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FiveM Guide

Getting Started with FiveM Hosting

Everything you need to set up, manage, and troubleshoot your FiveM server from your NordServ portal.

Instant setup Where things are in the portal Start / Stop / Restart Why can't I connect? txAdmin access Dedicated MySQL database Wipe and reinstall Bringing your own server data Downloading your server data SFTP access Server logs Live logs & full log download Billing tab

🚀 Instant setup

Your server is created automatically as soon as your order is confirmed. You'll get an email with your connection details and txAdmin access as soon as it's live, and the same information stays available on your service page in the portal.

🗂️ Where things are in the portal

Your FiveM service page is split into five tabs. Click a tab to switch between them — the page remembers the last one you opened.

  1. Overview: the FiveM Server card (connection address, txAdmin panel link, SFTP status, RAM, vCPUs, disk usage) with the Start / Stop / Restart buttons, the Server Status card (online status, players), and the Why can't I connect? card.
  2. Console & Logs: the Server Logs card. For a live console you can type into, use txAdmin.
  3. Files: the SFTP access card, the Data Backup card, and the Existing Server Data card.
  4. Settings: the txAdmin Setup card (only until setup is complete), the Database card, and the Wipe and reinstall card.
  5. Billing: Change Plan, Cancel Subscription, and Payment History.
Note: The Service Details card at the top of the page (plan, next renewal date, payment method) sits above the tabs, so it's visible whichever tab you're on.

🎮 Start / Stop / Restart

The Start, Stop, and Restart buttons are on the Overview tab, at the bottom of the FiveM Server card — no support ticket needed. They're useful after updating a resource or if the server needs a clean restart.

Tip: Restarting from the portal is a full server restart, not a resource reload — if you only changed one resource, use txAdmin's "Restart resource" instead to avoid disconnecting everyone.

🛡️ Why can't I connect?

If a connection to your service fails even though the service is running — a game client, an SFTP or mail app, or your browser — our firewall may have blocked the IP address it comes from. Our servers automatically block addresses that cause too many failed logins or suspicious traffic. The Why can't I connect? card on the Overview tab of your service page checks this for you, on the server that runs this service.

  1. Open your service in the portal and stay on the Overview tab — the Why can't I connect? card is open by default.
  2. Your current IP address is already filled in. To check another connection — a player's, or the network you play or send mail from — replace it with that public IPv4 or IPv6 address.
  3. Click Check. The card shows the address it checked and one of the answers below.
  • Blocked by our firewall: the address is blocked with no set end date.
  • Temporarily blocked by our firewall until …: the block lifts by itself at the date and time shown (in your own time zone) — simply wait until then.
  • Not blocked on this service's server: our firewall isn't the problem. Double-check the server address and port, and your own network (Wi-Fi, VPN, internet provider or local firewall).
  • We could not complete the check right now: try again in a few minutes.

When an address is blocked and we know why, the card also shows the reason: too many failed login attempts, suspicious or excessive traffic, an address on a public abuse blocklist (often a shared or previously misused address), or blocked by our team.

Tip: Blocked with no end date, or you think the block is a mistake? Contact support and include the IP address shown in the result so we can look into it.
Note: The check only looks at the firewall of the server(s) running this service, and only public IP addresses can be checked. To prevent abuse it is limited to 20 checks and 5 different addresses per hour — if you reach a limit, try again later. The card is available while the service is active (including a cancelled service until its end date), but not while it is suspended.

🖥️ txAdmin access

Every plan includes full access to txAdmin, FiveM's official server management panel. We don't create an account for you: what you get is the txAdmin link plus a one-time Registration PIN, both in your welcome email and on the txAdmin Setup card on the Settings tab. You use that PIN once to create your own admin account, then finish the setup yourself — it only takes a few minutes:

  1. Open the txAdmin panel link from the txAdmin Setup card and enter the Registration PIN to create your own admin account. The PIN is only needed this first time.
  2. Sign in with your own Cfx.re account when txAdmin asks for it.
  3. Generate your own FiveM license key (it's free) at portal.cfx.re/servers/registration-keys and paste it into txAdmin.
  4. Pick a recipe (ESX, QBCore, and others) to deploy a fresh server — or choose "Existing Server Data" if you uploaded your own files first (see below).
Warning: The license key in step 3 is required, not optional — your server can't start without one. It's free and tied to your own Cfx.re account, which is why we can't generate it for you.

