Minecraft is a popular game that many people enjoy playing. It is a free and open-source game that you can install on Debian 8. This guide will show you how to install Minecraft Server on Debian 8. First, you need to create a new directory for your Minecraft installation. In this example, we will call our directory “minecraft”. Next, you need to install the Minecraft Server package. This package contains the necessary software to run MinecraftServer on Debian 8. You can find the package in your Debian 8 distribution’s repositories. Once the Minecraft Server package has been installed, you can start it by running the following command: sudo apt-get install minecraftserver
Uses Java (OpenJDK in this case) as a dependency. Requires GNU Screen to maintain a shell session. The Minecraft game client is necessary to test access to the server. Suitable Server Hardware specifications are addressed.
Check out: Minecraft’s Official Website
1 – Update System Packages
Ensure the packages are up to date on the system with the command:
1 – Update System Packages2 — Install Screen3 – Install Open JDK4 – Create Dedicated User5 – iptables Firewall6 – Download Minecraft Server Software7 – Create Minecraft Executable Script8 – Run Executable Script9 – Agree to EULA10 – Client Connections11 – Administrationwhite-list. jsonWorld DirectoriesLog DirectoryConsole Commands
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$ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
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Confirm the action by entering y for any prompts in this step.
2 — Install Screen
Screen is used to keep the Minecraft server running in a persistent shell session, it also allows us to disconnect or re-attach to the session when needed.
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$ sudo apt-get install screen
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3 – Install Open JDK
Install the open JDK platform with Debian’s package manager:
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$ sudo apt-get install openjdk-7-jre-headless
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4 – Create Dedicated User
Add a user with a suitable name who’ll run and store the server software in its home directory:
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$ sudo adduser minecraft
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5 – iptables Firewall
If using iptables you’ll need to allow access on the Minecraft server’s TCP port 25565 for incoming connecting clients.
Here is one command to add this, tweak it to your own needs and firewall setup:
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$ sudo iptables -I INPUT 3 -p tcp –dport 25565 -j ACCEPT -m comment –comment “allow connections on port 25565 Minecraft server”
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Remember to re-save your updated rules (IPv4 in my case).
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$ sudo iptables-save > /etc/iptables/rules. v4
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6 – Download Minecraft Server Software
SSH to the new minecraft user (or whatever you named them).
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$ ssh [email protected]
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Download the latest version of the Minecraft server jar file.
The current version number is 1.8.8 at the time of writing this:
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$ wget -v https://s3. amazonaws. com/Minecraft. Download/versions/1. 8. 8/minecraft_server. 1. 8. 8. jar
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7 – Create Minecraft Executable Script
With a text editor create a shell script named something similar to the following:
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$ vim run-minecraft-server. sh
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In the newly created script add the code in the next snippet, replacing the two java parameter values with your own preferred memory usage values.
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~/run-minecraft-server.sh
#!/bin/bash BINDIR=$(dirname “$(readlink -fn “$0″)”) cd “$BINDIR” java -Xmx1024M -Xms1024M -jar minecraft_server. *. *. *. jar nogui
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See the next image for recommendations on server requirements from the official Minecraft wiki, to determine your values.
Save your changes to the script and exit back to the command line.
Finally in this step use chmod to make the previous script executable.
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$ chmod +x run-minecraft-server. sh
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8 – Run Executable Script
Run it from the command line by adding the ./ prefix.
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$ . /run-minecraft-server. sh
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You’ll see the following output if the script has been written correctly:
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[09:10:50] [Server thread/INFO]: Starting minecraft server version 1. 8. 8 [09:10:50] [Server thread/WARN]: To start the server with more ram, launch it as “java -Xmx1024M -Xms1024M -jar minecraft_server. jar” [09:10:50] [Server thread/INFO]: Loading properties [09:10:50] [Server thread/WARN]: server. properties does not exist [09:10:50] [Server thread/INFO]: Generating new properties file [09:10:50] [Server thread/WARN]: Failed to load eula. txt [09:10:50] [Server thread/INFO]: You need to agree to the EULA in order to run the server. Go to eula. txt for more info. [09:10:50] [Server thread/INFO]: Stopping server [09:10:50] [Server Shutdown Thread/INFO]: Stopping server
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9 – Agree to EULA
The EULA you must agree to is located in the same user’s home directory.
Again using a text editor open it for writing:
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$ vim eula. txt
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Set the eula directive to true like in the example below:
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#By changing the setting below to TRUE you are indicating your agreement to our EULA (https://account. mojang. com/documents/minecraft_eula). #Mon Oct 05 09:10:50 EDT 2015 eula=true
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Save changes and exit the text editor.
Back on the command line begin a screen session by providing the full path to your executable script:
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$ screen . /run-minecraft-server. sh
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The server now runs and begins to generate the in-game content.
10 – Client Connections
The server should now be running continually and Minecraft clients can connect to it.
Everything should be functioning as intended, and the server is ready for use!
You can leave and detach from the screen session by pressing CTRL + d then a on your keyboard, back in the terminal.
11 – Administration
Logged in once again as the Linux user minecraft or whatever you chose to call your dedicated user, re-attach to the minecraft screen session from earlier with:
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$ screen -r
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Shut down the server which saves player created progress and the in-game content.
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/stop
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Now the server has been stopped you can begin to play around with its file structure.
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$ ls
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There are several key files in in regards to maintaining the server, and two other directories to consider.
ops.json
This file named ops.json contains usernames of players that have ops privileges on your server.
It is empty until you add player usernames however.
You can either add user details directly to this .json file, if you understand the formatting involved.
Or create a completely separate ops.txt file with a list of usernames inside.
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$ vim ~/ops. txt
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The text file you create is then converted into the ops.json file from earlier once the server is next booted.
It is recommended that you follow this method if you are unfamiliar with JSON formatting.
For more information on ops or operators in Minecraft click the next link: Minecraft Wiki Operators Page
server.properties
The bulk of in-game settings and properties are stored in the following text file.
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$ vim ~/server. properties
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There are a longer list of properties you can add to the file that are listed at this next URL: Minecraft Wiki Server.properties Page
banned-ips.json & banned-players.json
In order to ban an IP address from connecting to the server, the full IP address must be specified; – impartial addresses or wildcards are not supported here.
Any players who are banned in this manner see “Your IP address is banned from this server!” when attempting to connect through the client.
In-game an operator can instead use “/ban-ip ipaddress”, where “ipaddress” is the IP address of the user they wish to ban. To remove and undo a ban, the operator can issue “pardon-ip ipaddress”. Or if they have access, edit the server’s banned-ips.json file.
white-list.json
This essentially can be used to make a server private to a select group of clients. To do so add their usernames to the file white-list.txt. You will need to edit the server.properties file, changing white-list=false to white-list=true .
Alongside this you can also use this file to change the public message on your Minecraft server.
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$ vim ~/white-list. txt
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Edit motd=A Minecraft Server to show the name or phrase that you want to display publicly to clients.
World Directories
This directory and its subdirectories contain map and player data for the realms in your game.
It is worth backing up these directories regularly so that you can revert to previous versions in case of in-game mishaps or unwanted trolls. These directories may be in different locations, depending on which version of the Minecraft server you installed.
Also note that the directories for the nether and the end will not be created until a player visits the area at least once on the server.
Log Directory
Anything and everything that goes on is stored in the logs directory. It’s worth reviewing it’s contents every now and then or if any technical problems arise.
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$ less ~/logs/latest. log
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Previous logs are compressed automatically as and when needed.
Console Commands
The link below contains a table that summarizes all available commands. Some of which have been mentioned here, but most of which have not.
