Minecraft

How to install and configure a Minecraft server (Vanilla, Paper, Spigot) on Linux VPS

Platform Support

Platform	Support	Notes
Linux	✅ Native	Recommended
Windows	✅ Native

Minimum Requirements

Players	Recommended RAM	CPU
1-5	2 GB	1-2 vCPU
5-15	4 GB	2 vCPU
15-30	8 GB	4 vCPU
30+	16 GB+	4+ vCPU

1. Install Java

sudo apt update
# Minecraft 1.20.5+: Java 21
sudo apt install openjdk-21-jdk -y

# Minecraft 1.17-1.20.4: Java 17 is fine
# sudo apt install openjdk-17-jdk -y

java -version

2. Create user and folder

# Create dedicated user (security)
sudo useradd -m -s /bin/bash minecraft
sudo su - minecraft

# Create server folder
mkdir ~/server && cd ~/server

3. Download the server

Paper (recommended - best performance)

# Download latest Paper version (https://papermc.io/downloads)
VER="1.21.4"  # change to desired version
BUILD=$(curl -s "https://api.papermc.io/v2/projects/paper/versions/$VER/builds" | python3 -c "import sys,json; builds=json.load(sys.stdin)['builds']; print(builds[-1]['build'])")
wget "https://api.papermc.io/v2/projects/paper/versions/$VER/builds/$BUILD/downloads/paper-$VER-$BUILD.jar" -O paper.jar

Vanilla (official Mojang)

# Download from official site: https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/download/server
wget https://piston-data.mojang.com/v1/objects/.../server.jar -O minecraft.jar

4. First run and EULA

# First execution (creates config files)
java -Xms512M -Xmx2G -jar paper.jar nogui

# Accept EULA
echo "eula=true" > eula.txt

5. Startup script

nano ~/server/start.sh

#!/bin/bash
# Optimized Minecraft server startup
cd ~/server

# Adjust Xmx to VPS RAM (leave ~1 GB for system)
java -Xms1G -Xmx3G \
  -XX:+UseG1GC \
  -XX:+ParallelRefProcEnabled \
  -XX:MaxGCPauseMillis=200 \
  -XX:+UnlockExperimentalVMOptions \
  -XX:+DisableExplicitGC \
  -XX:+AlwaysPreTouch \
  -XX:G1NewSizePercent=30 \
  -XX:G1MaxNewSizePercent=40 \
  -XX:G1HeapRegionSize=8M \
  -XX:G1ReservePercent=20 \
  -XX:G1HeapWastePercent=5 \
  -XX:G1MixedGCCountTarget=4 \
  -XX:InitiatingHeapOccupancyPercent=15 \
  -XX:G1MixedGCLiveThresholdPercent=90 \
  -XX:G1RSetUpdatingPauseTimePercent=5 \
  -XX:SurvivorRatio=32 \
  -XX:+PerfDisableSharedMem \
  -XX:MaxTenuringThreshold=1 \
  -Dusing.aikars.flags=https://mcflags.emc.gs \
  -jar paper.jar nogui

chmod +x ~/server/start.sh

6. Persistent startup with tmux

# Start server in tmux session
tmux new -s minecraft
~/server/start.sh

# Press Ctrl+B then D to detach
# Server keeps running!

7. systemd service (automatic startup)

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/minecraft.service

[Unit]
Description=Minecraft Server
After=network.target

[Service]
User=minecraft
WorkingDirectory=/home/minecraft/server
ExecStart=/usr/bin/java -Xms1G -Xmx3G -jar paper.jar nogui
ExecStop=/bin/kill -SIGINT $MAINPID
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=30

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

sudo systemctl enable minecraft
sudo systemctl start minecraft
sudo systemctl status minecraft

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u minecraft -f

8. Basic configuration (server.properties)

# server.properties
server-port=25565
max-players=20
view-distance=10          # reduce for VPS with low CPU (min 6)
simulation-distance=8
online-mode=true          # false only for private/cracked servers
difficulty=normal
gamemode=survival
white-list=false
enable-command-block=false

9. Open ports

# Minecraft port
sudo ufw allow 25565/tcp
sudo ufw allow 25565/udp

# Bedrock Edition (if using Geyser)
sudo ufw allow 19132/udp

10. Console commands

# If using systemd, console is not interactive
# Use RCON to send commands
sudo apt install mcrcon -y
mcrcon -H localhost -P 25575 -p yourrconepassword "list"

# Enable RCON in server.properties:
# enable-rcon=true
# rcon.port=25575
# rcon.password=yourpassword

Recommended Plugins (Paper)

EssentialsX: essential commands (/home, /warp, /tpa)
LuckPerms: permission management
WorldEdit: bulk world modification
Dynmap: web map of world
CoreProtect: block logging (anti-griefing)

Tips & Tweaks

JVM Optimization (Aikar's Flags)

The startup script already includes Aikar's optimized GC flags. For reference, the key flags are:

-XX:+UseG1GC: Garbage collector optimized for heap sizes 4-8 GB+
-XX:MaxGCPauseMillis=200: Target pause time for GC
XX:+ParallelRefProcEnabled: Parallel reference processing

Adjust -Xms (initial) and -Xmx (maximum) heap based on your VPS RAM:

2 GB RAM: -Xms512M -Xmx1G
4 GB RAM: -Xms1G -Xmx2G
8 GB RAM: -Xms2G -Xmx5G
16 GB RAM: -Xms4G -Xmx12G

Paper.yml Tuning

Key performance settings in paper-world-defaults.yml:

world-settings:
  default:
    # Reduce chunk loading
    max-auto-save-chunks-per-tick: 24

    # Entity limits
    entity-per-chunk-save-limit:
      experience_orb: 16
      arrow: 16

    # Lighting optimization
    enable-async-lighting: true

    # Spawn rates
    despawn-ranges:
      soft: 32
      hard: 128

server.properties Optimization

# Critical performance settings
view-distance=10          # reduce to 8 on limited VPS, max 32
simulation-distance=8     # 6-10 recommended
max-tick-time=60000       # prevent watchdog kills

# Network optimization
network-compression-threshold=256  # reduce packet size
max-players=20            # match your plan

Useful RCON Commands

Command	Purpose
`list`	Show connected players
`say <message>`	Broadcast message
`save-all`	Manual save
`reload`	Reload server.properties (plugins need restart)
`stop`	Graceful shutdown
`difficulty <level>`	Change difficulty (0-3)
`seed`	Show world seed
`gamerule <rule> <value>`	Change game rules

Monitoring Commands

# Check if server is running
systemctl status minecraft

# View live logs
journalctl -u minecraft -f

# Check memory usage
ps aux | grep java | grep -v grep

# Monitor connections
ss -tulnp | grep 25565

Common Config Tweaks

For low-end VPS:

view-distance=8
simulation-distance=6
max-players=10
network-compression-threshold=512

For high-performance PVP:

view-distance=12
simulation-distance=10
max-players=50
network-compression-threshold=256
pvp=true
difficulty=hard

Backup Strategy

# Automated daily backup at 3 AM
# Add to root crontab: crontab -e
0 3 * * * su - minecraft -c "tar -czf ~/backups/world-\$(date +\%Y\%m\%d).tar.gz ~/server/world*" 2>/dev/null

Performance Monitoring

Check TPS (ticks per second) via RCON:

mcrcon -H localhost -P 25575 -p password "/forge tps"  # Forge servers

Common lag causes:

View distance too high → reduce in server.properties
Too many plugins → remove unused ones
Large world size → consider world border /worldborder set 5000
Insufficient RAM → check Xmx heap size

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