Baota Panel Server Management Guide: from installation to LNMP environment setup

Baota (BT) Panel is a popular Linux server management panel that transforms command-line server configuration into a visual interface. It's an excellent choice for website owners less familiar with the command line.

1. Installation

Requirements

  • OS: CentOS 7+ / Ubuntu 18.04+ / Debian 10+
  • RAM: Minimum 512MB (1GB+ recommended)
  • Architecture: x86_64

One-click Install

# Ubuntu/Debian
wget -O install.sh https://download.bt.cn/install/install-ubuntu.sh
bash install.sh

After installation, the terminal will display the panel URL and login credentials.

Security Recommendations

  1. Change default port (8888 → custom)
  2. Bind a domain for panel access
  3. Enable BasicAuth
  4. Configure IP whitelist

2. One-click LNMP Setup

After login, the panel offers a one-click environment installer:

  1. Choose LNMP (Nginx + MySQL + PHP) or LAMP (Apache + MySQL + PHP)
  2. Select PHP version (8.0+ recommended)
  3. Select MySQL version (8.0 recommended)
  4. Click install — wait 10-30 minutes

3. Creating Websites

Add New Site

  1. Go to "Websites" → "Add site"
  2. Enter domain (e.g., example.com)
  3. Select created database
  4. Choose PHP version
  5. Submit

Baota automatically:

  • Creates website directory
  • Generates Nginx config
  • Creates MySQL database and user
  • Creates FTP account (optional)

Enable HTTPS

  1. Website → Select your site → "SSL"
  2. Choose "Let's Encrypt"
  3. Select your domains
  4. Click "Apply" — automatic certificate setup

4. Key Features

File Manager

  • Online edit, upload, download
  • Compress/extract (ZIP/TAR.GZ)
  • File permissions
  • Directory protection

Database Manager

  • Create/delete databases
  • Backup and restore
  • phpMyAdmin access
  • Import/export

Security

Feature Description Recommendation
Firewall Visual iptables manager Open only necessary ports
System hardening Disable ping, SSH security Enable key items
File protection Protect core files Enable on production
WAF Web application firewall Basic rules in free version

5. Troubleshooting

Panel Unreachable

1. Check port 8888 in firewall
   ufw allow 8888/tcp

2. Check panel service
   /etc/init.d/bt status

3. Restart panel
   /etc/init.d/bt restart

502 Bad Gateway

1. Check PHP-FPM status
   systemctl status php-fpm-83

2. Check PHP processes
   ps aux | grep php

3. View PHP error log
   /www/server/php/83/var/log/php-fpm.log

4. Restart PHP
   /etc/init.d/php-fpm-83 restart

6. Baota vs Manual Setup

Aspect Baota Panel Manual Setup
Difficulty Very easy Hard
Speed Very fast Slow
Flexibility Medium Very high
Resource usage 100-200MB 0 (no panel process)
Security Panel has attack surface Smaller surface
Best for Beginners, non-ops Professional ops

16IDC Takeaway

Baota Panel significantly lowers the barrier to server management. For individual website owners and small teams unfamiliar with Linux, it's the most efficient choice. However, it's not a security substitute — always change default ports, set strong passwords, and keep the panel updated.