Quick Guide to Server Hosting

This little guide will hopefully help anyone interested in hosting their own Irish servers, or using a Virtual Private server to run off.

There are no minimum specs detailed for running a server, but a dual core PC, 512mb ram and about 500mb of hard drive space is recommended.

Beginners Guide

Hosting a home server
Probably the easiest way to host a server, but it has many disadvantages and disadvantages:

Advantages:
- Quick and easy to set up
- Easy managing and modifying of server

Disadvantages:
- Changeable IP unless managed otherwise
- High latency and packet loss possible on other clients due to home connection speed limitations


1. So, let's start a basic server! First of all, get the Minecraft_server.exe/jar file from the website here, .exe is for Windows and .jar is for OSX/Linux systems. There are known issues with the .jar server file running on Windows.

2. Update your Java if needed first!

3. Double click the server file and let it run! The server will generate the necessary files to modify your server, so make sure the server file is in a dedicated folder at least.

4. Once you've done that, you're best to close off the server window briefly, to modify your server! Look for server.properties and edit it with wordpad or something similar. You'll see a set list of commands in there.

level-name=world //This is the name of the world's folder in your server folder
hellworld=false //This is the nether. Currently in multiplayer it's semi broken
spawn-monsters=false // This obviously allows the spawning of mobs or not
monsters=true //This allows mobs on or off, its NOT the same as SPAWNING them.
online-mode=true //This is to enable an online server. To run LAN, just set this to false
spawn-animals=false //This allows animals or not in the server
pvp=false //This allows player vs player hit damage.
max-players=50 //Maximum number of players allowed on the server
server-ip= //Your IP address of the server. LEAVE THIS BLANK IF YOU'RE ON A CHANGEABLE IP
no-animals=false //This is again not the same as spawning animals. You can give yourself cage spawners, but they wont work if this is set to true.
server-port=25566 //The port of the server. Default is either 25566 or 25565. If you want to run multiple servers on one PC, use different ports to differentiate servers.
white-list=false //This determines whether anyone can enter the server or limited to a list of players you have input.
spawn-protection=16 //Spawn protection is the amount of blocks in a radius where enemies cannot deal damage to you.

5. Now, you want to admin the server? Great! Open ops.text and add your name to a line. If you want other admins on the server, just add more names to that line, otherwise type an admin can type /op <playername> in server

6. white-list.txt allows you to add players to the server list if whitelist is enabled. Otherwise type /whitelist add <playername> in game.

This is the basics of the server. Enjoy!


Running a Virtual Private Server

Running a VPS is a more effective way to run a Minecraft server. It boasts many advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages:
- More stable dedicated servers (including linux!)
- Lower latency and capability of higher player numbers in a server at once
- Better compatibility with modded servers and plugins (tutorial in advanced thread coming soon!)
- Static IP

Disadvantages:
- Slightly more complicated to moderate forums
- Knowledge of the OS it's being hosted on

Now, lets start off. VPS system can be quite expensive, but the better spec the better the experience. Do not go for 128mb/256mb RAM VPS systems, you'll limit yourself and your players to a choppy and unplayable experience. Hard drive space isnt essential and Minecrafts bandwidth usage isnt too high either (except in the case of 10+ active players at once).

I recommend a Linux VPS system over the Windows one. There are known issues as I've said with the .jar files in Windows, especially if they're modded. So I'll be tutting on the Linux versions of the server in this tutorial.

1. So, now you've bought your VPS server, you've got a login and password. Now what? Now we get our hands dirty! Grab yourself a copy of PuTTY and Filezilla. PuTTY will help us remotely issue the server commands, and Filezilla will help modify, upload, remove files easily.

2. Run PuTTY and enter your IP address details, you'll be then asked for your username and password, enter those. You're on your VPS server now!

Now, for a few basic commands and explanations:

cd this directs your console to a certain address. For example if minecraft is in files/minecraft, type cd files/minecraft to direct the console there.
mkdir This creates a directory in the folder your console is currently pointing at.
wget This will download the file in question after the hyperlink you put after wget. So for example wget www.minecraft.net/minecraft-server.zip will download the minecraft-server.zip file to the pointed folder.
screen Runs a program/file from the pointed folder with the ability to close the terminal (PuTTY)
reboot Reboots the OS


3. That's the basic commands. There's some others but we'll look into them later. So, lets create a folder now that we're logged in!

mkdir minecraft

4. So now we've created a Minecraft folder in the root directory. Let's point to the folder.

cd minecraft

5. Now we're in. It's empty. Lets fill it. There's 2 ways to do so:
-

wget http://www.minecraft.net/download/minecraft_server.jar

- Open Filezilla, enter your IP, username and password, download the files, or even a previously made server, and literally drag them into your Minecraft folder.