Once setup is done, txAdmin is where you manage resources, kick or ban players, watch the live console, and adjust server settings — no SSH access needed.

Note: The txAdmin Setup card hides itself once txAdmin setup is complete, since it's only needed the first time. After that, the txAdmin panel link stays on the Overview tab's FiveM Server card.

🗄️ Dedicated MySQL database

Your server comes with its own MySQL database, ready to go for ESX, QBCore, and other frameworks that expect a database connection out of the box. Your database Host, Database, Username, and Password are on the Database card on the Settings tab — most frameworks just need those four values pasted into their config file.

To work on your database from your own computer (HeidiSQL, DBeaver, etc.), use fivem1.nordserv.ca as the host, port 3306, and the same database, username and password. An encrypted (SSL/TLS) connection is required from outside: in HeidiSQL, open the SSL tab and tick Use SSL, leaving the key, certificate and CA fields empty; other tools have an equivalent Use SSL / Require SSL option. The same instructions are under Connecting from your own computer on the Database card.

Warning: fivem1.nordserv.ca is for external access only. Your FiveM server and txAdmin must keep using the Host shown on the Database card (172.17.0.1), which connects internally and needs no SSL — don't change it, or your server loses its database connection.

♻️ Wipe and reinstall

Want a clean slate — a different recipe, or a server that's beyond repair? The Wipe and reinstall card on the Settings tab puts your server back to a fresh install, no support ticket needed. Your plan, RAM, vCPUs, connection address and port stay exactly the same; only what's on the server is erased.

  1. Save anything you want to keep first: the Data Backup card (Files tab) for txData, SFTP for uploaded-data, and your own database tool for the database.
  2. On the Settings tab, type your server's name exactly as shown on the card (it's case-sensitive) to unlock the Wipe and reinstall button, then click it and confirm.
  3. Leave the page open while it runs — it can take a few minutes. When it's done, the new txAdmin Registration PIN is shown on the txAdmin Setup card (Settings tab) and emailed to you.
  4. Open txAdmin and run the first-time setup again with the new PIN, exactly as for a new server (see txAdmin access).
Warning: This can't be undone and no backup is kept: every file in txData and uploaded-data (resources, server.cfg, saves) and the whole database are erased. The database is recreated empty with the same name, username and password, so your config files don't need new database credentials.
Note: You can wipe and reinstall up to 3 times per day. It's available while your service is active — including a cancelled service until its end date — but not while it's suspended. Open SFTP sessions are disconnected while it runs. If a wipe is interrupted, press Wipe and reinstall again to finish it, or contact support.

📤 Bringing your own server data

Migrating from another host? Upload a .zip of your existing server folder (resources, cache, server.cfg) from the Existing Server Data card on the Files tab instead of starting from scratch. We extract it inside your container at /uploaded-data — then, in txAdmin, choose the "Existing Server Data" deployment option and point it at that path. Without that last step the upload just sits there and txAdmin keeps offering you a fresh recipe instead.

Tip: The upload accepts a single .zip file, up to 2 GB. Re-uploading replaces any data you uploaded before, so send one complete archive rather than one folder at a time.
Note: Your game port is fixed by us (shown on your service page). If txAdmin reports that an endpoint_add_tcp / endpoint_add_udp line in your server.cfg must use that port, change the port in those lines to match — or delete them and let txAdmin add them for you.

💾 Downloading your server data

The Data Backup card on the Files tab hands you a .zip archive of your txAdmin data folder (txData) straight from your browser: click Download data. If you imported an existing server and run it from /uploaded-data, that folder isn't in this archive — copy it with SFTP instead. It's useful for keeping your own copy before a risky change, or for moving your server somewhere else. It also works while the service is suspended, so an unpaid invoice never locks you out of your own files.

