening.
You can also test from another machine using netcat:
nc -u yourserver.ip 26900
Running Multiple Servers on One Machine
If you run multiple 7DTD servers on the same machine, increment ports by 4 for each server:
Server 1: 26900–26903
Server 2: 26904–26907
Server 3: 26908–26911
Set ServerPort in each server's serverconfig.xml to match.
Crossplay Port Note
If ServerAllowCrossplay=true in serverconfig.xml, the server also communicates with Epic Online Services. EOS traffic goes outbound from the server, so no additional inbound ports are needed for crossplay specifically — but your firewall must allow outbound UDP traffic on dynamic ports, which is typically the default.