Notes

GUIDE: Setting Up And Monitoring A Linux MineCraft Server

Hello, I'm lDucks and this is my guide on how to run a Linux MineCraft server. I managed a server over 8 months. I've been creating plug-ins for almost 13 months. And I was the server administrator for over a full year. This guide may have some errors in it since even after rereading it and having other people reread it countless times, I still have to change little errors I find. I hope that this will help others who don’t know how to manage servers.



All information in this guide is based on my own experiences and learnings from CS. Enjoy.



This guide is to teach you how to set up and run a physical server. This guide doesn't address the running of a community, or running a website. This is just how to setup and monitor your server and make sure the backend is running smoothly. If you want to run a server, you can use your computer or a cheap Minecraft host. However, if you want to run one on a larger scale, you will need to do a lot more work that I will explain in this guide.



Prerequisites for Linux Server (These commands are for CentOS only, but they can be used with other Linux distributions). Knowledge of Filezilla or another FTP Client Knowledge of basic command-line navigation (Windows or Linux)



Download the latest craftbukkit build



This guide is organized in the same order as you will be setting up the server. It starts with step 1, and ends up with additional information that you will require after setup to ensure your server runs properly.



First, pick a server. If you plan to open a Minecraft Server, you should expect some investment. Running a server off your own personal computer, even a computer on your network, is not a good idea. A proper server setup and an internet service provider are essential for running a server. If you want to start a Minecraft server, I recommend you do so with a Minecraft host.



What is a Minecraft host? Minecraft has grown so large that there are hundreds dedicated to Minecraft hosting. I won't go into detail about how to run a server using them as they don't have much functionality. Most of them use MCMyAdmin. If you are running a server that does not require constant maintenance (paintball, hunger games, etc.) then you really don't need to read much past this. A host is available for as little as $30 per month. It will provide everything you need. However, you can't make a server that requires editing core files, creating CRON jobs or installing software. You will eventually need a dedicated host server. Usually once you get past ~10GB of RAM from an MC host, the prices are more expensive than just renting a dedicated server. Once you have 30 players on your server and are able pull in $100+ per months in donations, you should expand.



For those of you looking for good Minecraft hosts, I have had some good experiences with https://allgamer.net/ - I have supplied a list of Minecraft hosts at the end of this guide.
minecraftservers.live


This is where dedicated servers can be found. A dedicated server is not designed for Minecraft. It is a complete physical server that can be rented from a datacenter. You can use it as often as you like. I will not be covering how to run a Linux-operated Linux server in this guide. Anyone who wants to run a Minecraft server should get a Linux dedicated host. This is a personal preference. There is no reason to choose Linux over a Windows server. This guide, however, will be written only for people with a Linux box. You can stop reading if you don't own a Linux box.



When choosing a server, many people are concerned about their RAM. I have read that you need 1GB RAM for every 10-20 servers slots. This is a great estimate, but it is important to remember that RAM is just one aspect of what you need. You need to make certain your HDD is sufficiently large, your processor is efficient, and your internet speeds remain fast enough.



When I was running a server I had a very nice box: i7 3770 4 Core @ 3.4 Ghz, 32 GB RAM, 64 GB SSD, 32GB HDD.



This is enough to run a server for 200+ people. When renting a box, take this into account. Choopa is a good host. Before you choose a host to use, I recommend you do some research. I have provided a list with hosts at the bottom of this guide.



I recommend getting a box with 16GB of RAM, 16 - 32GB HDD, and 16GB SSD. There are so many processors out there that any one of them will do the job. These numbers are too high and you don’t necessarily need that much. If you are on a budget, you may be able to go lower. I would only recommend these numbers so you have some working space.



How to Set Up Your Server. Now that your box is set up, you might be wondering how to get it started. You don’t have the ability open Windows Explorer to run the run.bat file that you downloaded from Bukkit’s wiki. Sadly, it is a bit more complicated than that. Upload your craftbukkit file first to your server. I used the directory: /home/SERVERNAME.



Create a new file called start.sh.



This code should be placed on the page: DO NOT CODE THIS CODE EXACTLY. Code: Java -server Xms10GXmx16G-jar craftbukkit.jar



Every box is different, so you're going to need to change the amount of allocated RAM that you will provide to your server. As you can see, we have allocated the server 10GB extended memory and 16GB maximum heap size. DO NOT ALLOCATE ALL YOUR RAM. If you have an 8GB box, give it Xms4G/Xmx6G. For a 16GB box, give it Xms8G/Xmx12G. Play around with numbers. Make sure you have at minimum 2GB available. Keep Xmx larger than Xms. Other things are going to be running on your box besides the Minecraft server, so leave some extra space. There are many options available depending on how your processor handles the server. This is not important, but it's worth doing some research if you need to change things.



