Deploying a Minecraft server in Yandex Cloud

Follow this tutorial to deploy the current version of a Minecraft (Java Edition) server in Yandex Cloud on an Ubuntu 24.04 VM.

To deploy a Minecraft server in Yandex Cloud:

1. Get your cloud ready.
2. Create a security group.
3. Create a VM for the Minecraft server.
4. Install the required utilities.
5. Download and run the Minecraft server.
6. Test the server.

If you no longer need the resources you created, delete them.

Get your cloud readyGet your cloud ready

Sign up for Yandex Cloud and create a billing account:

1. Go to the management console and log in to Yandex Cloud or create an account if you do not have one yet.
2. On the Yandex Cloud Billing page, make sure you have a billing account linked and it has the ACTIVE or TRIAL_ACTIVE status. If you do not have a billing account, create one.

If you have an active billing account, you can go to the cloud page to create or select a folder for your infrastructure to operate in.

Learn more about clouds and folders.

Required paid resourcesRequired paid resources

The infrastructure support cost includes:

• Fee for a continuously running VM (see Yandex Compute Cloud pricing).
• Fee for using public IP address and outgoing traffic (see Yandex Virtual Private Cloud pricing).

Create a security groupCreate a security group

Create a security group with a rule allowing incoming traffic to port 25565. This is the defalut port for client access in the Minecraft server configuration file. Also, rules allowing SSH access to the VM to configure the server and VM access to the internet to download software will be added to the security group.

Create a VM for the Minecraft serverCreate a VM for the Minecraft server

1. Create an SSH key pair:

   ssh-keygen -t ed25519
   

   We recommend sticking with the default key file name.

2. Create a VM with a public IP address:

   Management console

   1. In the management console, select the folder where you want to create your VM.

   2. In the list of services, select Compute Cloud.

   3. In the left-hand panel, select Virtual machines.

   4. Click Create virtual machine.

   5. Under Boot disk image, select the Ubuntu 24.04 LTS image.

   6. Under Location, select an availability zone the VM will reside in.

   7. Under Disks and file storages, configure the boot disk:

      • Type: HDD
      • Size: 18 GB

   8. Under Computing resources, navigate to the Custom tab and specify the Minecraft server recommended parameters:

      • Platform: Intel Ice Lake
      • vCPU: 2
      • Guaranteed vCPU performance: 100%
      • RAM: 2 GB

   9. Under Network settings:

      • In the Subnet field, enter the ID of a subnet in the new VM’s availability zone. Alternatively, you can select a cloud network from the list.

        • Each network must have at least one subnet. If there is no subnet, create one by selecting Create subnet.

        • If you do not have a network, click Create network to create one:

          • In the window that opens, enter the network name and select the folder to host the network.
          • Optionally, enable the Create subnets setting to automatically create subnets in all availability zones.
          • Click Create network.

      • In the Public IP address field, select Auto to assign the VM a random external IP address from the Yandex Cloud pool. Alternatively, select a static address from the list if you reserved one.

      • In the Security groups field, select the minecraft-sg security group you created earlier.

   10. Under Access, select SSH key and specify the VM access credentials:

       • In the Login field, enter a name for the user you want to create on the VM, e.g., ubuntu.

         Alert

         Do not use root or other reserved usernames. To perform operations requiring root privileges, use the sudo command.

       • In the SSH key field, select the SSH key saved in your organization user profile.

         If there are no saved SSH keys in your profile, or you want to add a new key:

         • Click Add key.
         • Enter a name for the SSH key.
         • Upload or paste the contents of the public key file. You need to create a key pair for the SSH connection to a VM yourself.
         • Click Add.

         The SSH key will be added to your organization user profile.

         If users cannot add SSH keys to their profiles in the organization, the added public SSH key will only be saved to the user profile of the VM being created.

