Content

• To step

Playing Minecraft can be more fun with others. For this you can open your game for LAN, but with a port that changes every time this is difficult, especially for people who want to connect from outside your network. A server can offer a solution for this. You can rent a server or use it for free from an online hosting provider, but you can often set these servers to your own liking for security reasons. This shouldn't be a problem if you are not demanding, but if you want full control over your server, you can choose to set up your own server.

To step

1. Choose a suitable device. To run a Minecraft server you have to choose a device that is suitable for this. This can be official server hardware, but also a computer that you no longer use. Even a Raspberry Pi is one of the options, as long as it meets the system requirements of your server software.
2. Choose an operating system for the server. A Minecraft server runs on an operating system, such as Windows. With this you can often install a server very well. You can also choose to install a new operating system, such as a Linux server distribution. These are often lighter in use than Windows, but do require the necessary knowledge about Linux.
3. Install Java. Most Minecraft servers run on Java just like the game itself. Make sure you have downloaded the latest version of Java Runtime Environment (JRE). Choose the architecture (32 or 64 bit) that belongs to your computer. You can often find this by looking for information about the processor. When in doubt, always choose 32 bit. This will always work, but a 64 bit computer will perform better with a 64 bit Java.
4. Install Minecraft software. The most famous server software for Minecraft is Mojang's official server. You can also choose another package made for specific purposes such as PaperMC, a server optimized for performance.
   • You often get a JAR file that you have to download. Put this in a folder of your choice. When you open the file with JRE, some files are created, after which the server shuts down again. This is because you first have the End-user license agreement (EULA). You do this by opening the eula.txt file. It contains a line with eula = false. Change this to eula = true. Open the JAR file again. You can also do this from the terminal, possibly with the parameter nogui if you don't want to open a graphical interface. This looks like this:
     • java -Xmx1024M -Xms1024M -jar minecraft_server.version> .jar nogui. Replace version> with the Minecraft version you will be playing, such as 1.15.2.
5. Configure the server. Once the server is up and running, it's time to adjust the settings. Shut down the server with the STOP command and wait for the server to shut down. Then open the server.properties file. You can simply open this in a simple word processor. This file contains options to adjust your server.
6. Open the gates to outside players. If you want to play with others who are outside your local network, you will need to open ports in your router using port forwarding. The default port of a Minecraft server is 25565. If you want you can change this in server.properties.
7. Find out what your public or external IP address is. You can do this with a site like WatIsMijnIP.
   • Now you can give other players your IP address with the corresponding port. An address, including port, can then look like this:
     • 13.32.241.35:25565