6. Nearly there! So now we've got the basic files in. Lets run the server.

java -Xmx1024M -Xms1024M -jar minecraft_server.jar nogui

where
java is the executed form of file
xmx and xms are the variables, the RAM allocated to the server
jar is the type of file being executed
nogui is no interface

7. You should see your region being rendered. You're done! Your dedicated server is up and running. However when PuTTY is closed, so does your server. So to run the server indepentantly,

screen -S minecraft java -Xms1024M -Xmx1024M -jar minecraft_server.jar nogui

screen will run the server independently. We're done!

Filezilla will allow you to change/modify files and reupload them on the fly. Some mods (explained in another thread) allows you to make changes on the fly, some don't, like the server.properties files. You may need to stop and start the server. Ingame, type /stop stops your server. So to rerun the server again, just use the above steps again to get it running via PuTTY.

Advanced Guide

So assuming you've got your server up and running, its time to take things up to the next level: adding mods to your server!

If you're here, you'll probably know by now that Minecraft in its beta doesn't have all the features that it could and should have. Modding Minecraft is exceptionally easy, so the amount of variables you can add to Minecraft is huge. Since the beta update, the old main mod (hmod) has died, and Bukkit (CraftBukkit as its called in its infancy), is the main method to adding neat addons to your server. Running the mod is just a simple process of running a modded Minecraft_server.jar/exe file, it behaves the exact same with the added support of plugins.

So lets get started!


Modding your Home Server

Lets get the main mod first. Word of warning before we start: CraftBukkit does not execute in XP. Windows 7/Vista/OSX/Linux builds are required for smooth running of the modded server!

1. CraftBukkit is constantly updated, but always download the recommended release, found here.

2. Rename the file to craftbukkit.jar

3. Place craftbukkit.jar into your root directory of where your Minecraft server folder is.

4. Create a new folder and name it plugins.

5. Run craftbukkit.jar!

You've now got a modded server running with the same world that where you left off before it was modded. Of course, a modded server also needs plugins, basically extra features added into the game. So lets add some plugins.

6. CraftBukkit Plugins List is a comprehensive list of plugins released for the craftbukkit mod. Be aware that Minecraft updates can break the plugins, so check the list regularly to see if your plugin has been updated.

7. So I'm going to take Essentials as our example. Essentials adds in features like /sethome, /setspawn, the kit features and the now outdated whitelist feature (added in beta 1.3 Minecraft vanilla. Download the latest release build here

8. Extract and place the jar files in the plugins folder.

9. Run craftbukkit.jar once and stop the server. There's now config files in the plugins folder, for you to edit to your hearts contempt. See the tutorial guide on the link provided for more information.

10. Once you're happy with the edited configs for the plugins, run craftbukkit.jar and enjoy the modded server


Of course there's many more plugins, have a look at the list and download whatever you want and run them offline for testing if you wish. NOT ALL PLUGINS ARE COMPATIBLE WITH ONE ANOTHER. Other than that, just read the tuts on each plugin and you're sorted!


Modding your VPS Server

If you're here, you already know the basics for your VPS server hosting. Let's get started via Linux!

1. Download the craftbukkit jar file once again.

2. Open Filezilla and proceed to login. Navigate to your minecraft server folder, rename the downloaded file to craftbukkit.jar and copy it to the root of your Minecraft folder. Create a plugins folder.

3. Log into PuTTY, point the terminal to your Minecraft folder. Now run:

Code:

screen -S minecraft java -Xms1024M -Xmx1024M -jar craftbukkit.jar nogui

Great, you've just ran the craftbukkit mod independantly. Stop the server by typing stop in the terminal or /stop ingame. Let's add some plugins!
4. CraftBukkit Plugins List is a comprehensive list of plugins released for the craftbukkit mod. Be aware that Minecraft updates can break the plugins, so check the list regularly to see if your plugin has been updated.

5. So I'm going to take Essentials as our example. Essentials adds in features like /sethome, /setspawn, the kit features and the now outdated whitelist feature (added in beta 1.3 Minecraft vanilla. Download the latest release build here

6. Extract and place the jar files in the plugins folder. via Filezilla.

7. Run craftbukkit.jar again as seen above. Stop the server once again if needed!

8. In the plugins folder there is now generated config files for you to edit. Edit with wordpad as the default editor, notepad can be a mess.

9. Once you're done editing, run the craftbukkit.jar file again and you're on your way to a safe protected and fun environment!


Of course there's many more plugins, have a look at the list and download whatever you want and run them offline for testing if you wish. NOT ALL PLUGINS ARE COMPATIBLE WITH ONE ANOTHER. Other than that, just read the tuts on each plugin and you're sorted!


I hope this tutorial was short, clear and concise to users needs! Any questions, feel free to post them here.