--- title: A Tale of UDP tracking: Hytale server auto stop and... description: A detailed guide for automatically stopping and starting a Hytale game server using systemd socket activation and a custom bash watchdog script. The solution... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/a-tale-of-udp-tracking-hytale-server-auto-stop-and-start-with-systemd-8gyu1rbvz twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: A Tale of UDP tracking: Hytale server auto stop and start with systemd | daily.dev og:description: A detailed guide for automatically stopping and starting a Hytale game server using systemd socket activation and a custom bash watchdog script. The solution... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/a-tale-of-udp-tracking-hytale-server-auto-stop-and-start-with-systemd-8gyu1rbvz og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/8gYU1RBVZ.png og:image:alt: A Tale of UDP tracking: Hytale server auto stop and start with systemd og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # A Tale of UDP tracking: Hytale server auto stop and start with systemd **[Lobsters](https://daily.dev/sources/lobsters)** · 7 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A detailed guide for automatically stopping and starting a Hytale game server using systemd socket activation and a custom bash watchdog script. The solution tracks UDP datagram activity via /proc/net/snmp to detect idle periods, shutting down the server after 120 seconds of inactivity to pause world time. Includes complete systemd unit configurations and an extensive FAQ explaining design decisions around UDP connection tracking challenges, systemd service lifecycle management, and workarounds for connectionless protocol monitoring without root privileges. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [My journey writing a watchdog script](https://daily.dev/posts/my-journey-writing-a-watchdog-script-fzayivfs2) · Kitty says hi. · 6 upvotes · 0 comments - [My Raspberry Pi now fixes itself when services die, and I haven't SSHed in weeks](https://daily.dev/posts/my-raspberry-pi-now-fixes-itself-when-services-die-and-i-haven-t-sshed-in-weeks-vadmi1qoi) · XDA Developers · 2 upvotes · 1 comments - [Manticore Search under systemd: beyond fork, PID files, and guesswork](https://daily.dev/posts/manticore-search-under-systemd-beyond-fork-pid-files-and-guesswork-q3ifd25lz) · Manticore · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [How to detect Mythic activity with NDR-class solutions](https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-detect-mythic-activity-with-ndr-class-solutions-83uddjjeg) · Securelist · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [UDP Broadcasting And Easily Finding Network Services](https://daily.dev/posts/udp-broadcasting-and-easily-finding-network-services-zjuvyepel) · Hackaday · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#bash](https://daily.dev/tags/bash), [#devops](https://daily.dev/tags/devops), [#linux](https://daily.dev/tags/linux), [#networking](https://daily.dev/tags/networking) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/a-tale-of-udp-tracking-hytale-server-auto-stop-and-start-with-systemd-8gyu1rbvz) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"A Tale of UDP tracking: Hytale server auto stop and start with systemd","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/a-tale-of-udp-tracking-hytale-server-auto-stop-and-start-with-systemd-8gyu1rbvz","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/a-tale-of-udp-tracking-hytale-server-auto-stop-and-start-with-systemd-8gyu1rbvz"},"datePublished":"2026-01-21T01:58:05.558Z","dateModified":"2026-03-15T03:45:45.404Z","description":"A detailed guide for automatically stopping and starting a Hytale game server using systemd socket activation and a custom bash watchdog script. 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