Last month, my nephew asked me to help him Minecraft Server Setup for his friends. He’d been using some free hosting service that kept crashing whenever more than three people logged on. After about an hour of getting everything running on a proper VPS, I realized this is actually way easier than most people think.
Look, I’m not going to lie and say it’s completely foolproof. You’ll probably mess something up the first time. I definitely did. But that’s part of the learning process, and honestly, once you’ve done it once, you can set up a new server in like 20 minutes.
Why Bother with a VPS Anyway?
Okay so here’s the thing about those free Minecraft hosts or the really cheap shared ones. They’re fine until they’re not. You get what you pay for, right? The server lags when everyone’s online, it randomly goes down, and good luck trying to install custom mods or plugins.
With a VPS, you’re basically renting a slice of a real server. It’s yours to do whatever you want with. Want to run Minecraft today and switch to a Terraria server tomorrow? Go ahead. Want to install that weird mod your friend found on some random forum? No problem. You’re in charge.
The other big thing is performance. When you’ve got dedicated resources, the game actually runs smoothly. Nobody’s complaining about rubber-banding or chunk loading issues. It just works.
What You Actually Need
Right, so before you start, here’s what you need to have sorted:
You need a VPS. Obviously. For a basic Minecraft server with your friends, 2GB RAM will work but it’ll be tight. 4GB is way better. If you’re planning to run lots of mods or expect 20+ players, go bigger. Amaze Servers has different tiers, so you can start small and upgrade later if things take off.
You should know your way around a command line at least a little bit. I’m not saying you need to be some Linux expert, but you should be comfortable typing commands and not freak out when you see a black screen with text. If you’ve never done it before, spend like 30 minutes watching a basic Linux tutorial on YouTube first. It’ll save you headaches.
Set aside some time. Your first setup will probably take an hour, maybe two if you run into issues. Grab a coffee, put on some music, and don’t rush it.
Getting Started with Your VPS
When you sign up for a VPS with Amaze Servers, they’ll email you the login details. You’ll get an IP address, username (usually root), and a password. Write these down somewhere safe.
To actually connect to your server, you need an SSH client. If you’re on Windows, download PuTTY. It’s free and everyone uses it. Mac and Linux users already have SSH built into their terminal.
Open up your SSH client, enter your server’s IP address, and connect. It’ll ask for your username and password. Type them in carefully because the password won’t show up as you type it. That’s normal, it’s a security thing.
First things first – update everything. Your server probably has a bunch of outdated software, and you want the latest versions for security and stability. This takes a few minutes and downloads a bunch of stuff. Just let it run.
Installing What You Need
Minecraft needs Java to run. It’s just how the game works. You need to install the Java Development Kit on your server. Which version depends on what version of Minecraft you want to run, but Java 17 works for most recent versions.
The installation is pretty quick. Once it’s done, you can check that it worked by asking the server what Java version it has. If you get a version number back, you’re good.
Don’t Run Everything as Root
This is something I learned the hard way. Running your game server as the root user is a bad idea. If something goes wrong or someone finds a security hole, they could potentially access your whole server. Not great.
Make a separate user just for Minecraft. Call it minecraft or gameserver or whatever. Give it a password. Then switch to that user for everything else you do. It’s an extra step but it’s worth it for peace of mind.
Actually Getting Minecraft Server Running
Go to Minecraft’s official website and find the server download page. There’s a download link for the server jar file. You want to download this directly to your VPS, not to your computer.
Make a new folder for your server files. Everything Minecraft-related will live here. It keeps things organized and makes backups easier later.
Download the server file into this folder. When you first try to run it, it’s going to fail. Don’t panic, this happens to literally everyone. Minecraft makes you agree to their terms before the server will work. It creates a file called eula.txt that you need to edit. Open it up, change false to true, save it. Done.
Setting Everything Up the Way You Want
Now you can actually start the server properly. It’ll generate a bunch of files and folders. The important one is server.properties. This file controls basically everything about your server.
Open it up and you’ll see a ton of settings. Some important ones:
The server port is usually 25565. Leave it unless you have a specific reason to change it.
Max players is how many people can be online at once. Set this based on your server’s resources.
Gamemode can be survival, creative, or adventure. Pick what you want.
Difficulty affects how hard the game is. Peaceful means no monsters.
PVP true or false depending on whether you want player combat.
There’s a bunch of other stuff in there too. The defaults are fine for testing, but read through them and change what makes sense for your server. The names are pretty self-explanatory.
Opening Up Your Firewall
Here’s something that trips people up. Your server has a firewall that blocks most connections by default. That’s good for security, but it means nobody can connect to your Minecraft server.
You need to open port 25565 in your firewall. The exact commands depend on what firewall your VPS is using, but it’s usually pretty straightforward. You also want to make sure your SSH port stays open so you don’t lock yourself out.
Making It Run Properly
You can just start Minecraft from the command line, but that’s not great for a real server. If you disconnect from SSH, the server stops. If it crashes, it stays down until you manually restart it.
There are better ways to handle this. You can use something called screen or tmux to run the server in the background. Or you can set up a service that starts automatically when your VPS boots up and restarts if it crashes.
You also want to allocate the right amount of memory to Minecraft. If your VPS has 4GB of RAM, you might give Minecraft 3GB and leave 1GB for the operating system and other stuff. Too little RAM and your server will be laggy. Too much and you might crash the whole VPS.
Keeping Things Secure
Change your root password right away. The one they email you is temporary and you want something strong.
Only allow SSH connections from your IP address if possible. Or at least use SSH keys instead of passwords. It’s way more secure.
Keep your firewall tight. Only the ports you actually need should be open. Everything else should be blocked.
And for the love of everything, set up automatic backups. Your world file is hours or days of work. Losing it because you didn’t back it up is heartbreaking. Set up a daily backup that keeps the last week or two. And store at least one copy somewhere other than your VPS.
Connecting to Your Server
Once everything’s running, you connect using your VPS IP address. In Minecraft, go to multiplayer, add server, and enter the IP. Your friends do the same.
If you want to get fancy, you can point a domain name at your server. It’s way easier to remember play.yourserver.com than 123.456.789.012. Most domain registrars let you set this up pretty easily. Just update your DNS records to point to your VPS IP address.
Keeping Things Running Smooth
You’re not done after setup. Minecraft updates regularly and you’ll want to keep your server current. Before updating, always back up your world. Download the new server jar, replace the old one, and restart. Usually it just works, but that backup is there just in case.
Watch your resource usage. If you’re constantly maxing out RAM or CPU, it’s time to upgrade your plan. Better to do it proactively than deal with crashes and lag.
Check your logs occasionally. They’ll tell you if something weird is happening or if there are performance issues building up.
My Final Two Cents
Set Up a Minecraft Server isn’t rocket science, but it does take some patience and willingness to learn. The first time I did it, I probably broke my server three times before getting it right. That’s normal.
The payoff is worth it though. Having your own server that you control completely, that runs smoothly, and that you can customize however you want – it’s pretty satisfying. Plus your friends will think you’re some kind of tech wizard.
Start with the basics. Get it running first, then worry about optimization and fancy features. Don’t try to do everything at once or you’ll just frustrate yourself.
And honestly, Amaze Servers makes this whole process easier than it used to be. Their VPS plans are straightforward, the servers are reliable, and you can scale up when you need to. Whether you’re hosting for five friends or building the next big Minecraft community, you’ve got options.
Give it a shot. Worst case, you learn something new. Best case, you end up running the server all your friends want to play on.
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