How to setup your own personal Minecraft Server (kinda)

Unless you have been living under a rock you already know what Minecraft is. If you don’t go ahead and check it out.

My kids and I have been enjoying the game for the last many months. I took one of my computers and dedicated it to a minecraft server. I thought I would share what I did in case anyone else wanted to create their own. The process is really simple.

I want to explain that this is not an exhaustive explanation on the process. I am really writing about this so I can reference this when I may have to reinstall the server again. My hard drive recently crashed and I had to look up all of the commands to get it back to where I needed it. So in short this is my way of documenting the process and sharing it at the same time. Perhaps I will elaborate on this when I get more time.

I downloaded Ubuntu 10.10 server for my operating system. Ubuntu server does not have a graphical interface, it is only command line. This may be new to some people. If you want you could also download and install Ubuntu desktop which does have a graphical interface. What I am going to explain has to do with server, the command line version.

My server is 32-bit so I downloaded the 32-bit version.

1. Download the ISO and burn to disc
2. Make sure your computer will boot from the CD-Rom
3. Insert the Ubuntu Server disc in the computer and start it up
4. Go through install process

Here is the part I really want to document.

Minecraft require Java.

Installing Java

Here are the commands to install Java on ubuntu 10.10 server.

sudo apt-get install openjdk-6-jdk

Give server a static ip address

back up interfaces first

sudo cp /etc/network/interfaces ~
sudo vi /etc/network/interfaces

basic vi commands

add the following: (replace with your network info and ip address)

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.0.150
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.0.1

reset:

sudo ifdown eth0
sudo ifup eth0

Get and configure FTP

sudo apt-get install vsftpd
sudo vi /etc/vsftpd.conf

uncomment the following

#write_enable YES

to

write_enable YES

reset:

sudo /etc/init.d/vsftpd restart

Get and configure ssh (so you can connect from your main machine)

sudo apt-get install openssh-server
sudo cp /etc/ssh/sshd_config ~
sudo vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config

change the following:

PermitRootLogin no

add the following:

AllowUsers

reset:

sudo /etc/init.d/ssh restart

That’s it. FTP your minecraft files to your server and start them up. I will leave that process for you to figure out. Like I said if I get more time I can add much more detail but this really is just reference for myself at this point. If you can benefit from it then all the better.