Upload the start.sh file to the /home/SERVERNAME. This can be done using Filezilla. I'm going to assume that you already know how to use Filezilla or any other FTP client if you're setting it up a server.



Now, how do I run that script? Well, let me explain. I'm going show you how PuTTy works. The reason I am using this method is because it is much easier than teaching you how to connect through a terminal. PuTTY is ideal for any task you want to do on a server box.



Download PuTTy here: http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html



Open PuTTy, and enter the hostname. Let's use 108.61.45.74 for an example IP. You will want to use the IP of your Minecraft server. If you don't know the IP of your Minecraft server, you can log into your account at the server host's website. Or contact your serverhost. If you use a URL to access your Minecraft server you can enter that URL instead.



Next, you will need to enter the port. If you haven’t changed it, it should be port 22, Next, click on the option "SSH". Note, this is NOT the port of your Minecraft server. It is the SSH port.



You will need to click "Open" after that. Click "Open"



After you have done that, you will be asked to login. If you weren't already told, your login name must be root. You can contact your host if you don't know what it is. After typing root, press enter. Next, enter your password that you have received from the host. Next, click on enter. Your password will not show up as you type it.



Now, you need to make sure that you have certain things on your box. You will need Java and MySQL, htop, iptraf, and other things. I will explain how to do this in this guide.



Installing Programs This command line will allow you to install every program that you need. You need to remember that not all Linux boxes use the same format. These commands work on a CentOS box. While I know that most people use Ubuntu (and I do), at the time this article was written, I was using CentOS. The commands for installing are similar. The following command line is available for CentOS users. You can also use the "aptget" command if you are using Ubuntu. I suggest you look into your distribution for the right commands.



To verify that you can use rpm extensions, first enter the code: Code: yum - install rpm



If you are running 32bit, you will need to locate the RPMs by yourself. These links are for 64bit systems.



iptraf: Code: yum install http://scriptmantra.info/sources/iptraf-3.0.0-5.el5.x86_64.rpm



htop: Code: yum install http://205.196.123.160/j785fw1gc80g/al1aaacqodltr1i/Htopbuild0056.yashua.rf.x86_64.rpm



For installing MySQL and Java you can get those guides with a quick Google search, so I'm not going to waste time rewriting them.



JAVA: http://www.wikihow.com/Install-Java-on-Linux MYSQL: http://www.thegeekstuff.com/2008/07/howto-install-mysql-on-linux/



Start MySQL



Turning on the Server Now I assume you are ready to turn it on and install plugins. In order to do this you need to open a "screen" (instance).

Screen is not pre-installed, so you will have to install it. Type: Code: yum install screen

If the above command doesn't work, follow the next step. Move on to the next step if you have it installed.



Follow this link to locate the version that you want for distribution. Then, enter the following two lines into your terminal:



Code: yum --y install ncurses devel texinfo pamdevel libtool $url_TO_RPM



Now the screen has been installed.



To open a screen, you will need to enter the following code into the command line Code screen -S SERVERNAME



Naturally, replace servername by the name of your server. It is important that the screen you are running has the same name. This is so you can easily find out which server is running for each instance. Once you have done this, a page should appear like this. I'm going to call my screen "WARCHICKEN" for now.



Now, you're on the screen. Now you need to run your script. You first have to open the file that it is in.



Type: Code: cd/home/SERVERNAME



Because that is the way we chose to follow in this guide.



Now type: Code



This will begin your server. If you receive the following message:



It means that your start.sh file was not modified to 770. Please use the following command:



Code: chmod 770 /home/SERVERNAME/start.sh



This screen will allow you to enter commands as the servers after the server is turned on. You can detach by pressing CTRL+A+D.



If you want to reconnect you can type Code: screen -r WARCHICKEN screen -rd WARCHICKEN



-r means to connect. -rd means to connect and kick anyone who is attached. One person can view a screen simultaneously



You can also do Code : screen -list



You can list all the open screen. To kill a screen, type: Code kill -9



The PID is the number left of the screenname.



This number will change each time you reopen a window. If your server crashes you will need to close the screen and then open it again.


Website: https://minecraftservers.live/