Don't Starve Together Updated April 27, 2026

Port Configuration and Firewall Setup

Which UDP ports DST requires, how they map to each shard, and how to configure your firewall correctly.

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Required Ports

DST dedicated servers communicate exclusively over UDP. TCP is not used for gameplay traffic. You must open UDP ports for each shard that players connect to.

Shard Default Port Protocol Direction
Master 10999 UDP Inbound
Caves 10998 UDP Inbound

Both ports must be open on your host firewall and, if applicable, any network-level firewall between the internet and your server node.

Port Configuration in server.ini

Each shard's port is set in its server.ini file.

Master shard (Cluster_1/Master/server.ini):

[NETWORK]
server_port = 10999

Caves shard (Cluster_1/Caves/server.ini):

[NETWORK]
server_port = 10998

Changing Default Ports

You can use different port numbers if the defaults conflict with other services. To change the Master shard to port 11000:

  1. Set server_port = 11000 in Cluster_1/Master/server.ini
  2. Update master_port = 11000 in Cluster_1/Caves/server.ini so Caves can connect back to Master
  3. Open the new port on your firewall
  4. Restart both shards

Players who direct-connect will need to use the new port number.

Steam Ports

The server also uses Steam-specific ports for matchmaking. These are configured in server.ini under [STEAM]:

Master shard:

[STEAM]
master_server_port = 27018
authentication_port = 8768

Caves shard:

[STEAM]
master_server_port = 27019
authentication_port = 8769

Each shard must use unique Steam port values. The Steam ports do not need to be opened for direct player connections, but they should not conflict with other services on the host.

Internal Shard Communication

The Master and Caves shards communicate with each other using the same server_port values. If both shards run on the same machine (the common case), this traffic stays on 127.0.0.1 and does not require any additional firewall rules.

If you are running Master and Caves on separate machines (rare), you must ensure the master_port is reachable from the Caves machine's IP, and the firewall on the Master machine must allow inbound UDP from the Caves machine.

Pterodactyl Port Allocation

In Pterodactyl/WISP, ports must be allocated to the server instance before they can be used. Ensure both 10999 and 10998 (or your custom port numbers) are allocated in the panel under the server's network settings. If a port is not allocated, the shard will fail to bind and the startup will fail with a socket error.

Verifying Open Ports

After starting the server, you can verify the ports are bound using the panel console output. Look for lines like:

[00:00:03]: Hosting game on port 10999
[00:00:03]: [Shard] Shard server started on port 10999

If the port fails to bind, you will see:

[00:00:03]: bind() failed: Address already in use

In that case, either another process is using the port or the panel has not allocated it to this instance.

Direct Connect

Players can bypass the server browser and connect directly using:

  • In-game "Other Servers" menu → "IP Address" field
  • Enter: your.server.ip:10999

The port defaults to 10999 if omitted. Players connecting to Caves directly is not supported — they must enter through the Master shard's portal.

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