Tutorials

Minecraft Server

Minecraft Java Edition is the most popular self-hosted game server worldwide. This guide walks you through installing and running a vanilla Minecraft server on Ubuntu or Debian.

Requirements

  • A VPS running Ubuntu 20.04+ or Debian 11+
  • Root or sudo access
  • At least 2 GB RAM (4 GB+ recommended for more than a handful of players)
  • At least 10 GB free disk space

1. Connect to Your Server

ssh root@YOUR_SERVER_IP

Or use the web terminal in the Sitequest dashboard.

2. Install Java

Minecraft requires Java 21+:

apt update
apt install -y openjdk-21-jre-headless

Verify:

java -version

3. Create a Minecraft User

useradd -m -s /bin/bash minecraft

4. Download the Server

Switch to the minecraft user and download the latest server jar:

su - minecraft
mkdir -p ~/server && cd ~/server
curl -LO https://piston-data.mojang.com/v1/objects/SERVER_JAR_URL/server.jar

Replace the URL with the latest download link from minecraft.net/download/server.

5. Accept the EULA

echo "eula=true" > eula.txt

6. Configure the Server

Create or edit server.properties:

nano server.properties

Key settings:

server-port=25565
max-players=20
motd=A Sitequest Minecraft Server
online-mode=true
difficulty=normal
view-distance=10

Adjust view-distance and max-players based on your VPS RAM.

7. Start the Server

java -Xms1G -Xmx2G -jar server.jar nogui

Adjust -Xmx to match your available RAM (leave at least 512 MB for the OS). Press Ctrl+C to stop the server.

8. Create a systemd Service

Exit back to root (exit) and create the service file:

nano /etc/systemd/system/minecraft.service

[Unit]
Description=Minecraft Server
After=network.target

[Service]
User=minecraft
WorkingDirectory=/home/minecraft/server
ExecStart=/usr/bin/java -Xms1G -Xmx2G -jar server.jar nogui
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=10
StandardInput=null

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Enable and start:

systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable minecraft
systemctl start minecraft

9. Open Firewall Ports

If you use the Sitequest firewall, open TCP port 25565.

With ufw:

ufw allow 25565/tcp

10. Connect

Open Minecraft, go to Multiplayer > Add Server, and enter your server's IP address. The default port is 25565.

Next Steps

  • Install PaperMC instead of vanilla for better performance and plugin support
  • Set up automatic backups with a cron job
  • Configure a whitelist for private servers
  • Set up Let's Encrypt SSL if you run a web map (Dynmap/BlueMap)