Notes

How To Make A Minecraft Server

We will show you how to create a Minecraft server using easy-to-follow steps. This will be a persistent server that you can play with friends from all over the world. You don’t have to be connected to a LAN.



How to Make a Minecraft Server - Quick Guide



This is our "Table of contents" if you're in a hurry and want to go straight to the point. We recommend reading everything though.



Learn stuff (optional) Learn more stuff (optional) Requirements (required) Install and start the Minecraft server (required) Run the server even after you log out of your VPS (optional) Make the server automatically start at boot (optional) Configure your Minecraft server (required) FAQs (optional) Need specialized managed Minecraft server hosting? Host Havoc will give you a coupon to get a server.



Before we get into the actual instructions, there are a few things that you should know.



Reasons why you would NOT use a specialized Minecraft server hosting provider



Since you're here, you're obviously interested in hosting your own Minecraft server. There are many reasons why you wouldn't use a specialized Minecraft server hosting provider. Here are a few.



They are slow most of the times. This is because multiple users share the resources. It eventually gets overloaded. Most of them oversell their servers too. You don't have full control over the Minecraft server or the actual server. You can't modify anything. You're limited. These types of hosting plans are always limited.



There are many positives to using a Minecraft host. The best thing is that you don’t actually have to do everything we’ll talk about. But where's all the fun?



Why you should NOT use your personal computer to make a Minecraft server



We noticed lots of tutorials showing you how to host a server on your own computer. However, there are some downsides to this:



Your home internet is not secured enough to handle DDoS attacks. DDoS attacks can often be used to attack game servers. Your home network setup is probably not secure enough to deal with them. It's unlikely it can handle a small attack. Port forwarding is something you will need to manage. If you've tried making a Minecraft server on your home network, you've surely stumbled upon port forwarding and had issues with it. You will need to ensure that your computer is on at all time. Your electricity bill will soar and you'll be adding unnecessary load to your computer. The hardware most servers use is enterprise-grade and designed to handle loads, with improved stability and longevity. Your home internet is not fast enough. Multiplayer games can't be handled by home networks. To even consider setting up small servers, you'll need to have a bigger internet plan. Data centers have multiple high-speed internet connections that are enterprise-grade and offer 100% uptime. Your hardware is most likely not good enough. Again, servers use enterprise-grade hardware, latest and fastest CPUs, SSDs, and much more. Most likely, your personal computer does not. - Your personal computer probably runs Windows/MacOS. While this is debatable we believe Linux is better than Windows for game hosting. Don't worry, you don't really need to know everything about Linux to make a Minecraft server (though it's recommended). We'll show you everything you need to know.



Our tip is to not use your personal computer even though technically you can. A cloud server is affordable. We'll show you how to make a Minecraft server on cloud hosting below. It's easy if the steps are followed carefully.



How to make a Minecraft server - Requirements



There are a few requirements. Before you continue with the tutorial, make sure you are familiar with these things.



A Linux cloud server is required. Linode is our recommendation. Their prices are very affordable, the services are excellent, and the customer support is outstanding. Also, the server hardware is of high quality. Check the Minecraft server requirements to find out what kind of server you should get (resources like RAM and Disk space). We recommend the $20 per-month server. They support hourly pricing so if you only need the server temporary for playing with friends, you'll pay less. Sign up for Ubuntu 22.04. Choose the closest server location to where your players live during the signup process. Keep in mind that you'll be responsible for your server. So you'll have to secure it and manage it. If you don't want to do that, you can get a managed server, in which case the hosting provider will likely make a Minecraft server for you. You'll need an SSH client to connect to the Linux cloud server. For beginners, PuTTy can be a good choice. We also recommend MobaXTerm. There are many other SSH clients to choose from, so pick your favorite. You will need to set your server up (basic security setup at minimum). You can search it on Google and find many tutorials. You can use Linode's Security Guide and follow the exact steps on your Linode server. - We'll handle the software requirements like Java below.



And finally, onto our actual tutorial:



How to Make a Minecraft Server on Ubuntu (Linux)



These instructions were created for and tested with an Ubuntu 22.04 server by Linode. These instructions are compatible with Ubuntu 20.04 or Ubuntu 18.04 servers from Linode.



We are using Minecraft's vanilla server default. You can also use Spigot and CraftBukkit, which allow you to customize the server with more plugins. Though if you use too many plugins you'll essentially ruin the server. Each plugin has its own pros and cons. To keep things simple for beginners, these instructions are for Vanilla's default server. We may publish a tutorial for CraftBukkit soon if there's an interest.



Here are the step-by-step instructions on how to make a Minecraft server:



1. Login to your server



We'll use the root account. If you use a limited-user, you'll have to execute most commands with 'sudo'. If you do something that you don't have sufficient permissions for, you will be warned.



Your SSH client allows you to log in to your server. Use your server IP and your port (most likely 22).



After you log into, make sure to secure your server.



2. Updating Ubuntu



Before you do anything else, make sure to update Ubuntu first. You can update it with the following commands:



Hit "enter" and/or "y" when prompted.



3. Install the necessary tools



This tutorial will require you to install a few packages and tools, such as text editing and making your server persistent. You can install them by using the following command.



