Deploying a Minecraft server in Yandex Cloud

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Updated at July 24, 2026

Get your cloud ready
- Required paid resources
Create a security group
Create a VM for the Minecraft server
Install the utilities and start the server
Test the server
How to delete the resources you created

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

To deploy a Minecraft server in Yandex Cloud:

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

Get your cloud ready

Navigate to the management console and log in to Yandex Cloud or create a new account.
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 and link a cloud to it.

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

Learn more about clouds and folders here.

Required paid resources

The infrastructure support cost includes:

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

Create a security group with a rule allowing incoming traffic on port 25565 for Java Edition or 19132 for Bedrock Edition. These are the default ports 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.

Management console

In the management console, select your folder.
Navigate to Virtual Private Cloud.
In the left-hand panel, select Security groups.
Click Create security group.
In the Name field, specify the name: minecraft-sg.
In the Network field, select default.

Under Rules, create the following traffic management rules:

Traffic direction	Description	Port range	Protocol	Source / Destination name	IPv4 CIDR
Inbound	`Client access to the Minecraft server`	`25565`/`19132`	`Any`	`Address range`	`0.0.0.0/0`
Inbound	`SSH access to the VM`	`22`	`Any`	`Address range`	`0.0.0.0/0`
Outbound	`VM internet access`	`0-65535`	`Any`	`Address range`	`0.0.0.0/0`

Click Save.

Create a VM for the Minecraft server

Create an SSH key pair:
```
ssh-keygen -t ed25519
```
We recommend sticking with the default key file name.
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. Navigate to Compute Cloud.
3. In the left-hand panel, select Virtual machines.
4. Click Create virtual machine.
5. Under Boot disk image, select Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.
6. Under Location, select an availability zone where your VM will reside.
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 for Java Edition or 4 GB for Bedrock Edition.
9. Under Network settings:
  - In the Subnet field, enter the ID of a subnet in the new VM’s availability zone. Alternatively, 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 there are no networks in the list, click Create network to create one:
    
    In the window that opens, specify the network name and select the folder where it will be created.
    
    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 OS-reserved usernames. For 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 SSH keys in your profile or you want to add a new key:
    
    Click Add key.
    
    Enter a name for the SSH key.
    
    Select one of the following:
    
    Enter manually: Paste the contents of the public SSH key. You need to create an SSH key pair on your own.
    
    Load from file: Upload the public part of the SSH key. You need to create an SSH key pair on your own.
    
    Generate key: Automatically create an SSH key pair.
    
    When adding a new SSH key, an archive containing the key pair will be created and downloaded. In Linux or macOS-based operating systems, unpack the archive to the /home/<user_name>/.ssh directory. In Windows, unpack the archive to the C:\Users\<user_name>/.ssh directory. You do not need additionally enter the public key in the management console.
    
    Click Add.
    
    The system will add the SSH key to your organization user profile. If the organization has disabled the ability for users to add SSH keys to their profiles, the added public SSH key will only be saved in the user profile inside the newly created resource.
11. Under General information, specify the VM name: minecraft-server.
12. Click Create VM.
Recommended virtual machine configuration for Java Edition:

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.

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

Install the utilities and start the server

Java Edition

Bedrock Edition

Use SSH to connect to the VM you created.
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 JRE version 25. To start the current Minecraft server version, you may need a newer JRE version. Therefore, check the suitable JRE version on Minecraft Wiki before you install this package.
```
sudo apt update -y \
   && sudo apt install -y openjdk-25-jre-headless screen
```
Create a separate system user named minecraft to start the server:
```
sudo useradd -r -m -d /opt/minecraft-server -s /bin/bash minecraft
```
Where:
- -r: Creating a system user.
- -m -d /opt/minecraft-server: Creating the user’s home directory at /opt/minecraft-server. It will contain the server files.
- -s /bin/bash: Assigning the bash shell for the user.
Follow this link and copy the URL to download the distribution of the current server version.
Download the current distribution to the server directory using wget:
```
sudo wget -O /opt/minecraft-server/minecraft_server.jar <download_link>
```
Where <download_link> is the distribution download link you got in the previous step. Here is an example: https://piston-data.mojang.com/v1/objects/97ccd4c0ed3f81bbb7bfacddd1090b0c56f9bc51/server.jar

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

echo "eula=true" | sudo tee /opt/minecraft-server/eula.txt

Grant the minecraft user the following permissions for the server directory and all its contents:
```
sudo chown -R minecraft:minecraft /opt/minecraft-server
```
In the server directory, run the screen background session on behalf of the minecraft user:
```
sudo -u minecraft bash -c 'cd /opt/minecraft-server && screen -S minecraft'
```

In the background session, run the server:

java -Xms1024M -Xmx1024M -jar minecraft_server.jar nogui

Wait for the game world to be created.

