Managing Products

Products are the game server packages you offer to customers. This guide covers creating and managing products in the admin panel.

Accessing Product Management

To manage products:

  1. Click Shop in the admin sidebar

  2. Select Products

Required permission: access_products or admin role

Product Overview

What is a Product?

A product defines:

  • Resources - RAM, disk, CPU, databases, etc.

  • Pricing - How much customers pay

  • Availability - Which nodes and eggs are available

  • Configuration - Game types and versions

Product vs. Server Product Build

Important distinction:

  • Product (master template) - Configuration you create here

  • Server Product Build - Snapshot at purchase time

When a customer purchases, PteroCA creates a Server Product Build (immutable copy). This ensures servers keep their purchased resources even if you change the product later.

Product List

The product list shows:

  • Product name

  • Category - Organization

  • Active status - Available for purchase?

  • Health status - Configuration valid?

  • Created date

  • Actions - Edit, copy, delete

Product Health Status

Healthy (green checkmark):

  • All eggs are available on selected nodes

  • Configuration is valid

  • Ready for purchase

Unhealthy (warning):

  • Missing eggs on nodes

  • Invalid configuration

  • Cannot be purchased until fixed

Creating Products

How to Create a Product

  1. Click Create Product or Add New

  2. Fill in information across four tabs

  3. Save to create product

Tab 1: Details

Basic Information:

Name (required):

  • Product display name

  • Shown in shop

  • Example: "Minecraft Basic", "ARK Starter Server"

Category (required):

  • Select from existing categories

  • Organizes products in shop

  • Create categories first if needed

Description (optional):

  • Product details for customers

  • Features and specifications

  • Markdown supported

Is Active:

  • Checked - Visible in shop, can be purchased

  • Unchecked - Hidden, cannot be purchased

Use cases for inactive:

  • Draft products

  • Seasonal products

  • Temporarily unavailable

Image (optional):

  • Product card image (shown in shop)

  • Recommended size: 400x300px or similar

  • Accepts JPG, PNG, GIF

Banner (optional):

  • Large promotional banner

  • Shown on product detail page

  • Recommended size: 1200x400px or similar

Tab 2: Server Resources

Define the resources included with this product:

Storage:

  • Disk Space (MB) - Server file storage

  • Swap (MB) - Swap memory allocation

Compute:

  • Memory (RAM) (MB) - Server RAM

  • I/O (weight) - Disk I/O priority (500 = normal)

  • CPU (%) - CPU limit (100% = 1 core)

  • Threads (optional) - Specific CPU threads to use

Database & Backups:

  • Database Count - Number of MySQL databases

  • Backup Count - Number of backup slots

  • Ports (Allocations) - Additional port allocations

Schedules:

  • Schedule Count - Max scheduled tasks allowed

Typical values:

Resource
Small
Medium
Large

RAM

2048 MB

4096 MB

8192 MB

Disk

10240 MB

20480 MB

40960 MB

CPU

100%

200%

400%

Databases

1

2

3

Backups

2

3

5

Tab 3: Pricing

Choose pricing model for this product:

Fixed price per billing period:

  • Define price for each period (monthly, quarterly, etc.)

  • Simple and predictable for customers

  • Most common pricing model

Configuration:

  • Monthly Price - Cost per month

  • Quarterly Price - Cost per 3 months (optional)

  • Semi-annually Price - Cost per 6 months (optional)

  • Annually Price - Cost per year (optional)

Example:

  • Monthly: $5.00

  • Quarterly: $13.50 (10% discount)

  • Annually: $48.00 (20% discount)

Dynamic Pricing (Experimental)

Price based on usage:

  • Charge per hour or day

  • Calculated based on actual runtime

  • More complex for customers

Slot-based Pricing

Base price + per-slot cost:

  • Charge base price + (number of slots × slot price)

  • Allows customers to choose player count

  • Good for games where slots matter (Minecraft, ARK)

Configuration:

  • Base Price - Minimum price

  • Price per Slot - Additional cost per player slot

Example:

  • Base: $3.00

  • Per slot: $0.50

  • 20 slots = $3.00 + ($0.50 × 20) = $13.00/month

Tab 4: Product Connections

Connect product to Pterodactyl infrastructure:

Nodes (Required)

Select nodes where this product can be deployed:

  • Check all nodes that should host this product

  • Must select at least one node

  • Servers will be distributed across selected nodes

Considerations:

  • Node location (latency)

  • Node capacity

  • Node specialization (game-specific nodes)

Nest (Required)

Select Pterodactyl Nest:

  • Nest = category of games (e.g., "Minecraft", "Source Games")

  • Defines which eggs are available

  • Required for egg selection

Eggs (Required)

Select available eggs for this product:

  • Eggs = game versions/configurations

  • Must select at least one egg

  • Customers choose egg at purchase

Examples:

  • Minecraft Nest: Vanilla, Forge, Paper, Spigot eggs

  • Source Games Nest: CS:GO, TF2, GMod eggs

Health Check

Product health checks verify selected eggs exist on all selected nodes. If eggs are missing, product shows as unhealthy.

