Minecraft:Server

Template:Relevant tutorial A server provides a game environment for Minecraft:players to play Minecraft:multiplayer with others over the Template:W or a Template:W (LAN). Players are connected to a server using the Minecraft Minecraft:client software, and the server is hosted using the server software, as Minecraft:server.jar Template:Only or Minecraft:Bedrock Dedicated Server Template:Only.

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Archetypes

Template:See also

Multiple archetypes of Minecraft:Minecraft multiplayer servers exist, distinguished by the unique gameplay features, rules, and societal structures that they implement. Each server is unique from the others, and often, the line between archetypes is blurred or indistinguishable. Many special types of servers rely on the use of map editors or the Minecraft:Creative game mode to build custom maps, and some use Minecraft:modded server software to provide additional features outside the Minecraft:vanilla experience. Some of these servers are heavily competitive, involving Minecraft:player versus player (PvP) and unique gameplay aspects of Template:W; however, some simply followed the base Minecraft:vanilla Minecraft:survival experience.

Common archetypes found in Minecraft servers may include:

Template:Va, also known as Survival Multiplayer (SMP): Servers that follow the Minecraft:Survival mode progression. Minecraft:Player activities ranging from collecting Minecraft:resources, building bases and Minecraft:structures, fighting Minecraft:monsters, exploring the Minecraft:world, and reaching Minecraft:the End. They typically work together to complete some sort of objectives and reach some kind of Minecraft:progression. Players may also develop relationships and rivalries across different groups, such as servers specialized in this field are faction servers.
Template:Va: Servers that allow the freedom and control of the Minecraft:Creative mode. Players create and design elaborate buildings, ranging small-scale works from Template:Ws, Template:Ws, Template:Ws, player Template:Ws, to massive projects such as Template:Ws, Template:Ws, Template:Ws, and cities. A common type of Creative server is plot servers, where players are given their own plot of land which they can control, build, and destroy using Creative mode. They are limited only to their plots, which prevents Minecraft:griefing in other players' plots.
Template:Va: Servers that are structured around narrative-driven interactions, in which players adopt fictional personas and engage in collaborative storytelling. These servers often establish original lore, scripted scenarios, and persistent Template:W, supported by custom maps, in-game voice support, and custom content using Minecraft:mods, and multiple player hierarchies.
Template:Va: Servers that host multiple Template:Ws where players compete with one another. These minigames are short games contained within Minecraft, having different Minecraft:gameplay elements from the main game itself. Popular minigames include Minecraft:spleef, Template:W, sky wars, bed wars, and more. Usually, the last player standing wins a reward, often in the form of Template:W, which lets players use and trade for cosmetics, kits, upgrades, and other types of unlockables. Players may also compete in the leaderboards, which show the top-performing players of these minigames.
Template:Va: Similar in concept to Minecraft:Survival servers, but players build organized groups and regularly play together as a team, which are called factions. They typically partake in activities such as claiming lands, building bases, and farming mobs or items, while some compete and challenge other factions, such as faction wars, base raiding, Minecraft:player versus player (PvP), and other form of rivalries and relationships between factions.
Template:Va: Servers that are dedicated to having no rules at all, allowing the freedom and usage of Minecraft:cheating and exploiting, which are prominent in these servers. Anarchy servers may also allow Minecraft:griefing, unmoderated Template:Ws, inappropriate language, and behaviors which are frowned upon in the Minecraft community.
Customized: Servers that provide a playing experience very different to the Minecraft:vanilla game, with the use of Minecraft:add-ons or Minecraft:mods.

Variants

Multiple variants of Minecraft server software exist, and each of them is used for different purposes and has varying levels of setup and features.

The default server software (Minecraft:server.jar Template:In and Minecraft:BDS Template:In) provides a stable environment for players to play a Minecraft:multiplayer game. It's provided free of charge by Mojang Studios for Windows, macOSTemplate:Only, and Linux systems.
The game also provides an Minecraft:Open to LAN feature that turns singleplayer worlds into a multiplayer game accessible to people on the Template:W. Worlds and servers using this feature automatically pop up on the Minecraft:server listTemplate:Only/worlds listTemplate:Only without needing to specify the server address.
- In Bedrock Edition, this feature is extended to the Template:W. Players can join a singleplayer world if they are friends with the world owner on the Xbox network. The owner can also invite other people to join their world through Xbox.
Minecraft:Minecraft Realms provides a multiplayer server similar to the default software, which is always online. They are provided by Minecraft:Mojang Studios as a paid subscription-based server hosting service. Realms also provides additional features, such as automatic world backup, in-game server and world management, and free minigame maps designed for multiplayer.
- Realms are limited in player slots. A Realms server can only provide up to 10 players playing simultaneously in a multiplayer game (or 2 with a Core subscription). However, this does not apply to the Realm's invite slots, e.g. a Realm can have more than 10 players invited.

