How to host a Minecraft server

Minecraft is far lighter than its reputation suggests. A handful of friends on a vanilla or Paper world runs comfortably in a few gigabytes of memory. What drives the requirement is not player count — it is view distance, how much of the world has been explored, and how many mods you are running. A heavily modded pack for six people will want considerably more than a plain server for twenty.

How to install it

1. Install Java first. Recent Minecraft versions need a current Java release; older versions need an older one. Check which your version wants before anything else.
2. Download your chosen server software. Vanilla from Minecraft’s own site, Paper from PaperMC, Fabric or Forge from their installers. Make this decision now, not later.
3. Put it in its own empty folder. The server scatters files on first run, and untangling it from other things later is miserable.
4. Run it once and let it fail. It will stop immediately and write out its files. This is expected.
5. Accept the licence. Open eula.txt and change false to true. The server will not start until you do.
6. Run it again and wait for the world to generate.

# Minecraft is not on Steam — download the jar directly.
# Vanilla from minecraft.net, or Paper from papermc.io

mkdir -p /home/mc/server && cd /home/mc/server

# First run writes eula.txt and exits. This is expected.
java -Xms4G -Xmx4G -jar server.jar nogui

sed -i 's/eula=false/eula=true/' eula.txt

# Second run generates the world.
java -Xms4G -Xmx4G -jar server.jar nogui

How to configure it

motd=Your server name here
max-players=20
white-list=true
online-mode=true

# The two performance dials. Simulation is usually
# the better one to reduce first.
view-distance=8
simulation-distance=6

difficulty=normal
spawn-protection=0

• view-distance is your single biggest performance lever. Lowering it helps more than any other change.
• simulation-distance is separate, and often the better one to reduce first — it controls what is actively running rather than what is merely visible.
• Leave online-mode on unless you know exactly why you are turning it off. Off means anyone can join claiming any username.
• Set max-players and white-list before you tell anyone the address.
• Memory is not in this file. It is set with Java flags in whatever script starts the server.

Worth knowing

• Paper for plugins, Fabric or Forge for mods. Plugins are server-side only, so players join with an unmodified game. Mods must be installed by every player, matching exactly.
• Your world is a folder. Copy it before any major change — almost every disaster in Minecraft hosting is recoverable if you did.

Written from experience running these servers. If something here no longer matches what you are seeing, tell us and we will recheck it.