Guide to Starting and Growing Your First Minecraft Server

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1. Step 1 – Downloading Server Files:

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   You have many options here.  You can download the standard Minecraft server from Minecraft’s official website, but personally a Bukkit server is best, therefore we will stick to that. The main reason server owners love Bukkit is because it arrives with all you need out of the box, and lots of plugins are programmed and managed for Bukkit. So when you decide to start adding a few of the shiny new features to your server and once you get the hang of it, you’ll have the ability to achieve this with minimal effort.

   The following link is by far the EASIEST way to get your server downloaded (EMSInstaller).  Once downloaded make certain to unzip and place the .exe file inside a folder you’ll remember (all of the server files will be produced in this folder), personally I put it on my desktop inside a folder labeled ‘Minecraft’. You’ll be visiting this folder anytime you need to install a plugin, modify a configuration file, or create world for your server.

   The installer itself is very easy to follow, select any settings (Survival/Creative/Adventure/World Type/Max Players/etc.) that suit your needs. The one thing that might prevent you is the ip address section. To find your current ip, proceed to the website WhatsMyIP.org, this will list your current IP address (this may change over time)

   Step 2 – Setting up a Static IP Address:

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   It is high recommended to set up a static IP address, doing so will allow you to share the IP address with your friends and not having to worry about it changing. Establishing a static IP is somewhat easier than one may think, there are a lot of resources out there to aid and shorten this procedure for you. Portforward.com is a great resource for everything IP address related, they’ve got wonderful tutorials and resources to help you get pointed in the right direction.

   The first thing you want to do is download the free tool on the site called Portforward Setup Static IP Address. Once installed you literally just click the ‘Make It Static’ button and it does all the work for you. I just kept everything at defaults similar to the way they have it on the tutorial on their site.

   Step 3 – Setting up Port Forwarding:

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   First thing we need to do is open up the port we want to forward. In order to do this there are a lot of very helpful guides out there. This one will get the job done [How to Open a Windows 7 Port for Dummies]. One thing to keep in mind is that you can’t just type in any port, you want to use the port 25565 this is specific to the minecraft server.

   Again, you will want to use Portforward.com as your primary source for port forwarding information. Start right from Portforward.com on the left hand side of the page they tell you to choose your router to begin the process. I did this all on my own without buying any of their tools, I’m sure they are helpful but the process is easy enough that it is a waste of time in my opinion. When on the home page:

   • Choose your router brand and model (you can usually find this information on a little sticker on the back or bottom of your router)
   • Once you have been directed to the proper page, it gives you a list of all the applications you could possibly want to port forward with. In this case we will obviously be clicking on ‘Minecraft’
   • From there, you will be on a step by step tutorial of how to setup up port forwarding dependant on your router, I’d go into detail here, but it is unlikely that I have the same router as you…

   That’s it! The next phase is to open up your minecraft client, click ‘Multiplayer’, ‘Add Server’, enter any name you want at the top, and then your host, which will be your IP address (from whatsmyip.org) accompanied by the host port which usually is 25565.

   It will look something like this:

   YOUR.IP.ADDRESS:25565

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