Related tutorials for setting up these kinds of servers also exist, see Template:Slink.

Management

Template:See also Template:Redirect Servers are generally managed by administrators and operators. The administrator generally takes responsibility for the server. It may be that the server is running from their machine, or that they simply have jurisdiction over a server. Operators generally assist the administrators in moderating a server and to prevent unruly players and griefers. Both operators and administrators have access to various Minecraft:commands to ensure the smooth running of the server. On a default server, players are assigned as operator or administrator by using the Template:Command command, or by editing the ops.json in the server directory, then restarting the server.

Features of a Minecraft server, such as the server's address, port, message of the day (MOTD), and others, can be configured on Minecraft:server.properties file, which contains key-value pairs that enable or disable such features. It's located under the server's working directory, alongside other resources. By default, the server listens to all Template:W on Template:Cd TCP portTemplate:Only or Template:Cd UDP portTemplate:Only.

Servers do not strictly require access to Minecraft online services, and can be played on an isolated local network without Template:W connection. Servers use Minecraft online services to fetch player Minecraft:skins and verify genuine Minecraft accounts, which prevents hackers and griefers from using false names while on such a server. This feature can be enabled or disabled by setting Template:Cd property in the Minecraft:server.properties.

The server saves the level in the "world" folder every 30 seconds if chunks have been modified by default.

WhitelistTemplate:Anchor

Whitelist or allowlistTemplate:Only is a feature provided by the server that allows and blocks specific players from joining a multiplayer game. It works by checking Minecraft:UUID or XUIDTemplate:Only of the players who have been whitelisted on a server. Its configured in Template:Cd or Template:Cd file inside the Minecraft:server.jar's working directory, and can be activated by setting Template:Cd or Template:Cd server property.

Each entry in Template:Cd or Template:Cd is a JSON object identifying which players the server should allow access.

Template:Nbt: A list of objects.
- Template:Nbt: An object that contains the profile of whitelisted players.
  - Template:Nbt: The Minecraft:UUID of the player, in hyphenated hexadecimal format.Template:Only
  - Template:Nbt: The XUID of the player. XUID is the Xbox account identifier.Template:Only
  - Template:Nbt: The username of the player.
  - Template:Nbt: Whether this player can join the server even while the number of players online has reached the limit.<ref name="bedrock-server-how-to">Built-in bedrock_server_how_to.html file in Minecraft:Bedrock Dedicated Server.</ref>Template:Only Equivalent to bypassesPlayerLimit on ops.json in Java Edition.

As well as manually editing the file, the Template:Cmd command can also be used by operators. When editing the file manually while the server is running, the command Template:Cmd needs to be used for the changes to take effect.

In Java Edition, server operators can always connect when the whitelist is active, even if their UUIDs do not appear in the whitelist. This differs from Bedrock Edition, where players must be whitelisted regardless of operator status.

In Java Edition servers with Template:Cd disabled, the whitelist checks against the offline UUID of players, converted from their usernames.

Template:Calculator

Operator list

Template:Exclusive In Java Edition, players' operator status is managed by the server in the Template:Cd file. Operators can execute Minecraft:commands, and their privileges allow control for certain aspects of the game, e.g. teleporting players, summoning entities, changing Minecraft:game modes, and more.

Each entry in Template:Cd is similar to a whitelist, with Template:Cd and Template:Cd being the player's identifier.

Template:Nbt: A list of objects.
- Template:Nbt: An object which contains the operator's configuration.
  - Template:Nbt: The Minecraft:UUID of the operator, in hyphenated hexadecimal format.
  - Template:Nbt: The username of the operator.
  - Template:Nbt: The Minecraft:permission level of the operator, which may limit certain commands and abilities. By default, its specified by op-permission-level property.
  - Template:Nbt: Whether this player can join the server even while the number of players online has reached the limit set by the max-players property. Note that players with this setting still count toward the limit despite being exempt from join restrictions.

