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Minecraft Server Setup

This manual explains how to install, update and backup a Minecraft server on a Linux (Debian) machine.

Components

PaperMC, Minecraft server software, a highly optimized fork of Spigot. All Spigot and Bukkit are compatible with paper.
Java, required to run Minecraft.
Screen, required to run Minecraft Server in background.

Installation

Update packages

Update and upgrade packages on server. This is not required but highly recommended, as it patches errors and bugs and may also improve the packages.
```
apt update
apt upgrade
```

Install Java

Install Java. For Minecraft versions 1.12 through 1.17, Java 8 (or newer) is required. It is recommended to install Java 8 for these Minecraft versions, as the majority of plugins for these Minecraft versions are written in Java 8.
```
apt install openjdk-8-jre-headless
```
For Minecraft version 1.18 and up, Java 17 or newer is required. It is recommended to use Long-Term Supported (LTS) version. For a guide on how to install the latest, please visit the official documentation of PaperMC.

Set up environment

Install Screen. It allows to run your Minecraft Server in the background.
```
apt install screen
```
Create a new user. It is not required but recommended, as you should not run your websites and servers with the root user.
```
sudo adduser minecraft
```
When being asked for user information, you can just hit enter a couple of times as these infos are unnecessary.
If you created a new user you need to change the current user.
```
su minecraft
```
Switch to your home directory.
```
cd
```

Install and set up minecraft server

Install PaperMC. To check what the latest available build and Minecraft version is, go to their download page. Then copy the following template and replace <mc-version> with the Minecraft version and <build-version> with the build version.
```
# Template
wget https://api.papermc.io/v2/projects/paper/versions/<mc-version>/builds/<build-version>/downloads/paper-<mc-version>-<build-version>.jar
  
# Example
wget https://api.papermc.io/v2/projects/paper/versions/1.21.4/builds/212/downloads/paper-1.21.4-212.jar
```
- To check if it was successfully installed you can list the current directories content with ls.

Create a script to start the server.

Create the file with touch start.sh. This creates a new bash file named “start”
Paste the following command to the file:

screen -AmdS minecraft java -Xms6500M -Xmx6500M -XX:+UseG1GC -XX:+ParallelRefProcEnabled -XX:MaxGCPauseMillis=200 -XX:+UnlockExperimentalVMOptions -XX:+DisableExplicitGC -XX:+AlwaysPreTouch -XX:G1NewSizePercent=30 -XX:G1MaxNewSizePercent=40 -XX:G1HeapRegionSize=8M -XX:G1ReservePercent=20 -XX:G1HeapWastePercent=5 -XX:G1MixedGCCountTarget=4 -XX:InitiatingHeapOccupancyPercent=15 -XX:G1MixedGCLiveThresholdPercent=90 -XX:G1RSetUpdatingPauseTimePercent=5 -XX:SurvivorRatio=32 -XX:+PerfDisableSharedMem -XX:MaxTenuringThreshold=1 -Dusing.aikars.flags=https://mcflags.emc.gs -Daikars.new.flags=true -jar /home/minecraft/paper-<mc-version>-<build-version>.jar nogui

You can check the used screen options in the in the manual (man).
The command uses some highly optimized flags from Daniel Ennis (Aikar). For more details visit his website.
It is important, that you adjust the Xms and Xmx flags to your available RAM. Important: Do not use all the memory, as your OS itself needs some too. E.g. if you have 8GB use around 6.5GB.

Before starting the server for the first time, you have to accept the license agreement. To do so create a file that flags the eula as accepted.
```
echo "eula = true" > eula.txt
```
You can now start the server with your script.
```
sh start.sh
```
To stop the server you can use the following command.
```
screen -r minecraft -X quit
```
- As an alternative you can create a script to stop the server.
```
echo "screen -r minecraft -X quit" > stop.sh
```
- Stop the server with the script.
```
sh stop.sh
```

Update

Go to PaperMC’s download page and check what the newest download is.
Go to the directory on your server, where you installed the Minecraft server.
Install the newest version on your server with wget.
```
wget https://api.papermc.io/v2/projects/paper/versions/<mc-version>/builds/<download-version>/downloads/paper-<mc-version>-<download-version>.jar
```
- Replace <mc-version> with the used Minecraft version e.g. 1.21.4 and <download-version> with the newest download e.g. 213.
Stop the Minecraft server.
Delete the old jar file.
Update the Minecraft version and the build version in the start script.
Start the server.

Backup

For a backup of a Minecraft world, only the world, world_nether and the world_the_end folder are required. If you use a whitelist, you should consider backing up the whitelist.json file as well.
To backup, copy the necessary files into a zip folder.
```
tar -czvf backup.tar.gz world world_nether/ world_the_end/
```
- This copies the files to a zip folder called backup.
If you want to, you can copy the backup to your local machine. To do so, open a terminal on your local machine and download the backup with scp (Secure Copy).
```
scp minecraft@<server-ip>:/home/minecraft/backup.tar.gz ~/Downloads/
```
- Replace the <server-ip> with the IP of your server.
- The example downloads the backup to the Downloads folder, but you can replace it with any path.

Recommended Plugins

The following list includes plugins, that I personally like to use on my servers to enhance the user experience with additional features:

Dynmap: A Google Maps-like map for your Minecraft server that can be viewed in a browser.
LuckPerms: Permissions plugin, that allows server admins to control what features players can use by creating groups and assigning permissions. It is required, for example, to give players permission to use the commands of the PlayTimes plugin.
PlayTimes: Allows players to view their and other players playtime on the server using custom commands.
Sleepmost: Allows the server admin to configure how many people have to sleep before it turns back into daytime.
Timber: Quite controversial amongst players, this plugin allows to fell trees with a single axe chop.