Minecraft Server Guide | Ultimate Guide For Minecraft Server

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Certainly, one of the most important things to checkout first of your list before even going on with installing Minecraft, or in fact any game for that matter, is to have a thorough understanding of the Hardware Specifications and Requirements required for that game.

It is in fact one of the most necessary and crucial elements that has a role to play in order to let you install and play the game without any sudden hick ups or crashes down the way.

Similarly, if you are planning to set up a smooth running server for Minecraft so that you and your friends can enjoy the game without having to face any kind of unwanted issues, having a little knowledge on the system requirements and making the required changes can both seem beneficial to your system as well as your gameplay overall.

And just so that the purely technical aspects of the concepts do not get your mind all overwhelmed, we have come up with a simple example to explain everything in detail as well as what to do and what not to when it comes down to choosing the right specs for your server as well as your entire system set-up.

A – Z: A Detailed Overview On Hardware Requirements

Server space and memory

Here we will take basically a ‘play-house’ for example which you can say roughly represents your server. Now, for those of you who are not at all familiar with what a server does and how it works, I would say it pretty much is similar to a play house overall where the space depends on how big of a house you actually bought or use up.

What that means is that basically your server works up as a storage unit or space where all your playing will eventually take place. And the more bigger the server space, the more easily you can play or move around it, similar to what you would feel in a large play house.

Hence, depending upon your game’s server requirements as well the overall playing experience you would like to avail, the amount of server space you allot or purchase for your game really plays a great role in deciding whether your game will smoothly run or not. 

So, how should one go on deciding “how much server space is actually needed for a smooth running server?

The answer to that actually lies in two distinct parts. The very first and most obvious one would be what type of game you are actually installing, what specs do the game need you to have or how much of a space will the game need in your server once it gets installed.

Now, this part is certainly something which is beyond our control as there is no possible way to shrink a game without actually damaging it, just so that it can do with a server with small space. So, if the game says it needs 6GB of memory to run then you will obviously need to come up with 6GB of RAM anyhow.

The second part however is something which you can actually control. Depending upon the number of players you are planning to invite or play with you can actually decrease or increase the load on your server which then again evidently will decide whether you will need to have a high-end server machine or a low end server machine with limited space.

The more the number of players, the more space you might actually need. So this you can very much alter per your requirements and ability of your server.

Machine Processor

I am pretty sure many of you already know what a processor is and how important of a role it has got to play when it comes to running games on your machine.

Hence, I will skim this part a bit so that I can get right on with the part which is actually important with respect to Minecraft and Server and not the working of processors a whole. 

So, if we need to go back to same example and define a processor it would basically would be most suited to say that a processor is quite similar to the cooling system of your play-house.

Although, in case of modern machines and PC’s they come with a whole different set of cooling systems and a processors work is no closer to that of a cooling system. However, just to go with the present context I have assumed processor to be somewhat similar to a cooling system in a house.

Basically what it does is that it lets you run around and play from one place to another without having to break any extra sweat. Thus, if you have a good running high-end processor, then playing the game even with a higher number of players would not be overwhelming and should go smoothly even with limited server space available. This, is exactly how a processor and memory space of a machine or system go hand in hand to balance each others downside.

Network Bandwidth

The third and the last most important aspect of hardware requirements so to speak would definitely be the network bandwidth of a particular set-up when it comes to running and playing multi-player games online.

And similar to our approach earlier in describing the various aspects to hardware requirement, even in case of Network Bandwidth, we believe we have a representation which closely resembles to how the network bandwidth of a set-up effects the gameplay of Minecraft. 

In case of the overall Minecraft set-up where the server works as the play-house and the processor represents the cooling system, the bandwidth would basically be best suites with the road to your play-house.

Now, if you have lots of invitees coming to your house at the same time, quite obviously depending upon the width of the road leading to your house and how much of players it can actually hold at the time might result in either a huge traffic jam or a complete blockage of the road to your house in the end.

So, depending upon the bandwidth of your Internet connection provided by your ISP, you may decide how many players you would want to invite on a single go or how many more can you can afford once you reach a certain threshold.

As if you can manage your bandwidth well, you could even handle some extra few players too from time to time. But this greatly depends on your working experience with the bandwidth and over all setup for the particular game.

Hardware Specifications:

  • Memory: 6GB RAM and higher
  • Fast Bandwidth Network Connection
  • Processor: Dual Core Processor and higher
  • Set up DDoS Protection  

Versions – Which Versions you will need

After we have seen how one should go on setting up the physical or hardware segment of the entire Minecraft set-up.

