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In this guide I explain how to properly configure your Minecraft server on Linux, automatically start it on bootup, stop it on shutdown and manage it properly.
This guide covers the latest version of Minecraft. In our example, this would be **Minecraft Java 1.19.3**, but you can also use the guide for newer versions.
If anything big changes I will update the guide to the latest version.
We use a tool called tmux, to let our server run in the background.
We will go in details how to work properly with tmux and how we can use it properly for our purposes.
To start/stop our server properly we will use systemd services. This way we have full control over when our server get's started/stopped.
Important
**Please read the individual sections before executing them so that you understand what the commands do!**
I would suggest that you have basic knowledge in using the terminal 💻
All commands we use in this guide will be executed with root privileges. That means I will **NOT** use [`sudo`][link-sudo-command] in front of each command!
If you don't have root privileges you have to use all commands with [`sudo`][link-sudo-command]! Otherwise you will probably get a permission error.
Update your system
Check if your system is up to date
First we will update our system to the latest version
You can do that with the following command.
apt update -y && apt upgrade -y
Now your system is up to date.
Install Java Runtime Environment (JRE)
How to install Java Runtime Environment (JRE)
Check current version
First we will install the Java Runtime Environment.
For this I would recommend that you first check if you already have the correct version of JRE installed.
You can do that with the following command.
java --version
If you get the following output you are good to go and do not need to install JRE. If not follow the next steps.
openjdk 19.0.1 2022-10-18
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 19.0.1+10-Ubuntu-1ubuntu122.04) <-- This is the important line!
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 19.0.1+10-Ubuntu-1ubuntu122.04, mixed mode, sharing)
Serach for newest version
To search for the latest version of JRE use the following command. We will use the regular expression[0-9]+ to search for any version.
That will give you back something similar like the following.
openjdk-11-jre-headless - OpenJDK-Java-Laufzeitumgebung, verwendet Hotspot JIT (ohne GUI)
openjdk-17-jre-headless - OpenJDK-Java-Laufzeitumgebung, verwendet Hotspot JIT (ohne GUI)
openjdk-18-jre-headless - OpenJDK-Java-Laufzeitumgebung, verwendet Hotspot JIT (ohne GUI)
openjdk-8-jre-headless - OpenJDK-Java-Laufzeitumgebung, verwendet Hotspot JIT (ohne GUI)
openjdk-19-jre-headless - OpenJDK Java runtime, using Hotspot JIT (headless) <-- This is the latest version that we want
Install lates version
Use the following command to install the latest version of JRE. As an example 19 from our search from above.
<version> is a placeholder for the latest version.
apt install openjdk-<version>-jre-headless -y
If you get a similar error then just run the install command again.
... <-- Many error lines
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1) <-- End of error
Confirm with Enter when asked which services should be restarted.
And you are done installing the JRE. 😀
Setup minecraft user
Properly set up minecraft user/directory under /home on Linux.
Add the minecraft user
The next thing we do is use the useradd command to create a new user with a new home directory. We will call this user minecraft and use the user's /home directory to set up our server.
-m is used to create a directory under /home for the minecraft user minecraft is the name of the user
useradd -m minecraft
How to remove user
If you accidentally add a wrong user you can remove it again with the following command
-r removes the directory under /home <enter the wrong name here> is a placeholder for the wrong name.
userdel -r <enter the wrong name here>
If you get the following message you can ignore it.
userdel: <the wrong name> mail spool (/var/mail/<the wrong name>) not found
Nice you have created the minecraft user. 👍
Prepare Minecraft server .jar
Download and prepare the server .jar
Download Purpur MC
Next, we download the latest Minecraft server .jar file. Which server .jar you use is up to you. In this guide I will use purpurmc. However, you can also use a pure vanilla server. The steps are the same.
Once you have downloaded the server .jar I would advise you to name it uniquely. For example, my server .jar that I downloaded is called purpur-1.19.3-1894.jar. The number behind the version usually describes the current build. So I would name the server .jar only purpur-1.19.3.jar. Make sure you don't use any spaces or special characters in the filename.
Put server .jar in directory
After that use a SFTP program of your choice to put the server .jar in the directory /home/minecraft.
If you want to run multiple servers at the same time on your Linux server I would recommend you to create a subfolder in the minecraft direcory where you put your server. For example /home/minecraft/survival and /home/minecraft/creative. But make sure that you specify the correct paths in all later steps.
Check for server .jar location
After you have placed the server .jar in the directory /home/minecraft we check again that the server .jar is really in the right place.
For this you can use the following command in the terminal.
ls /home/minecraft/
If you get the following output, then the server .jar is in the right place.
purpur-1.19.3.jar
Navigate to correct directory
Next we will start the Minecraft server for the very first time to generate the eula.txt file. Use the following commands for this. First navigate into the minecraft directory.
cd /home/minecraft/
Start the first time
After that start the Minecraft server with the following command. Make sure that you are still in the right directory!
If you get the following message, then the eula.txt was created successfully.
Downloading mojang_1.19.3.jar
Applying patches
Starting org.bukkit.craftbukkit.Main
System Info: Java 19 (OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM 19.0.1+10-Ubuntu-1ubuntu122.04) Host: Linux 5.15.0-58-generic (amd64)
Loading libraries, please wait...
