jonathancraddock / minecraft

Notes and links for config of a home Minecraft server.

Minecraft Home Server

Notes and links for config of a home Minecraft server.

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VM

Created VM in XenOrchastra.

4x CPU
8gb
1x LAN
40gb HDD

Installed Ubuntu 20-LTS, picked up MAC address, reserved IP in DNS. Reboot, connected with PuTTY.

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

Allow auto removal of unused kernals and dependencies, to personal taste.

sudo nano /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades

Taking a snapshot here.

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Install git.

sudo apt install git build-essential

Java runtime.

!!!! DO NOT USE THIS VERSION !!!!

Should have used used v17, with sudo apt install openjdk-17-jre-headless. Additional notes below.

sudo apt install openjdk-11-jre-headless
java -version

Create a minecraft user and setup folders.

sudo useradd -r -m -U -d /opt/minecraft -s /bin/bash minecraft
sudo su minecraft
cd ~
mkdir -p ~/{backups,tools,server}

Install mcrcon.

git clone https://github.com/Tiiffi/mcrcon.git ~/tools/mcrcon
cd ~/tools/mcrcon
gcc -std=gnu11 -pedantic -Wall -Wextra -O2 -s -o mcrcon mcrcon.c
./mcrcon -v

Taking a second snapshot here.

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Minecraft Server -> https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/download/server

Download.

wget https://launcher.mojang.com/v1/objects/125e5adf40c659fd3bce3e66e67a16bb49ecc1b9/server.jar -P ~/server
cd ~/server
java -Xmx1024M -Xms1024M -jar server.jar nogui

At this point, appears Java runtime version is not correct... should have used v17. :-/

"Exit" from minecraft user, and remove incorrect version of Java and reinstall.

exit
whoami

sudo apt remove --auto-remove openjdk*
sudo apt purge openjdk*

sudo apt install openjdk-17-jre-headless
java -version

Switch back to minecraft user account.

sudo su minecraft
cd ~/server
java -Xms1024M -Xmx1024M -jar server.jar nogui

Note the EULA warning message.

nano ~/server/eula.txt

Set the value eula=true.

Edit the properties.

nano ~/server/server.properties

Set an rcon password, and adjust any other parameters as needed. (Consider firewall, if you want access from outside your LAN.)

rcon.port=25575
rcon.password=XXXXXXXXXXXX
enable-rcon=true

"Exit" back to admin account, and config systemd.

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/minecraft.service

If you wanted to adjust the defauts, you can query your min/max heap size as follows: java -XX:+PrintCommandLineFlags -version

Suggested config, and use mcrcon password that was set earlier.

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

[Service]
User=minecraft
Nice=1
KillMode=none
SuccessExitStatus=0 1
ProtectHome=true
ProtectSystem=full
PrivateDevices=true
NoNewPrivileges=true
WorkingDirectory=/opt/minecraft/server
ExecStart=/usr/bin/java -Xmx1024M -Xms1024M -jar server.jar nogui
ExecStop=/opt/minecraft/tools/mcrcon/mcrcon -H 127.0.0.1 -P 25575 -p XXXXXXXXXXXX stop

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Reload and start the service.

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl start minecraft

sudo systemctl status minecraft

^- first run takes a while... in this case, 83 seconds!

Enable service.

sudo systemctl enable minecraft

Server is working and can connect OK from my PC. Taking another snapshot here.

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Connect to console:

/opt/minecraft/tools/mcrcon/mcrcon -H 192.168.1.XXX -P 25575 -p XXXXXXXXXXXX -t

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Additional Reference

If you don't want fire spread: /gamerule doFireTick false

For commands and syntax help -> https://minecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Commands#Command_guide

Guide (java version out of date, but otherwise very easy to follow) -> https://bobcares.com/blog/install-minecraft-server-on-ubuntu/