How to create a Minecraft server: the complete guide

Setting up a Minecraft server is no rocket science. What usually gets stuck isn't the installation: it's everything that comes after. Here's the procedure, in order.

Choose between hosting at home and renting

Hosting on your own computer costs nothing, but your server shuts down when you turn the machine off, and your upload speed is rarely cut out for a dozen players. It's perfect for playing with friends over a weekend, unsuitable as soon as you want a community.

Renting a server solves both problems. Allow €3 to €10 a month for a server comfortably handling twenty to thirty players. Two criteria matter: the CPU clock speed, because Minecraft computes each world on a single core, then RAM: 4 GB for vanilla, 4 to 6 GB with plugins, 8 to 12 GB for modded. The guide Choose your hosting details the traps in offers.

Install the server

Three pieces of software dominate:

• Vanilla: Mojang's official server. No plugins possible.
• Paper: derived from Spigot, much better optimised. It's the default choice today: faster, and compatible with almost all Spigot plugins. The full comparison is in Paper, Spigot, Purpur or Fabric.
• Fabric or Forge: for modded servers.

For a server with plugins, take Paper. You first need the right Java version: it depends on the game version, and a wrong version gives an obscure error at startup, the guide Which Java version gives the mapping. Then download Paper's .jar file, put it in an empty folder, and run it:

java -Xms4G -Xmx4G -jar paper.jar nogui

The server stops straight away, asking you to accept the licence agreement: open eula.txt and set the value to true. Run it again, and your world generates.

Open the port

Port 25565 must be reachable from outside. With a host, it's already done. At home, you need a port forward on the router, and your public IP address may change: plan a domain name updated automatically. If your router doesn't allow opening a port (shared IP, 4G connection), a Playit.gg tunnel gives your server a public address without configuring anything on the router.

To check that everything works, ask someone outside your network to connect. A test from your own machine proves nothing.

The settings that really matter

In server.properties:

• view-distance: lower it to 8. It's the setting that weighs most on performance, and nobody sees the difference.
• simulation-distance: 5 or 6 is plenty.
• max-players: be honest. Advertising 500 slots on a server that holds 30 is obvious straight away.
• motd: the line shown in the server list. Take care of it, it's your first impression: the MOTD generator shows the exact rendering, colours included.

So you don't forget anything, the server.properties generator explains each option and flags risky settings. Once the server is running, the server tester checks that it answers from outside.

Each line of the file is explained in Understanding server.properties.

Back up, from day one

A server without backups is a server that will end up losing its world. A daily task that copies the world folder elsewhere is enough. Test at least once that restoring works: a backup never tested isn't a backup.

What next?

A working server is a start, not an end. What comes next is what will make the difference between a living server and an empty one:

1. The essential plugins, and how to install them without breaking the server;
2. Protect the server before opening: backups, block logging, permissions;
3. Launch successfully, then promote the server.