Egg Configuration (Optional)

Override egg default variables:

  • Customize startup parameters

  • Set default values for this product

  • Applied to all servers using this product

Allow Change Egg

Can customers switch eggs after purchase?

  • Checked - Customers can change egg in server management

  • Unchecked - Egg is locked at purchase

Use cases:

  • Allow: Minecraft versions (easy to switch)

  • Disallow: Different games (incompatible)

Editing Products

How to Edit a Product

  1. Find product in list

  2. Click Edit action

  3. Modify any tab

  4. Save changes

Impact of Editing Products

Important: Editing a product does NOT affect existing servers!

Why?

  • Existing servers use Server Product Build (snapshot at purchase)

  • Servers keep their purchased resources

  • Only new purchases use updated product

To update existing servers:

  • Must manually upgrade each server, or

  • User must repurchase

Product Health Checks

After editing, check product health:

  • Healthy - Ready for sale

  • Unhealthy - Configuration issue

Common issues:

  • Selected eggs not on all nodes

  • Invalid node selection

  • Missing pricing

  • Resource limits exceeded

Fix by:

  • Adding eggs to nodes (in Pterodactyl)

  • Changing node selection

  • Correcting pricing

  • Adjusting resources

Copying Products

How to Copy a Product

  1. Find product in list

  2. Click Copy or Duplicate action

  3. New product created with same configuration

  4. Edit and customize the copy

Use cases:

  • Create similar products (e.g., Basic, Pro, Ultimate)

  • Test new configurations

  • Seasonal variations

What gets copied:

  • All resources

  • Pricing configuration

  • Node and egg selections

  • Images and description

What you must change:

  • Product name (copy will have "Copy of..." prefix)

  • Any unique customizations

Product Categories

Managing Categories

Categories organize products in the shop.

To manage categories:

  1. Go to ShopCategories

  2. Create, edit, or delete categories

Category fields:

  • Name - Category display name

  • Description - Category details

  • Priority - Sort order (lower = first)

Common categories:

  • Minecraft Servers

  • ARK Servers

  • Rust Servers

  • CS:GO Servers

  • Voice Servers

Deleting Products

How to Delete a Product

  1. Find product in list

  2. Click Delete action

  3. Confirm deletion

Soft Delete

Products use soft delete:

  • Product marked as deleted

  • Not visible in shop

  • Existing Server Product Builds preserved

  • Can be restored if needed

Restrictions

Cannot delete if:

  • Product has active servers (depending on configuration)

Recommendation:

  • Mark as inactive instead of deleting

  • Preserves historical data

  • Can reactivate if needed

Best Practices

Product Naming

Good names:

  • "Minecraft Basic" - Clear and specific

  • "ARK Starter 10-slot" - Includes key info

  • "Premium Rust Server" - Indicates tier

Avoid:

  • "Server 1" - Not descriptive

  • "Best server" - Vague

  • Technical node names

Resource Allocation

Balance resources:

  • RAM is most critical for performance

  • Disk space for mods and maps

  • CPU for tick rate and generation

  • Backups for data safety

Don't oversell:

  • Check node capacity

  • Leave headroom for overhead

  • Monitor resource usage

Pricing Strategy

Tips:

  • Offer discounts for longer periods

  • Keep pricing competitive

  • Round to clean numbers ($5.00 not $4.87)

  • Consider cost of resources

Product Organization

Use categories effectively:

  • Group similar products

  • Create clear hierarchies

  • Use consistent naming

Keep active products up-to-date:

  • Remove outdated game versions

  • Update egg selections

  • Verify node availability

Troubleshooting

Product Shows as Unhealthy

Possible causes:

  • Eggs missing on some nodes

  • Node no longer exists

  • Nest/egg deleted in Pterodactyl

Solutions:

  1. Check which eggs are missing

  2. Add eggs to nodes in Pterodactyl

  3. Remove unavailable nodes from product

  4. Update egg selections

Cannot Purchase Product

If customers can't buy product:

Check:

  1. Product is Active (checked)

  2. Product is Healthy (green)

  3. At least one node selected

  4. At least one egg selected

  5. Pricing is configured

  6. Product is visible in shop

Server Created with Wrong Resources

If server has different resources than expected:

Remember:

  • Servers use Server Product Build (snapshot)

  • Editing Product doesn't update existing servers

  • Check Server Product Build, not Product

For Pterodactyl setup:

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