Some of these may be in place already.



4. Download Minecraft Server



First, create a directory where you'll store your Minecraft server and all other files:



Navigate to the new directory



Now you can download Minecraft Server. Go to the download page for the link. Download the file using wget



5. Install the Minecraft server



Once you've downloaded and installed the server.jar file you need to run this file once. It will create several files, including a eula.txt licence file. The first time you run it, it will return an error and exit. This is normal. Follow the following command to enter:



"-Xms2048M" is the minimum RAM that your Minecraft server can use and "-Xmx3472M" is the maximum. This will be adjusted depending on your server's resources. You can use the Linode 4GB RAM server as-is if you don’t intend to use it for any other purpose than Minecraft.



After that command ends and returns an error, a new eula.txt file will be generated. You will need to accept the license contained in that file. You can do that by adding "eula=true" to the file with the following command:



You can now start the server again and access the Minecraft server console with that same java command from before:



You must be in the /opt/minecraft directory. This directory is where you installed your MC Server.



You're free to stop here if you're just testing this and need it for the short-term. If you are having trouble connecting to the server, configure your firewall.



The first time you successfully start the server it will take a bit longer to generate



We'll show the steps to create a script to allow you to start the server.



6. Start the Minecraft server with a script, make it persistent, and enable it at boot



To make things easier, we'll create an bash script that will automatically launch the server.



So first, create a bash script with nano:



You will see a new (blank!) file. Paste the following:



If you're new to nano - you can save and close the file with "CTRL + X", then "Y", and hitting enter. This script navigates to your Minecraft server directory you created previously and runs the java command for starting the server. You need to make it executable with the following command:



You can then start the server at any time by using the following command:



This command will start a screen session:



Once you are in the screen session (which looks like you would start a new session of ssh), you can use the bash command from earlier to start your server.



To exit the screen session, press CTRL + A+D. The server will continue running even after you exit the screen (detach) session. You can safely log off your Ubuntu server now, and the Minecraft server you created will keep running.



Open the /etc/rc.

Local file:

Add the following line to the "exit zero" line:



To access the Minecraft server console, just run the following command to attach to the screen session:



That's it for now. Congratulations and have lots of fun! You can now connect to your Minecraft server or configure/modify it.



Configure your Ubuntu Server



You'll, of course, need to set up your Ubuntu server and secure it if you haven't already done so. For more information, you can follow the guide we provided earlier or google it. The configurations you need to do for your Minecraft server on your Ubuntu server are:



Enable and configure the firewall



First, if UFW has not been enabled, you will need to enable it.



You should allow the default Minecraft server port:



You should allow and deny other rules depending on how you use your server. If you are not hosting websites on the server, you should deny ports 80 and 443. Minecraft servers Google a UFW/Firewall guide for Ubuntu and you'll get recommendations. Be careful when setting your firewall. You may be locked out of your server by blocking the SSH port.



Since this is the default port, it often gets automatically scanned and attacked. You can prevent attacks by blocking anyone from accessing your whitelist.



First, enable whitelist mode on your server.properties. To do this, open the following file:



Change "white-list" line from "true" to "true".



Save the file and close it.



You can then restart your server either by restarting Ubuntu or by running the start Bash script again



Access the Minecraft server console:



To allow someone to join your server you must add them to the whitelist by using this command:



To remove them, use:



CTRL +A-D is used to exit the screen session. It is important to note that this will block access to everyone except the whitelisted usernames.



How to Make a Minecraft Server - FAQs



We'll answer some frequently asked questions about Minecraft Servers and our guide.



How do I restart the Minecraft server?



If you followed every step from our tutorial, including enabling the server to start on boot, you can just reboot your Ubuntu server. If you didn't set it up to start at boot, you can just run the start script again which will restart the Minecraft server:



How do I configure my Minecraft server?



You can configure your server by using the server.properties. You can refer to the Minecraft Wiki for more information.



You can use the server console to change the difficulty, game mode, and other settings. You can access the server console via running:



You can also execute commands there. Commands like:



Depending on which command you used, the server may need to be restarted. You can use many other commands, see the wiki to learn more.



How do I upgrade my Minecraft server?



You must update your software if there is a new version.



Navigate to minecraft directory



Download the latest version with wget (like the step from the beginning of the tutorial)



Next, build and operate the new server.



Finally, update your start script:



Update the version number as needed



Now, you can restart your server and everything should be working fine.



Why is your Minecraft server tutorial so long, and yet others are only 2 lines long? !



We tried our best to make this as user-friendly as possible. We also showed you how to make the Minecraft server persistent and start it automatically at boot, we showed you how to configure your server and everything. I mean, sure, you can start a Minecraft server with a couple of lines, but it would definitely suck, for more than one reason.



I don't know Linux or anything you wrote about here, how do I make a Minecraft server?



Just read all of our article and copy and paste the commands. If you don’t know the right way to do it, we can help. Or you can get a managed provider and have them do it.



How do I install mods on my server? How do you install plugins?



This article is intended to serve as a guide. For more information, you can visit the Minecraft Wiki or Google it. There are many tutorials online.


Website: https://minecraftservers.best/