Tip: The archive can take a moment to generate on a server with a lot of resources — the download starts on its own once it's ready. Your database isn't part of this archive; export it separately from your database tools if you need it too.
Note: This archive covers your server's main data folder (the one txAdmin manages). Files you brought in through Existing Server Data live separately in /uploaded-data and aren't part of it — if your server runs from there, copy that folder with SFTP (see below) to keep a backup of it.

🔐 SFTP access

To upload, download, or edit individual files — a single resource, a config tweak — you can turn on SFTP and use any SFTP client (FileZilla, WinSCP, and Cyberduck all work). SFTP is off until you enable it, and you can switch it on and off yourself at any time while your service is active.

  1. Open the Files tab and find the SFTP access card (the SFTP row on the Overview tab's FiveM Server card also links straight to it).
  2. Click Enable SFTP. The card then shows your Host, Port (22), Username, and Password.
  3. Copy the password right away — it's shown only once. If you lose it, click Reset password to get a new one.
  4. In your SFTP client, choose the SFTP protocol (not plain FTP) and enter the Host, Port, Username, and Password from the card.
Note: You land in the data folder — your server's main data folder, the one txAdmin manages (resources, server.cfg, and so on). Go up one level and you'll also find uploaded-data, where anything you brought in through Existing Server Data lives.
Note: Using WinSCP? After an upload it may show "Upload of file … was successful, but error occurred while setting the permissions and/or timestamp — Permission denied". Your file was saved: WinSCP is only trying to copy the file's permissions and modification time, which isn't allowed on this server, so it's safe to ignore. To stop the message, turn off Set permissions and Preserve timestamp in WinSCP (Preferences → Transfer → Edit), or click Skip all when it appears.
Note: Reset password replaces the current password and closes any SFTP session that's still open. Disable SFTP removes the login completely — your server's files aren't touched — and you can enable it again later, which gives you a new password.
Warning: SFTP turns itself off automatically 24 hours after you enable it, because an open SFTP login is one more way into your server. Disable it sooner once you're done transferring files, or click Extend 24 hours on the card if you need more time (same password). Turning it back on takes one click.
Warning: Too many failed logins will temporarily block your IP address: 5 failed attempts within 1 hour block it for 1 hour. The block applies to your IP address on that whole host (SFTP, and also the txAdmin web panel), not just your SFTP account, and clears by itself after 1 hour. Copy-paste the password (it is shown only once) rather than typing it. If you are blocked 4 times within 24 hours, the block becomes permanent — contact support to have it lifted.

📋 Server logs

The Server Logs card on the Console & Logs tab shows recent server output right in your browser — click Load Recent Logs to see it — in addition to the live console already available in txAdmin. This is the fastest way to check what happened after a crash or a resource error before reaching out to support. It's also where txAdmin prints its setup PIN on first boot.

📡 Live logs & full log download

The Server Logs card has two more buttons next to Load Recent Logs. Live view follows your server's console as it happens — new lines appear about every 2 seconds, handy for watching a resource start or reproducing an error. Download full log gives you a .zip with everything your server's console has printed since the server was created or last rebuilt, in a single timestamped file — useful when the problem happened long before the last few hundred lines.

  1. Open the Console & Logs tab and find the Server Logs card.
  2. Click Live view to start following the log, and Stop live view when you're done.
  3. Click Download full log to save it as a .zip.
Note: The live view stops by itself after 30 minutes, so a forgotten browser tab doesn't keep polling forever — just click Live view again to resume. It also pauses while your browser tab is in the background or you're on another tab of the service page.
Tip: The full log can be large, so downloads are limited to 5 every 10 minutes per service. If a download is refused, wait a few minutes and try again.

💳 Billing tab

Everything about paying for your server lives on the Billing tab. Change Plan moves you to a bigger or smaller plan: upgrades take effect as soon as the prorated difference is paid, downgrades take effect at your next renewal with no refund for the current period. Applying a new plan restarts your server, so anyone connected is disconnected for about a minute — your files and database are kept. Cancel Subscription stops future payments while your server stays active until the end of the period you've already paid for. Payment History lists every payment for this service with its date, amount, type, and transaction ID.

Tip: How cancellation, renewals, and switching payment methods work is covered in the Billing guide.

Still stuck? Check the FAQ or contact us — we'll answer directly.

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