Server Setup & Quickstart

Getting started with PanelOps takes less than two minutes. This guide walks you through connecting your first VPS, configuring SSH credentials, and setting up Docker infrastructure.

🚀 Step 1: Connecting a Target Server

Log into your PanelOps control panel and navigate to Servers (/servers).
Click the + Connect Server button in the top right.
Fill in your server connection parameters:
- Server Name: A friendly identifier (e.g. Production VPS - Frankfurt).
- Host IP / Domain: The public IPv4 address of your VPS (e.g. 142.93.104.22).
- SSH Port: Default is 22.
- SSH Username: Default is root (or a sudo user).
- Authentication Method:
  - SSH Key (Recommended): Paste your server's private key (id_rsa or ed25519).
  - Password: Enter the root/sudo password securely.
Click Test & Connect. PanelOps will initiate a secure SSH handshake, detect the Linux distribution, check for Docker, and add the server to your cluster.

🐳 Step 2: Docker Environment Verification

PanelOps automatically inspects the target server for:

Docker Engine: Docker 20.10+ or 24.0+.
Docker Compose: Docker Compose v2+ (docker compose).
Nginx Reverse Proxy: Pre-configured system gateway for HTTP/HTTPS routing.

If Docker or Docker Compose is missing on your server, PanelOps provides a 1-click "Install Docker Stack" routine from the Server Detail page.

📊 Step 3: Monitoring Modes

PanelOps supports two telemetry collection modes for connected servers:

1. Agentless Mode (Default)

Connects periodically via SSH to execute lightweight diagnostic commands (uptime, free -m, df -h, docker ps).
Zero background processes running permanently on your VPS.
Ideal for quick setups and multi-cloud nodes.

2. Lightweight Agent Mode (High Performance)

Runs a tiny, sandboxed Go/Node agent on the target VPS that opens a secure TLS WebSocket connection to the PanelOps control plane.
Streams real-time metrics every second with sub-millisecond latency.
Eliminates repetitive SSH connection overhead.

To enable Agent Mode, navigate to Servers → [Your Server] → Agent Configuration and run the generated one-line installer curl script.