202 lines
7.5 KiB
Markdown
202 lines
7.5 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: Minecraft Server on Docker ⛏ 🐳
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date: 2022-05-24T09:33:35+01:00
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author: "ahmza"
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draft: false
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weight:
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tags: ["Games", "Docker", "ARM"]
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description: "Ever wanted to build a Minecraft server in docker !! Start here"
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canonicalURL: "https://blog.ahmza.com/Page%28/posts/minecraft-server-on-docker.md%29"
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cover:
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image: "/webp/posts/mc-docker/feature-anim.webp" # image path/url
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alt: "Minecraft Loves Docker" # alt text
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caption: "<text>" # display caption under cover
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relative: false # when using page bundles set this to true
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showtoc: true
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searchHidden: false
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---
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## **Introduction**
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Minecraft is a great game and when it comes to multiplayer, a dedicated
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server is the way to go (here's why[^1]). Myself and a few others
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recently decided to start playing this game again, and I took the
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opportunity to deploy the server in my lab.
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A Minecraft server does not require a ton of resources to run, However
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from my experience the more resources you can throw at it the better,
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especially when you start to introduce mods and more than a few players.
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I run our server on my main PC within WSL and Docker. This allows me to
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leverage the system resources in my PC 🦾 leaving the [Pi Cluster](https://blog.ahmza.com/posts/building-a-docker-swarm-with-pis/)
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to handle the rest of the stuff in my lab. The only reason I opted to
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go this route is that I don’t want our server to be limited by hardware
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resources as well as the Minecraft server effecting the overall
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performance of the Pis.
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## **Prerequisites**
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- Docker
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- Docker Compose
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## **Requirements**[^2]
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#### **Minimum (1-5 Players)**
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- Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon based CPU
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- 512 MB RAM
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- 2 GB Storage space
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#### **Recommended (10-15 Players)**
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- Intel Core or AMD K8 based CPU
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- 3 GB RAM
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- 16 GB Storage Space
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#### **Optimal (20+ Players)**
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- Intel i5/i7 or AMD Ryzen 5/7 Based CPU
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- 6 GB RAM
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- 35 GB Storage Space
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## **Building the Container**
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Now we have the formalities sorted, we can get to work on creating the
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docker container for Minecraft.
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1. **Create a directory in which you will keep the Minecraft server files**
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- `mkdir minecraft-server`
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- `cd minecraft-server`
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2. **Create an environment file to be used by the Docker Container**
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- The *.env* file allows us to specify variables which we can use
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across the build process.
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- `touch .env`
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- Edit the file in a text editor, i.e. vim `vim .env`
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```bash
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CONTAINER_NAME=minecraft-server
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SERVER_MEM=4096 #change this to your desired value (in MB)
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SERVER_JAR=minecraft_server.1.18.2.jar
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```
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3. **Create the docker-compose.yml file**
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- The *docker-compose.yml* file specifies the container that we
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want to build, outlining the build context (Dockerfile),
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setting the variables (from .env), configuring storage volumes
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for persistence as well as ports and the container name.
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- `touch docker-compose.yml`
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- Edit the file in a text editor[^3], I.e. vim `vim docker-compose.yml`
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```bash
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version: "3"
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services:
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minecraft-server:
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build:
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context: .
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args:
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SERVER_MEM: ${SERVER_MEM}
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SERVER_JAR: ${SERVER_JAR}
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volumes:
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- .server-data:/server
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ports:
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- 25565:25565
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- 25575:25575
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container_name: ${CONTAINER_NAME}
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restart: unless-stopped
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volumes:
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server-data:
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```
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4. **Create the Dockerfile file**
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- The Dockerfile builds the container. We take the 17-jre base
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image apply our variables change the working directory to
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/server and start the jar file, effectively starting the
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Minecraft server.
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- `touch Dockerfile`
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- Edit the file in a text editor, i.e. vim `vim Dockerfile`
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```bash
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FROM eclipse-temurin:17-jre
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ARG SERVER_MEM
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ARG SERVER_JAR
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ENV SERVER_MEM=${SERVER_MEM}
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ENV SERVER_JAR=${SERVER_JAR}
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WORKDIR /server
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CMD echo "Minecraft Server is starting\n" && java -Xms128M -Xmx${SERVER_MEM}M -jar ${SERVER_JAR} nogui
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```
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## **Setup the Server files**
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We’re almost there, just a few steps left !!
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The curious among you may have realised when trying to start the
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container that it fails with the error below:
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```bash
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Minecraft Server is starting
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Error: Unable to access jarfile server.jar
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```
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This is because we have not downloaded the server jar file yet, that is
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our next step.
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1. **Navigate to one of the following sites:**[^4]
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- [Vanilla Minecraft Server](https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/download/server) - instructions found here[^5]
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- [Fabric Mod loader server](https://fabricmc.net/use/server/) - instructions found here [^6]
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2. **Create a folder in the Minecraft-server folder called .server-data**
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- `mkdir .server-data`
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- `cd .server-data`
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3. **Download the jar file - This will depend on the option above so read the instructions**
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4. **Go back to the root minecraft-server folder**
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- `cd ..`
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5. **Run the container**
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- `docker compose up` (use CTRL+C to exit)
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- Once the server unpacks all the files you will see this:
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```bash
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minecraft-server | Starting net.minecraft.server.Main
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minecraft-server | [18:05:50] [ServerMain/INFO]: You need to agree to the EULA in order to run the server. Go to eula.txt for more info.
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minecraft-server exited with code 0
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```
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7. **Accept the EULA**
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- Go into the .server-data folder
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1. `cd .server-data`
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- Edit the file named eula.txt in a text editor i.e. vim `vim eula.txt`
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1. Simply change `eula=false` to `eula=true`
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8. **While in the .server-data folder make any changes you want**
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- Some files to note in here are
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- **server.properties** - properties like server name, game mode, world type etc…
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- **ops.json** - list of server operators (easier to set ingame)
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- **whitelist.json** - list of players allowed to join the server everyone else rejected access.
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9. **Run the container**
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- `docker compose up -d` (the -d means detatched so we can run the server in the background)
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- `docker logs minecraft-server --follow` Will show us the progress of the server startup (to exit out of this do CTRL+C)
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- If you see something like the following then you’re a winner 🥳
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```bash
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[18:17:01] [Server thread/INFO]: Time elapsed: 25529 ms
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[18:17:01] [Server thread/INFO]: Done (34.571s)! For help, type "help"
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```
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[^1]: Hosting your own dedicated server allows you to modify every aspect of the server as you see fit. I.E you can modify the server-properties, you can implement a whitelist not to mention being able to add any mods you want
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[^2]: Requirements Gathered from here [https://minecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Server/Requirements/Dedicated#Unix\_.28Linux.2C\_BSD.2C\_macOS.29](https://minecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Server/Requirements/Dedicated#Unix_.28Linux.2C_BSD.2C_macOS.29)
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[^3]: Yaml is very picky 😞 when it comes to formatting so if you encounter any errors double check your formatting !!
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[^4]: I have left Forge out as it is a more involved process plus Fabric is better 😜
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[^5]: Right click the green link that says something like minecraft_server.x.xx.x.jar and copy the link address
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curl -o server.jar \<link you copied here\>
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[^6]: Select the Minecraft version, Fabric Loader Version and the Installer Version of your choice. I tend to go with the latest.
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Copy the curl command under CLI download
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