Learn How To Install a Minecraft Server on Debian 10
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Prerequisites
- Step 1 – Install Prerequisite Software
- Step 2 – Add a Separate User for the Server
- Step 3 – Install the Minecraft Server
- Conclusion
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Introduction
A Minecraft server will enable you to play Minecraft online with other people. In this article, we are going to install a Minecraft server on Debian 10 (Buster) using An ITWeb.Services instance.
Prerequisites
- A Debian 10 IT Web Services instance with at least 1 GB of RAM. See the Minecraft Wiki for recommended server requirements based on the number of players.
Step 1 – Install Prerequisite Software
Update the System
First, update the system:
# apt update && apt upgrade -y
Install the Java Runtime Environment
The Minecraft server is written in Java. The Java Runtime Environment normally requires a graphical interface and extra dependencies. However, since we are using a console-only environment, the lightweight, headless (non-graphical) version can be used:
# apt install openjdk-11-jre-headless -y
Install Screen (Optional)
Screen allows the server to run in the background.
# apt install screen -y
Step 2 – Add a Separate User for the Server
For security reasons, it is preferable to run the Minecraft server as a non-root user. Create a new non-root user named mcuser
:
# adduser mcuser
Add mcuser
to the sudo
group:
# usermod -aG sudo mcuser
Switch to the new user account:
# su - mcuser
Step 3 – Install the Minecraft Server
Create a new directory for Minecraft
Create a new directory to hold the Minecraft data:
$ mkdir minecraft
Change to the new directory:
$ cd minecraft
Download the Server
Download the server Java executable with wget. Replace the URL below with the download link on the Minecraft.net download page.
$ wget https://launcher.mojang.com/[NEWEST_VERSION]/server.jar
Run the Server
Accept the license agreement (required to run the server):
$ echo "eula=true" > eula.txt
Start the server:
$ java -Xmx1024M -Xms1024M -jar server.jar nogui
This command allocates 1024MB of RAM to the server. To allocate more RAM, change the -Xmx and -Xms parameters. For example, -Xmx2048M -Xms2048M
will start the server with 2048MB of RAM.
Run Server in Background with Screen (optional)
GNU Screen is a terminal multiplexer that allows software to be run in the background. To run the server in the background, first stop the currently running server by typing stop
and pressing ENTER (there may be a little waiting before it exits). Then, create a new screen instance:
$ screen -S "My Minecraft Server"
Now, rerun the Java command:
$ java -Xmx1024M -Xms1024M -jar server.jar nogui
To exit out of screen, press CTRL + A, then press D. To reconnect to screen, use the command screen -r
.
Conclusion
Congratulations, you now have a Minecraft server installed on Debian 10.
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