Minecraft (Java)
A private Minecraft server for you and your friends.
What it is
A Minecraft server is a world that keeps running whether or not you are playing. Friends connect to it from their own computers, see each other, and share the same landscape. When everyone logs off, the world stays exactly as they left it.
Yours runs Paper, the server software most hosts use. It behaves like the standard game but performs considerably better with several players, and it accepts the enormous ecosystem of Minecraft plugins if you ever want to add one.
Good for
- A persistent world for a group of friends or a family
- A small community server, with room for plugins later
- Anyone who has outgrown the built-in Open to LAN option
Getting in
- Open Minecraft Java Edition on a desktop computer.
- Check the version selector in the launcher matches the version shown on your console page.
- Go to Multiplayer, then Add Server.
- Put anything you like in Server Name, and the full address from your console page — including the colon and the number after it — in Server Address.
- Save, then double-click your server in the list to join.
Your own address, port and any credentials are on your server's console page, reached from your dashboard. They are specific to your server, so they are not repeated here.
Things that catch people out
Java Edition only — phones and consoles cannot connect
Minecraft is sold as two separate, incompatible games. Java Edition runs on Windows, Mac and Linux desktops. Bedrock Edition is what comes on phones, tablets, Xbox, PlayStation, Switch and the Windows Store app. This is a Java server, so Bedrock clients cannot join it — not with a different address, not with a different port. They speak genuinely different protocols. Anyone joining needs Java Edition on a desktop.
The version has to match
A Minecraft client refuses to connect to a server running a different version, and the error it shows looks a lot like the server being offline. Your console page shows the version your server is running. In the Minecraft launcher, use the Installations tab to create or pick an installation on that version.
A browser will never work
Minecraft does not speak the web's language, so opening your server address in a browser fails even when everything is perfect. Use the Status line on your console page instead — we ask the server in its own protocol and report what it says.
Anyone with the address can join, by default
There is no whitelist until you add one. If you would rather only named accounts could join, SSH in and run docker exec minecraft-mc-1 rcon-cli whitelist on, then add each player with whitelist add THEIRNAME.
The first start takes a while
A brand new server generates its world before it will accept anyone. Several minutes is normal, and the Status line will say Offline until it finishes.
Where your data lives
Your world is in the mc_data Docker volume, managed from /opt/minecraft. Take a snapshot before big changes, and export a copy of anything you would be upset to lose.
Take a snapshot before anything risky — see Snapshots and backups.
Updating
Ubuntu patches itself, but the app does not. SSH in and run:
Take a snapshot first.