Quick Start
Basic Administration
Vanilla Minecraft provides a few basic administration commands to manage players access to your server. These can be as warning systems or as a way to remove troublesome players from your community. You'll need to provide the player's username for each of the following commands in the spot marked <player>.
When running commands in console you don't include the / before the command!
- kick Use the
/kick <player>to kick a player from the server. - ban Use the
/ban <player>command to ban the player from the server.- They won't be able to join unless you un-ban them.
- You can un-ban a player with command
/pardon <player>.
- ban IP You can also ban a player's IP address with the
/ban-ip <player>command.- They won't be able to join even if they try to enter with another account on the same network.
- Use the
/pardon-ip <player>command to un-ban an IP.
Whitelist
With a whitelist, you can specify players you want to allow to join the servers while others that are not whitelist cannot join.
To enable the whitelist, once the server is online, use the command /whitelist on.
To add someone to the whitelist use the command /whitelist add <player> and replace <player> with the player's in-game name you wish to add.
To remove someone from the whitelist use the command /whitelist remove <player>.
And finally, to disable the whitelist, use the command /whitelist off.
When running commands in console you don't include the / before the command!
How to OP
To grant a player access to commands and operator status, use the command /op <player> and replace <player> with the player's in-game name you want to op.
To remove the operator status from a player, use the command /deop <player>.
When running commands in console you don't include the / before the command!
Spigot based servers discourage the use of OP because it provides access to commands that may not be safe to run from a player context. It's better to use a permissions plugin like LuckPerms to grant the permissions your staff need than to grant them operator status. We have an article about Installing LuckPerms.
GameMode
To change someone's gamemode, use the command /gamemode <gamemode> <player>, replace <gamemode> with the gamemode you desire, survival, creative, adventure or spectator and replace <player> with player's in-game name.
When running commands in console you don't include the / before the command!
Adding Plugins
To be able to add plugins to your server, you will need to use Spigot, CraftBukkit, Paper, or any other version that supports plugins.
You can install Spigot or any of it's forks using The Edition Installer on the Game Control Panel or by manually uploading the jar file and setting the Server Jar File Startup Parameter to the name of the jar file.
To install a plugin, simply drag and drop the .jar plugin file into the plugins folder (which is generated by the server upon start if it supports plugins) in the File Management and restart the server.
If you're moving from a vanilla server to a Spigot one, you won't have to reset your world. Moving from Forge/Fabric to Vanilla or Spigot can be tricky, or even impossible, because Forge/Fabric mods often alter the save itself in order to include custom blocks, items, and mobs.
Recommended Spigot Plugins
You’ll find that the plugins in the list below are generally helpful regardless of your server’s type. There is of course no requirement to install them, but it’s highly recommended that you install and configure them on your server while also understanding what they do and how to use them.
- CoreProtect is a plugin that allows you to recover damaged blocks and record data for anti-grief. Installing CoreProtect
- DriveBackupV2 is a plugin that provides backing server data remotely. Installing DriveBackupV2
- LuckPerms is the go-to permissions plugin for the majority of servers and can help keep your server secure by keeping the permissions to use plugins limited to specificplayers. Installing
- BungeeGuard is an intra-network authorization plugin that prevents players from logging into your backend servers if they didn't join through your BungeeCord proxy. Installing BungeeGuard
Adding datapacks
To add a datapack into your server, you need to upload the datapack you want by going to the Management > File Management tab and open the world folder. In that folder, you will find a folder called datapacks, open it, and here you will upload datapacks by drag-and-drop or using the Upload button on the left side.
Some datapacks, such as ones from VanillaTweaks, .zip files might have "unzip me" in their name. This is a note from the creator that you need to unzip the file before using it in the world.
You can do it by uploading it to the world folder like normally you would do for a datapack and then use the 3 dots next to the file to access the menu and use the Decompress button. This will unzip the file and multiple .zip files may appear. After that, you no longer need the file you unzipped from and you can safely delete it from the same 3 dots menu.
Dedicated vs Shared IP
A Minecraft dedicated IP means that you will be able to connect to the server on the standard port 25565 which doesn't require you to insert the additional port (123.45.67.891:25565) when connecting, while Shared IP will require to put the additional port at end of the IP when connecting.
A dedicated IP does not provide you a domain! You must purchase one from a provider such as Porkbun.
Locating your IP
You can find your IP on the Allocations tab of your server. Minecraft servers will use the Primary allocation, so you'll be able to use the address shown in the top left hand corner of your server's page and in the server list.
If you're using Geyser to allow Bedrock players to connect to your Java Edition server, then they'll need to connect to one of the other ports in your allocations list. You'll need to check Geyser's configuration file to be sure of which port.