   11. Under General information, specify the VM name: minecraft-server.

   12. Click Create VM.

   Recommended virtual machine configuration:

   Configuration	Number of players	vCPU	RAM	Disk size
   Minimum	1-4	2	1GB	150MB HDD or more
   Recommended	5-10	2	2GB	200MB HDD or more
   Ideal	10+	4	4GB	200MB SSD or more

   Warning

   Note that this configuration table is in line with the default settings defined in server.properties. The bigger the game world grows, the higher the requirements, especially for RAM. In addition, larger rendered areas, villages, and other dynamic objects will result in higher virtual server requirements.

Install the required utilitiesInstall the required utilities

1. Use SSH to connect to the VM you created.

2. Install the required Java packages from the repository and the screen utility to run the terminal session in background mode:

   Note

   The command below installs OpenJDK version 23. To start the current Minecraft server version, you may need a newer OpenJDK version. Therefore, check the current OpenJDK version on the project website before you install this package.

   sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:openjdk-r/ppa \
     && sudo apt update -y \
     && sudo apt install -y openjdk-23-jre-headless screen
   

Download and run the Minecraft serverDownload and run the Minecraft server

1. Create a separate directory and navigate to it:

   mkdir minecraft-server && cd minecraft-server
   

2. Follow this link and copy the URL to download the distribution of the current server version.

3. Download the current distribution to the current directory using wget:

   wget -O minecraft_server.jar <download_link>
   

   Where <download_link> is the distribution download link you got in the previous step. For example: https://piston-data.mojang.com/v1/objects/4707d00eb834b446575d89a61a11b5d548d8c001/server.jar

4. Create the eula.txt file to automatically accept the EULA terms:

   cat << EOF > eula.txt
   eula=true
   EOF
   

5. Run the background screen session:

   screen
   

6. In the background session, run the server:

   java -Xms1024M -Xmx1024M -jar minecraft_server.jar nogui
   

   Wait for the game world to be created.

   [09:18:58] [Worker-Main-2/INFO]: Preparing spawn area: 81%
   [09:18:59] [Worker-Main-2/INFO]: Preparing spawn area: 82%
   [09:19:00] [Worker-Main-2/INFO]: Preparing spawn area: 83%
   ...
   [09:19:08] [Worker-Main-2/INFO]: Preparing spawn area: 97%
   [09:19:09] [Server thread/INFO]: Time elapsed: 75917 ms
   [09:19:09] [Server thread/INFO]: Done (92.666s)! For help, type "help"
   

7. Optionally, you can leave the screen session running in the background by pressing Ctrl + A + D and return to the main VM terminal.

   If there is only one such background session with the server running and you want to return to it, run the following command:

   screen -r
   

   If there are multiple background sessions, get their list by running the following command:

   screen -list
   

   Result:

   There is a screen on:
      24257.pts-0.mcft-test	(02/28/2024 09:17:15 AM)	(Detached)
   1 Socket in /run/screen/S-username.
   

   Then, enter the session using its ID from the list:

   screen -r 24257
   

8. After running the server, in the directory, you will see new directories and the files required for server operation and configuration, including the logs:

       4096 Mar 16 09:50 .
       4096 Mar 16 09:52 ..
          2 Mar 16 09:16 banned-ips.json
          2 Mar 16 09:16 banned-players.json
         10 Mar 16 09:48 eula.txt
       4096 Mar 16 09:50 libraries
       4096 Mar 16 09:16 logs
   49150256 Dec  7 09:04 minecraft_server_1.20.4.jar
          2 Mar 16 09:16 ops.json
       1303 Mar 16 09:16 server.properties
          2 Mar 16 09:16 usercache.json
       4096 Mar 16 09:50 versions
          2 Mar 16 09:50 whitelist.json
       4096 Mar 16 09:13 world
   

Test the serverTest the server

1. Add the server to the server list in the Minecraft client. Give the server a name of your choice. In the Server address field, specify the public IP address of your minecraft-server VM.

   

2. From the server list, select the server you added and click Connect.

   

How to delete the resources you createdHow to delete the resources you created

To stop paying for the resources you created:

1. Delete the minecraft-server VM.
2. Delete the minecraft-sg security group.