Commands Template:Cmd and Template:Cmd can set a player's operator status.

Permission list

Template:Exclusive In Bedrock Edition, players' permissions are managed by the permissions.json file. The file contains a list of JSON objects with players' XUID and permissions. Note that online-mode needs to be enabled for this feature to work since xuid requires online verification of the user account.<ref name="bedrock-server-how-to"/>

Template:Nbt: A list of objects.
- Template:Nbt: An object that contains the player's permission.
  - Template:Nbt: The XUID of the player.
  - Template:Nbt: The permission of the player, which may limit certain commands and abilities, see below. By default, its specified by default-player-permission-level property.

There are three valid player permissions (see Minecraft:Player Permissions for details):

The Template:Cd permission allows players full access to commands, and in addition to everything Template:Cd could do.
The Template:Cd permission allows players to modify and interact with the Minecraft:world and Minecraft:entities, but unable to execute commands.
The Template:Cd permission restricts players to only view or observe the world, unable to modify or interact with it.

Commands such as Template:Cmd reload the permission list while running in the server, and Template:Cmd lists players' permissions.

Disconnect messagesTemplate:Anchor

Disconnect messages are texts that are displayed when an operator kicks the player or the player has issues connecting to the server.

Java Edition

Server or client errors

End Of Stream (Client message) – The server has stopped sending data to the client.
Internal Server Error:java.net.Minecraft (...) – The server is sending unknown information to the client. If the server is Minecraft:modded, this usually happens when a client with an outdated mod tries to join the server with the updated mod.
Timed Out – The client has lost connection to the server, likely due to disconnecting from the internet or having Minecraft features blocked by a firewall.
Internal exception: java.io.IOException: Received string length longer than the maximum allowed Template:Ph – A chat message that the client sent to the server exceeded the maximum character limit (> 256).
Internal Server Error – The server generated an exception when handling the client's request.
Illegal characters in chat – The client was denied sending certain characters, such as the "§" Template:W.
Kicked for spamming (disconnect.spam) – The client is sending chat messages too quickly.
Read timed out – The server can't find the client's connection. This usually happens when the client has a slow Internet connection.
Bad login – The client is running in offline mode and can't connect to an authenticated server.
Out of memory! – This happens when the client or server cannot assign more memory to the game. This can be checked on the Minecraft:debug screen. It also happens if one traveled past X/Z: ±34,359,738,368 in Beta 1.7.3 or lower (see Minecraft:Far Lands).
Flying is not enabled on this server – The client tried to fly for longer than 5 seconds in Survival or Adventure mode, usually enabled by Minecraft:mods.
Attempting to attack an invalid entity – This happens when the client tries to hit either themselves, or an entity that can't normally be attacked (e.g. arrow, egg, ender pearl, trident). This is usually possible through mods.
Illegal stance – This happens when the client's position is extremely high on the Minecraft:sky or low on the Minecraft:void.
Illegal position – The client is beyond X/Z: ±30,000,000 (or ±32,000,000 in 1.6.4 and lower).

Informational

Disconnected – The player disconnected by using the disconnect button in the Minecraft:pause menu.
You logged in from another location – Another client has logged in to the server the player is playing on with the player's username.
Outdated client (Please use Template:Ph) – The server is running a more recent version of Minecraft than the client.
Outdated server (I'm still on Template:Ph) – The client is running a more recent version of Minecraft than the server.
You have been idle for too long! – The client was idle for a longer time than allowed.
Server closed. – The server has been shut down either by closing out of the "Minecraft server" window/pressing Template:Keys, or using the Template:Cmd command.

Operator actions

You are banned from this server (during gameplay) or You are banned from this server. Reason: Template:Ph. Your ban will be removed on Template:Ph on Template:Ph. (when joined through Minecraft:server list) – The client's Minecraft account is banned and remains banned until Minecraft:pardoned by an admin, or automatically by set duration.
You have been IP banned from this server (during gameplay) or Your IP address is banned from this server. Reason: Template:Ph. Your ban will be removed on Template:Ph on Template:Ph. (when joined through server list) – The client's IP has been banned.
Kicked by an operator. – The client has been disconnected using the Template:Cmd command. This message appears when no custom message is entered, otherwise, the custom message is written directly on the disconnect screen.