I believe next we should have a slight peek at the inner segment of the whole set-up, so that we know how and where actually things are going during the process of installation and final setting up of your respective Minecraft server. 

Now, the very first thing you should decide while installing Minecraft server into your device in the first place is what type of server version to go with.

This is actually very crucial, as each version comes with its own set-up features and functionality which may or may not be similar to the others.

So, you should be very clear with what you expect from a server not only at present but also in the mere future to do for you and your players before you decide going with one. Obviously, you could always re-install and install a different version at any point of time.

But then again, its all start from the very scratch and once you have a certain amount of traffic and reach a certain level of game, it is never fun to actually reset your whole progress once more just so that you feel like going with a different version which may or may not prove as good as you would expect.

Hence, down below, I have listed a few of the top most popular as well as trusted servers you can get your hands on to have a pleasant and satisfying experience all throughout while you play the game with your friends and families.

Server Version List

  • Vanilla
  • Spigot
  • Bukkit
  • Cauldron
  • Forge
  • Mod Packs

Setting Up – Installation Process

Finally, after going through all the pre-requisites, we have at last reached to the crux of the whole post which is the entire installation and setting up process of a smoothly working Minecraft server onto your desired machine which may be a remote server or a PC running on Windows OS.

Here you can expect to find a detailed walk through around all the major steps and tricks needed to follow and implement in order to successfully install a Minecraft server into your machine and set it up from A-Z so that you can start inviting your friends and start crushing some Minecraft fun in no time. 

How to Setup a Minecraft server on Windows PC?

Check, Download & Install: Java 

The very first thing you need to check before actually downloading and installing the server file onto your machine is whether or not you have the latest version of Java installed on your system. You can check this by opening up your command prompt and typing in the following code as below.

java -version

You should be able to see a list of the versions of java installed in your system. Check whether the version you have in your PC is up to date or not with the one in the official java website.

NOTE: If there is no Java installed in your system then the following command will not return you any value so it is important you have at least one version of Java installed in your system. 

So, if you don’t see anything at all after you have entered the following command. It is mainly because you don’t have Java installed into your system first of all. Thus, in such a case the obvious option is to simply go to the official website and download the latest version of “Java” into your system.

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Once done with the download, simply go to the file and click on it to start the installation process, which again is pretty self-explanatory on its own and should not be difficult at all to install on your own.

Download & Install: Minecraft Server

In the following section just as the name itself suggests, we are going to discuss in detail the entire process from downloading the Server file to successfully installing it into our system. 

  • So, the very first step you need to go on with is the downloading process which again is pretty simple like that in the case of Java earlier. Anyways, you will need to go to the following official website of Minecraft and download the file named “minecraft_server.1.15.2.jar”, which you might guess from the very name itself is a ‘jar’ file. Now, the versions may be updated so, the version number too might keep on changing. Hence, there is nothing to worry about as long as it is a jar file and you are downloading it from the official site itself as mentioned in the link above.
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  • The download should take a few seconds to minutes, depending upon the speed of your Internet connection. However, once you have successfully managed to download it into your device. Next, it is somewhat a good idea that you move the file into a separate distinct folder, designated for your Minecraft game itself. 
  • Next, go to the folder where you have moved the downloaded ‘jar’ file, double click on it to start with the Installation process.
  • However, unlike normal installation process where installation of an app automatically resumes. In case of the jar file once you double click on the jar file it will only extract a few files onto your folder where the ‘jar’ file is placed.
  • Now, out of all the extracted files you will need to find, select and open the ‘eula’ text file on a notepad. 
  • Once you have opened it on your notepad, you will see the terms and conditions as shown below. Here all you need to do is change the value after “eula” in the last line to “true”, if false. By doing this you have agreed to EULA’s terms and conditions. Then simply save the file and close the window.
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  • Next, up you will also need to make a few changes on the ‘server.properties’ file which again you will most probably be able to spot among the extracted files itself.
  • Open it up on notepad similar to the one we did for the ‘eula’ file and may make the following changes. Now, here we are basically changing the properties of what your server can do or how you want your game to act. So, if you know what you are doing then it should not be much of a very big deal after all.
  • So, once you have opened up it in the text file you can change your ‘server-ip’ address or the name of the world in ‘level-name=world’ or even change the maximum number of players to be invited in the ‘max-players’ section. However, for the time being we will only change the ‘gamemode’ from any thing else into “survival” mode like “gamemode=survival”. 