[14:16:47] [Server thread/INFO]: Preparing level "world"
[14:16:48] [Server thread/INFO]: Selecting global world spawn...
[14:17:05] [Server thread/INFO]: Loading 0 persistent chunks...
...
[14:17:05] [Server thread/INFO]: Preparing spawn area: 100%
[14:17:05] [Server thread/INFO]: Time elapsed: 17317 ms
[14:17:05] [Server thread/INFO]: Done (17.788s)! For help, type "help"

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

If there is only one such background session with the server running and you want to return to it, run the following command:
```
sudo -u minecraft screen -r
```
If there are multiple background sessions, get their list by running the following command:
```
sudo -u minecraft screen -list
```
Result:
```
There is a screen on:
   35154.minecraft (06/12/26 14:15:56)     (Detached)
1 Socket in /run/screen/S-minecraft.
```
Then, enter the session using its ID from the list:
```
sudo -u minecraft screen -r 35154
```
Note
The minecraft user does not have a password or SSH key, so you cannot connect to the VM directly on their behalf. To perform operations under this user, connect to the VM over SSH with your credentials and switch to minecraft using the following command:
```
sudo -iu minecraft
```
This will start a login session, and /opt/minecraft-server will instantly become the current directory. To return to your session, run the exit command or press Ctrl + D.

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 Jun 12 14:16 .
    4096 Jun 12 14:07 ..
     220 Mar 31  2024 .bash_logout
    3771 Mar 31  2024 .bashrc
    4096 Jun 12 14:16 .cache
     807 Mar 31  2024 .profile
       2 Jun 12 14:16 banned-ips.json
       2 Jun 12 14:16 banned-players.json
      10 Jun 12 14:10 eula.txt
    4096 Jun 12 14:16 libraries
    4096 Jun 12 14:16 logs
60417480 Apr  9 10:20 minecraft_server.jar
       2 Jun 12 14:16 ops.json
    1676 Jun 12 14:16 server.properties
       2 Jun 12 14:16 usercache.json
    4096 Jun 12 14:16 versions
       2 Jun 12 14:16 whitelist.json
    4096 Jun 12 14:18 world

Use SSH to connect to the VM you created.
Install the screen utility to run the terminal session in background mode and the unzip utility to unpack the distribution:
```
sudo apt update -y \
   && sudo apt install -y screen unzip
```
Create a separate system user named minecraft to start the server:
```
sudo useradd -r -m -d /opt/minecraft-server -s /bin/bash minecraft
```
Where:
- -r: Creating a system user.
- -m -d /opt/minecraft-server: Creating the user’s home directory at /opt/minecraft-server. It will contain the server files.
- -s /bin/bash: Assigning the bash shell for the user.
Follow this link and copy the URL to download the distribution of the current server version.
Download the current distribution to the server directory using wget:
```
sudo wget -O /opt/minecraft-server/bedrock-server.zip <download_link>
```
Where <download_link> is the distribution download link you got in the previous step. Here is an example: https://www.minecraft.net/bedrockdedicatedserver/bin-linux/bedrock-server-1.26.23.1.zip

Unpack the distribution archive to the server directory, then delete the archive:

sudo unzip /opt/minecraft-server/bedrock-server.zip -d /opt/minecraft-server \
   && sudo rm /opt/minecraft-server/bedrock-server.zip

Grant the minecraft user the following permissions for the unpacked files:
```
sudo chown -R minecraft:minecraft /opt/minecraft-server
```
In the server directory, run the screen background session on behalf of the minecraft user:
```
sudo -u minecraft bash -c 'cd /opt/minecraft-server && screen -S minecraft'
```

In the background session, run the server. The Bedrock Edition server requires libraries from the server directory, so make sure to specify it in the LD_LIBRARY_PATH variable:

LD_LIBRARY_PATH=. ./bedrock_server

Wait until you see the message confirming that the server is ready:

