Server

Minecraft servers allow players to play online with other people. They may either be run on a hosted Minecraft server service, a dedicated server, a VPS or a home machine. This is not a list of servers.

Death messages

Death messages are broadcasted to everyone on the server upon a player's death. These messages relate to how the player died and are intended to be humorous.

Drowning

• [player] drowned.
• [player] took a long walk off a short pier.

Falling

• [player] took a leap of faith.
• [player] hit the ground too hard.

PvP

• [killing player] killed [player] wielding [item].

Void

• [player] fell out of the world.
• [player] fell into the Void.

Lava

• [player] tried to swim in lava.
• [player] became obsidian.

Fire

• [player] forgot to stop, drop, and roll.
• [player] burned to death.

Explosion

• [player] exploded.
• [player] apparently has an explosive personality.

Creeper

• [player] hugged a creeper.
• [player] was creeper-bombed.

Hostile Mob

• [player] was slain by [mob].
• [player] was eaten by [mob].

Skeleton

• [player] was shot by skeleton.

Potion of Harming

• [player] was killed by magic.

Suffocation

• [player] suffocated.
• [player] was buried alive.

Cactus

• [player] died to a cactus.
• [player] poked a cactus, but the cactus poked back.

Other

• [player] died from unknown causes.
• [player] was killed by Herobrine.

Suicide (kill command)

• [player] commited suicide.
• [player] decided to end it all.

Server Setup

General recommendations

1. Setting up a server takes some time, and some technical know-how. Don't try to set up a server unless you have some basic computer and networking knowledge.
2. Hosting and playing on the same machine is not generally recommended, unless you have a fairly powerful computer.
3. Hosting a server from a computer that uses a wireless card is not recommended.
4. Laptops don't make for good server machines. They heat up quickly, and get very hot - which can damage the computer! In addition, they typically have lower end hardware in comparison to desktops and dedicated server machines.
5. If you decide you don't want to host, but still want to play online, check out the public server options in the Minecraft servers area of the Minecraft forum.
6. If you still want to manage a server, but not from home, check out the Minecraft server hosting area of the Minecraft forum. Expect to pay monthly for this type of server.

Server requirements

1. Refer to http://canihostaminecraftserver.com/ to see whether you should host a server, based on your internet bandwidth.
2. The more memory your computer has, the better. It's recommended to have more than 2 GB, that way plenty is left over for the operating system, and you have the possibility of allocating more to the Minecraft server.
3. Minecraft servers, as of beta 1.8 are only capable of using a single processing core. However, multiple cores can increase performance if your server is performing other functions.

Server commands and known issues

See the known bugs page for known single/multiplayer issues.

Special note: Atheros and Realtek network adapters are known to not work well with Minecraft in general. If you experience a total loss of internet (requiring a reboot), or constant disconnects, check and see if you have either brand of network adapter installed. If you do, you can try updating the driver for the device directly from the manufacturer. If a driver update does not fix the issue, the general solution is to buy a new adapter (anything from Intel is recommended as a replacement).

The server commands page has a list of useful commands.

Server installation and configuration

Ready to set up a server? View the installation and configuration guide!

Setting up a server

Types of Servers

There are numerous kinds of Minecraft servers, usually distinguished by the level used in them or how players in them are supposed to behave. Many special types of servers rely on the use of map editors.

Types of Gameplay

Vanilla

Standard servers usually have relatively regular maps, allowing players to build or destroy whatever they want (though griefing is often against servers' rules). Standard isn't recommended. A (bukkit) server would be. You can add plugins and such to stop griefing/spamming or really anything else.

Roleplay

A server, usually with a normal map, where players are encouraged to take on roles like Mayor,Blacksmith,Cook, and act as them in the game. These servers often attempt to simulate settlement in some foreign land or similar, and require the gathering of resources to build structures.

Spleef

Spleef servers are usually dedicated to playing Spleef. They use a nonstandard map which contains Spleef arenas, of which are generally much more extravagant than those a standard server might have. Although spleefing is fun, you can't do it 24/7 so we would advise you to get a spleefing server & another kind!

Grief

Though rare, a grief server usually consists of another server's map which the grief server's owner would retrieve, therefore allowing people to "grief" without getting banned. Some survival servers allow griefing but for most it is illegal.

Types of Map Design

Randomly Generated

A map design generated using either the standard in-game generator or an external generator such as Omen. While the in-game generator can only create temperate-themed maps, desert-, mountain-, hell-, snow-themed maps and others can be created with external generators.

Flat

An otherwise standard design which is not randomly generated, but is instead simply a vast grassy plain. These are usually created by various external generators.

Ocean

Ocean maps usually consist of mostly or entirely water to encourage building underwater structures; they may also be dry at first, but flooded later, after players have built on them. These gained more prominence when sponges were added.

Cave

A server which is mostly or entirely an elaborate cave or series of caves, far more spacious and dynamic than standard caves. These commonly have the top and sides blocked off with bedrock to stop light getting through.

Landscape

Landscape server with widely varying features across the map, such as caves, forests, mountains and oceans. These are commonly custom-made and used in roleplay.

Maintenance

Delete Player

If you want to delete a player from the game, you can remove the player's .dat file. Navigate to the Minecraft home directory, open the map folder, open the player's folder, and delete the PLAYERNAME.dat file. This will cause the player to start over at the spawn point with no inventory. The player's changes to the world will be unchanged along with any inventory stored in chests. This will not ban the player that has been deleted.

Server Hosts

When you create your first server, you may try to host it from your home computer. Unless you intend to dedicate the hardware solely to Minecraft hosting, this is probably a bad idea. It is recommended that you should have at least 2GB of RAM and a processor that is 2.4 GHz or faster. Also, the server will be taking up a lot of bandwidth, depending on the number of players logged on at once. You can try to find someone else capable of and willing to host it for you. Remember, just because you aren't hosting it doesn't mean it's no longer your server!

Server Stealing

If the host of your server decides to ban you and refuses to unban you, this is classified as stealing a server. They are effectively making themselves the owner of the server. If you get someone else to host, make sure they send you regular backups of the server so if they steal it you can find someone more trustworthy.