In this post, we will see how can install our own Minecraft server on our Ubuntu (or any Debian based) system.

By installing our own Minecraft server, and exposing it to the outside world, we can play with our friends online in a Survival or a Creative world.

We also have full control off the game, and a lot of customization and modding abilities.

Install Java

And other needed software:

sudo apt install default-jdk wget screen
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Create a minecraft user

useradd minecraft
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Install minecraft server

Each server instance we run will need its own directory under the /opt/minecraft directory. For this first server instance, let’s call it survival and create the following directory

sudo mkdir /opt/minecraft/survival
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Download minecraft server

Visit and copy link url of latest version of minecraft_server.1.*.jar:

wget https://launcher.mojang.com/v1/objects/1b557e7b033b583cd9f66746b7a9ab1ec1673ced/server.jar
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Rename .jar

Rename .jar to the latest version names:

mv server.jar minecraft_server.1.6.5.jar
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Accept terms and conditions

sudo bash -c "echo eula=true > /opt/minecraft/survival/eula.txt"
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Give minecraft user ownership

sudo chown -R minecraft:minecraft /opt/minecraft/survival/
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Start server

Create startup script

Create a start.sh script and write the following:

#!/bin/sh
java -Xmx4096M -Xms2048M -jar minecraft_server.1.16.5.jar nogui
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  • Xmx Maximum RAM usage
  • Xms RAM usage on startup

Make it executable

chmod +x *.sh
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Run server to test

./start.sh
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Start server with screen

Open a screen session

screen -S minecraft_server
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Start server in the session

./start.sh
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Detach from session

Hold down Ctrl and hit A and D in the session.

Reattach to session

screen -r minecraft_server
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Make server a systemd service

Create template systemd script

Create a systemd template script, can be used for other server instances:

vim /etc/systemd/system/minecraft@.service
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Paste the following content in the new file

[Unit]
Description=Minecraft Server: %i
After=network.target

[Service]
WorkingDirectory=/opt/minecraft/%i

User=minecraft
Group=minecraft

Restart=always

ExecStart=/usr/bin/screen -DmS mc-%i ./start.sh

ExecStop=/usr/bin/screen -p 0 -S mc-%i -X eval 'stuff "say SERVER SHUTTING DOWN IN 5 SECONDS. SAVING ALL MAPS..."5'
ExecStop=/bin/sleep 5
ExecStop=/usr/bin/screen -p 0 -S mc-%i -X eval 'stuff "save-all"5'
ExecStop=/usr/bin/screen -p 0 -S mc-%i -X eval 'stuff "stop"5'


[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
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Start Minecraft Server

sudo systemctl start minecraft@survival
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Check minecraft server status

sudo systemctl status minecraft@survival
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Enable minecraft server status

In order to start at system reboot:

sudo systemctl enable minecraft@survival
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