[2026-06-14 13:36:44:060 INFO] Starting Server
[2026-06-14 13:36:44:060 INFO] Version: 1.26.23.1
[2026-06-14 13:36:44:060 INFO] Session ID: 4a018b28-5121-4abe-a814-e4ee70455c37
[2026-06-14 13:36:44:060 INFO] Build ID: 45295249
[2026-06-14 13:36:44:060 INFO] Branch: r/26_u2
[2026-06-14 13:36:44:060 INFO] Commit ID: 49b09b8167bf5f877690429d12747f30342d1db6
[2026-06-14 13:36:44:060 INFO] Configuration: Publish
[2026-06-14 13:36:44:060 INFO] Level Name: Bedrock level
[2026-06-14 13:36:44:061 INFO] No CDN config file found at: cdn_config.json for dedicated server
[2026-06-14 13:36:44:061 INFO] Game mode: 0 Survival
[2026-06-14 13:36:44:061 INFO] Difficulty: 1 EASY
[2026-06-14 13:36:44:063 WARN] Content logging to console is disabled.  Enable it with content-log-console-output-enabled=true in server.properties
[2026-06-14 13:36:44:608 INFO] Opening level 'worlds/Bedrock level/db'
[2026-06-14 13:36:44:626 INFO] Pack Stack - None
[2026-06-14 13:36:45:565 INFO] IPv4 supported, port: 19132: Used for gameplay and LAN discovery
[2026-06-14 13:36:45:565 INFO] IPv6 supported, port: 19133: Used for gameplay
[2026-06-14 13:36:45:605 INFO] Waiting for Minecraft services...
[2026-06-14 13:36:45:806 INFO] Server started.

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

If there is only one such background session with the server running and you want to return to it, run the following command:
```
sudo -u minecraft screen -r
```
If there are multiple background sessions, get their list by running the following command:
```
sudo -u minecraft screen -list
```
Result:
```
There is a screen on:
   30989.minecraft (06/17/26 12:23:18)     (Detached)
1 Socket in /run/screen/S-minecraft.
```
Then, enter the session using its ID from the list:
```
sudo -u minecraft screen -r 30989
```
Note
The minecraft user does not have a password or SSH key, so you cannot connect to the VM directly on their behalf. To perform operations under this user, connect to the VM over SSH with your credentials and switch to minecraft using the following command:
```
sudo -iu minecraft
```
This will start a login session, and /opt/minecraft-server will instantly become the current directory. To return to your session, run the exit command or press Ctrl + D.

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

     4096 Jun 14 13:49 .
     4096 Jun 14 12:43 ..
       36 Jun 14 13:49 .bash_history
      220 Mar 31  2024 .bash_logout
     3771 Mar 31  2024 .bashrc
      807 Mar 31  2024 .profile
        0 Jun 15 12:56 Dedicated_Server.txt
        3 May 20 23:35 allowlist.json
222788240 May 20 23:36 bedrock_server
    31241 May 20 23:35 bedrock_server_how_to.html
     4096 May 20 23:36 behavior_packs
     4096 May 20 23:36 config
     4096 May 20 23:36 data
     4096 May 20 23:36 definitions
     4096 Jun 14 13:36 development_behavior_packs
     4096 Jun 14 13:36 development_resource_packs
     4096 Jun 14 13:36 development_skin_packs
     4096 Jun 14 13:36 minecraftpe
      484 May 20 23:35 packetlimitconfig.json
        3 May 20 23:35 permissions.json
     4096 Jun 14 13:36 premium_cache
     8548 May 20 23:17 profanity_filter.wlist
      398 May 20 23:35 release-notes.txt
     4096 May 20 23:36 resource_packs
    11650 May 20 23:35 server.properties
     4096 Jun 14 13:36 treatments
     4096 Jun 14 13:36 world_templates
     4096 Jun 14 13:36 worlds

Test the server

Java Edition

Bedrock Edition

Download and install the Minecraft client.
Run Minecraft Java Edition.
Click Multiplayer.
Select Direct Connection.
In the Server address field, specify the public IP address of the minecraft-server VM and click Join Server.

Download and install the Minecraft client.
Run Minecraft Bedrock Edition.
Click Start.
Select Server, then click + Add server.
Give the server a name of your choice. In the Server address field, specify the public IP address of your minecraft-server VM. Leave the default port. Click Add and play.

How to delete the resources you created

To stop paying for the resources you created:

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

Deploying a Minecraft server in Yandex Cloud

Get your cloud readyGet your cloud ready

Required paid resourcesRequired paid resources

Create a security groupCreate a security group

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

Install the utilities and start the serverInstall the utilities and start the server

Test the serverTest the server

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

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