[19:44:08 INFO]: Building unoptimized datafixer
[19:44:10 ERROR]: Failed to load properties from file: server.properties <-- You can ignore these lines
[19:44:10 WARN]: Failed to load eula.txt
[19:44:10 INFO]: You need to agree to the EULA in order to run the server. Go to eula.txt for more info. <-- This is the important line
Accept eula
Now you can open the eula.txt. In the last line you should see eula=false. You need to set the value to eula=true. This way you accept the eula!
#By changing the setting below to TRUE you are indicating your agreement to our EULA (https://aka.ms/MinecraftEULA).
#<Date>
eula=false <-- You need to set this line to true
Now that we have accepted the eula.txt we can move on. 🏃♂️
Create start .sh file
How to create the start.sh file
Create file
Next, we need a start script for our server .jar.
For this we want to create a new text file in the /home/minecraft directory with my SFTP program. Optionally you can also do the whole thing via the terminal. I name this file start.sh.
Once you have created the start.sh file we need to add the following to the file. Open the file and insert the following commands.
Depending on your Linux server you have to adjust the parameters -Xms and -Xmx.
Save the file.
Change permissions
After we have created and saved the file we will make it executable. There are several ways to do this. Either with the following command via the terminal.
chmod +rwx start.sh
Or you can use your SFPT program. Right Click on the start.sh file and navigate to Properties. In the Properties window you will find a table that looks something like this. Set the check marks according to the table.
ID
Read
Write
Execute
Owner
R
W
X
Group
R
W
X
Other
R
W
X
Now that we have made our file executable we can close it and we are done with our start.sh script. 👍
Create console .sh file
How to create the console.sh file
Create file
We are almost done. Next we just need to create a console.sh script so that we can connect to the console at any time after the server has started.
These steps are optional. But for later usage it is just easier to execute the script that we are creating instead of writing the command into the console each time. Also, this way you don't have to remember the command and can just run the script to connect to the console.
To create the console.sh script we first have to create a text file under the /home/minecraft directory again. I use my SFTP program again for that. We will name the file console.sh. But you can call it whatever you want.
Edit file
Once you have created the consol.sh file we need to add the following to the file. Open the file and insert the following command. This is the point where we include tmux for the very first time.
-S Socket path (We will use sockets instead of sessions so that different accounts can access the console later.)
Again if you want to run multiple Minecraft servers at the same time you can specify a different socket path for each server there.
As an example: /usr/local/tmux/shared/minecraft/server1 /usr/local/tmux/shared/minecraft/server2
You can also choose a different path, just make sure that the path is accessible for all users.
Save the file.
Change permissions
After we have created and saved the file we will make it executable. Again there are several ways to do this. Use the following command.
chmod +rwx console.sh
Or use your SFTP program. Set the check marks according to the table.
ID
Read
Write
Execute
Owner
R
W
X
Group
R
W
X
Other
R
W
X
Now that we have made our file executable we can close it and we are done with our console.sh script. 💻
Setup startup service
How to setup the startup service file
Lastly, we will look at how to create the startup service file so that our Minecraft server will automatically start up on startup and shut down on stop.
Navigate to correct directory
Use the following commands for this. First navigate into the /etc/system/system directory.
cd /etc/system/system
Create file
Next we need to create a new .service file under /etc/system/system. We will name this file minecraft.service
Again, if you want to run multiple Minecraft servers at the same time, I would recommend creating different .service files.
As an example: /etc/systemd/system/server1.service /etc/systemd/system/server2.service
Edit file
Once you have created the minecraft.service file we need to add the following to the file. Open the file and insert the following.
Description This is the description of your service Type You can read more about why we use Type=forkinghere WorkingDirectory This is your working directory where the file will be executed ExecStartPre This will be executed before your actual start file ExecStart This is the path to the main startup file ExecStop This is the path to the main stop file ExecStopPost This will be executed after your stop file Restart This specifies under which conditions the service should be restarted. We set it to on-failure. This means that the service restarts automatically in case of an error. WantedBy You can read more about why we use WantedBy=multi-user.targethere
After we have created and saved the file we will make it executable. Again there are several ways to do this. Execute the following command.
chmod +rwx minecraft.service
Or use your SFTP program. Set the check marks according to the table.
ID
Read
Write
Execute
Owner
R
W
X
Group
R
W
X
Other
R
W
X
And you are done creating the .service file.
Start and enable
The last thing we have to do is to enable and start the .service file.
Use the following command to enable the service to run automatically on startup.
systemctl enable minecraft.service
Use the following command to start the service.
systemctl start minecraft.service
You can view the status of your service with the following command. This will also show you errors if something is not working correctly.
systemctl status minecraft.service
How to stop and disable
If you no longer want the service to start automatically, use the following command to disable it
systemctl disable minecraft.service
You can use the following command to stop the service.
systemctl stop minecraft.service
Connect to your Server
Server in private network
If the server is in your private network you can use the following command to get the IPv4 address of the server.
hostname -I | awk '{print $1}'
This is the IPv4 address of your server. To connect to the Minecraft server on your server, you need to use the following address.
<IPv4>:<Port>
If you have not changed the port, it is set to 25565 by default. For example, your address to connect to the server could look like this.
1.2.3.4:25565 <-- This is just an example IPv4 adress, you need to use the adress you got from above
Server in public network
For example, if you have rented your server and it is not on your private network, then you need to use the public IPv4 address you got from your provider. The port is is the same as above (25565).
Conclusion
Final words
Your Minecraft server should now be fully set up 🎉. The server should start automatically on startup and stop automatically on shutdown. If anything in the guide is unclear let me know and I will try to improve it.
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Minecraft Server Hosting on Linux (Ubuntu Server 22.04.1 LTS)
