Easy Minecraft Server

Your kids and their friends want to play Minecraft together in their own world without strangers. Here’s what you do.

Install

- Choose a computer to run the server.  I don’t recommend running the server on the same computer as the Minecraft client.

- Just like with the Minecraft client, you need the latest version of Java installed on the server computer: http://java.com/en/download/index.jsp

- If you are running the latest version of the client, get the latest server from the official Minecraft download page: https://minecraft.net/download

- If you are running Windows, you can use the .exe file, otherwise you need the .jar file (more instructions below).  NOTE: Version 1.7.4 of the Windows .exe does not work properly (user interface errors)–use the .jar version.

- You must run the same version server as the client. If you need to run an older version of the server, you can find it on Minecraft’s Amazon web service repository. Copy this URL to a new browser windows and edit it to get the version you want: https://s3.amazonaws.com/Minecraft.Download/versions/1.6.4/minecraft_server.1.6.4.jar

- Choose a directory where you want to store the server. The game world that gets created and saved will go here.  Copy the .exe or .jar to that directory.

Run

- To launch the .exe or .jar server on Windows, just double-click it.

- For other operating systems or, in the case that you want to set specific parameters in Windows, create a batch file or shell script to run the server.  To start, you can use the command line recommended on the Minecraft download page: java -Xmx1024M -Xms1024M -jar minecraft_server.jar but you may increase the memory or perform other changes based on needs that come up.

- In Windows, if you want the server to start when the computer starts, make a shortcut to the server (or the batch file that starts it, if you have one) and put it in the Startup folder.

- In the Client, after you launch the correct version of the game, choose Multiplayer, then Add Server.  Type in whatever name you want and the address of your server computer (which is just the computer name).

Customize

- After the server runs once, it creates several files–the world data in the “world” folder, log files in the “logs” folder, banned/white lists, and “server.properties.”

- Edit “server.properties” in Notepad or your favorite text editor to customize the game.  This site explains the options: http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Server.properties

Multiple Servers on the Same Computer

- If you want to run multiple servers on the same computer, as long as it has the power to handle it, it’s easy.  Edit server.properties and change the “server-port” option. The default is 25565.  For a second server, you can change it to, for example, 25567.

- In the client, when you Add Server, be sure to add the custom port after the computer name like this:  Servercomputer:25567