Minecraft is one of the most popular games, with over 90 million players monthly. The pay-to-play sandbox video game allows players to build their 3D world using blocks. It’s creator Markus Persson developed the game such that it demands creativity from players.
Persson’s company – Mojang published the game in 2011 and was sold to Microsoft in 2014 for $2.5 billion. Initially released as a Windows PC game, it is now a multi-platform game that covers Macintosh and even video game consoles such as Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and 4 and also Xbox One.
Having won various awards in the gaming space, Minecraft is also leveraged for educational environments. More so, many use Minecraft to teach kids to code. It also is an open platform for mod developers to either make small tweaks to significant alterations to the video game. Modding played an essential role in the commercial success of Minecraft. Mods offer players the opportunity to self-excodess and even provide additional depth to the original work.
Players can choose to play the game as a solo or as multiplayer. However, to engage in a multiplayer experience, a player must decide to rent a server from a hosting provider or host a server by self. Playing on the same server will allow players to interact in a single world.
If the computers are locally linked via LAN, then players need not set up a server. Hosting a server is straightforward, and one only needs to download and install on the server computer. Once done, the players can connect to the server. Gamers that want to enjoy the full Minecraft experience can do so by their private server. A private server will offer users the liberty to create a world of their own. Some of the popular servers include the Kohi PVP Minecraft server.
Below we have listed steps to host a Minecraft server on a Linux operating system using SSH client, and if one is using a Windows operating system, then they can leverage the free and open-source network-client PuTTY.
Setup Minecraft server on Linux via SSH
Gamers that want to setup Minecraft for Linux have to do so using the world’s best Secure Shell (SSH) client PuTTY or any other SSH client. Setting up Minecraft servers is similar across most of the Linux distributions, but only a few differ at the time of installing the required packages. Players can either choose to use a Linux hosting provider or host a server at home.
Choosing a Linux hosting provider has added perks as users need not have to worry about hardware maintenance. More so they do not jeopardise their private home network.
Follow the below steps to set up a Minecraft server on Linux.
Step 1 – Install Java
Users need first to connect the server using SSH. Connecting the SSH server is very easy and straightforward; Launch the SSH client and enter the hostname and the port to set up the SSH connection.
Next, log in to the server by opening PuTTY and execute the following command:
ssh username@ipaddress
There is a coderequisite to installing Java in a bid to setup Minecraft server. Therefore, following the login, gamers must ensure that Java is already on the system. Commonly, Java is code-installed in most cases. However, one can check by entering the following command:
Java -version
If Java is not on the system, then execute the below command in your terminal to get the latest packages of the software.
sudo apt-get update
Next, install the latest version of Java by entering the below command:
sudo apt-get install default-jdk
However, if a gamer wants the latest version of Java then replace the ‘default-jdk’ from the above command with ‘OpenJDK-7-jdk’, to install Java 17.
The resultant window will prompt gamers to sanction the storage space for the installation, codess “Y” to authorise it.
User must also install Screen in a bid to keep the servers running in the background even after closing the console. To do so, type the following command:
sudo apt-get install screen
The ‘screen‘ will also be useful later to initiate the Minecraft server.
Step 2 – Creating a directory
Now that, Java and Screen are on the system, gamers will have to create a directory on the host to hold the Minecraft files at a single location. Creating a directory will not only make it easy to access data but also keep it clean and tidy.
To create a directory, execute the following code
mkdir minecraft
cd minecraft
The ‘cd minecraft’ command lets users switch to the directory that will save the Minecraft files.
Step 3 – Downloading Minecraft server files
To download the Minecraft server files, run the following command inside the Minecraft directory:
wget -O minecraft_server.jar https://s3.amazonaws.com/Minecraft.Download/versions/1.11.2/minecraft_server.1.11.2.jar
In case, the system does not wget – the program that recovers content from servers, then one can install it with this code
- sudo apt-get install wget
Caution: Recheck the URL inputted in the above command. Gamers must input the latest version of the Minecraft.
User must agree to Minecraft’s end-user license agreement. Once done, gamers must run the above-mentioned ‘Screen’. It will allow the server to run in the background even when the connection drops. Enter the command to run screen
screen -S "Minecraft server 3"
Note: In the command mentioned above, we have ‘Minecraft server 3’ is the currency session name we have used. One must input the name of the session they use.
Setup 4 – Running Minecraft Server
Once everything is installed, gamers have to run the server. To do so, execute the below code in the terminal:
java -Xmx1024M -Xms1024M -jar minecraft_server.jar nogui
The minimum RAM requirement to launch Minecraft server is 1GB, but it is recommended to use more RAM to enhance the performance. Gamers must change the -Xmx and -Xms parameters with ‘-Xmx2048M – Xms 2048M’ to bump RAM to 2GB.
To play around with server properties file, one must input this code
'nano ~/minecraft/server.properties'
In case, one wants to stop the server, enter the ‘Stop’ command to terminate the server.
Now, that the Minecraft server is set up, ask players to connect to the server. However, it is recommended that it is best to use a domain name instead of an IP address as it will make it easy for the public to connect to the Minecraft server. Therefore, update the DNS records for the domain or subdomain, that is pointing the IP address of the Minecraft server.
The above is brief on making a Minecraft server on Linux using SSH. Gamers can choose to use any of the SSH clients.