NOTE: There is no “ ” (inverted commas) needed in the actual code. I have just used it for highlighting it here. 

  • Similarly, change the value for pvp=true, enable-command-block=false, server-ip to what ever value your ISP provider has provided you.
  • Again, for managing “Server-ip” address as well as “port address” can be a bit challenging , for which you could refer to the following article “https://portforward.com/, which should help you understand the whole concept in much detail to be able to implement it properly with respect to Minecraft Server port forwarding.  
  • And finally after all the editing and changing of scripts have been done we can finally go with the more conventional way of installing the ‘jar’ file by simply double-clicking on it again and click on the “Allow Access” button if prompted with a Firewall alert box. 
  • Once, that is done your Minecraft server should be installed and all set to launch.  

Setting Up: Your first Minecraft Server

So, once you have successfully managed to download and install the ‘server.jar’ file as shown in the steps above. Next, you are all set to go on ‘setting up’ your Minecraft Server for you and your friends to play in.

This I believe is the end ingredient of our whole tutorial today and possibly the cherry on the cake. And thus, without any more further delay let us head straight to business where you will be learning how to set up your first ever Minecraft server and make it live online. 

  • For the very first step you will need to open up your command prompt (CMD) and go to the folder where you had downloaded and installed the Minecraft server file.
  • Once you are inside the folder, type the command java -Xmx102M -Xms1024M -jar [name of the file] nogui. NOTE: Here, change the [name of the file] to the actual file name of the server you have named it with.]
  • After, you have typed in the above code and pressed enter, your Minecraft should automatically launch and you should be inside the game. 

There is also another way to go on connecting to your server, for which you will need to launch the game first and then go to the Multiplayer section by clicking on the Multiplayer option. 

Then, simply click on the Add Server button and fill in the server details as asked for and click on the Done button once you are ready to connect. However, if you are unsure about what IP address you currently have with you at the present time, you can simply log into Google and type in “what’s my IP” to find your designated IP address at the given time. 

It is advised that you seldom check your IP address each time you connect to your network and log into your server, since it always keeps on changing depending upon your ISP and how often you are disconnecting and connecting back to your Internet connection. 

Advertising your Server to its full potential

Once you have your Minecraft server all set-up and running, I believe it would not be an ideal choice to just let it sit there without doing nothing and only being used for time to time.

Specially when you have put in so much effort and time into setting up the whole thing. And, as you can already see from the heading above advertising your server to the right people can help you achieve just the fruit you deserve for all that hard work. 

So, what do I mean when I say ‘fruit’ for all your hard work is right there. Well, in simple terms it means money or a kind of an earning which you can generate with your very own server if advertised it right and to the right people or players out there.

Now, all of How you can earn money through servers and in-game items have been covered up and written well in the form of a guide in a different article and will not sum up here as I have saved up the remaining part of the article for “Advertising your server”, which again I believe will take up quite some length.

Forums 

Well, the very first and foremost one of the most important place to get your server infront of the right people may undoubtedly be forums.

Not only does forums consist of people who are looking out for similar things to discuss about, but studies have found that forums may be the hub of people who are willing to actually take up a thing introduced to them instead of just viewing it and ignoring it at large.

The fact that people come to Forums probably as the last resolute gives us a fair assurance that they actually want to and try out a product or service and not just look at it because it popped up in front of them.

Hence, if you take my advise working up a good bio-data about your server and the services you may provide seem like the best idea to go on with while listing out your server in forums for new players to try out. 

Social Media outreach

If you have ever got a chance to peek into big advertisement corporations making their bid into social media outreach and advertisement, then probably you would know how important social media may prove to boost up your business as a whole.

Similarly even in case of Minecraft servers too, since you are at some point planning to earn a few bucks in it, investing on ad services such as Facebook ads as well as Insta ads can truly bring some unexpected traffic down your way. 

Streaming

Although, having up a live stream of you and your friends playing and having fun online may seem to many like a little more extra work.

But, given the amount of work you already put in while purchasing and setting up your very own server, streaming your gameplay for people to view and seem interested in may not be a bad idea after all.

This is probably something which gives your most potential customers a hands on into your service before they actually try it out, which again works to your own benefit as people today mostly prefer a hands on first before actually buying a product.


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Rishikesh Hazarika is a tech enthusiast who is always curious to learn and absorb facts and data in the world of science and technology as well as tries to share his opinion. He has an M.Tech degree from North-Eastern Hill University, later he did a certificate course in Computer Hardware and Software, and a certificate course in Introduction to Architectingc