Host a free Minecraft server (Java)

Overview

• Set up/install Docker

  • Login
  • Create a new directory
  • Set up the Dockerfile
  • Set up the docker-compose.yml file

• Run the Minecraft server container

  • Build the Docker image
  • Start the Minecraft server container

• Set up Azure virtual machine

  • Create a new virtual machine
  • Install Docker on the virtual machine
  • Set up the Minecraft server container

Set up Docker

To start off, you'll need a Docker account to run the Minecraft server container. If you don't have one, you can create one for free. Once you have an account, you can download the Docker Desktop application for your operating system.

Once you have Docker Desktop installed, you can run the following command in your terminal to login to your Docker account:

docker login

Next, set up a new directory to store the files for your Minecraft server. The folder will contain the server configuration files, as well as the Docker Compose file to run the server container.

~/
└── minecraft-server/
    ├── server.properties
    ├── eula.txt
    ├── ...
└── Dockerfile
└── docker-compose.yml

Set up the Dockerfile:

• The FROM directive specifies the base image for the Minecraft server container.
• The ENV directive sets the server type to Paper.
• The COPY directive copies the plugin JAR files to the /plugins/ directory in the container.

FROM itzg/minecraft-server
 
ENV TYPE=PAPER
 
COPY plugins/*.jar /plugins/

Set up the docker-compose.yml file:

services:
    # Minecraft server container
    mc:
        # Use the itzg/minecraft-server image
        image: itzg/minecraft-server
        environment:
            EULA: "TRUE" # Accept the Minecraft EULA
            TYPE: "PAPER" # Set the server type to Paper
            MOTD: "My Minecraft Server" # Set the server MOTD
            MEMORY: "4G" # Set the server memory to 4GB
        stdin_open: true # Enable stdin
        tty: true # Enable tty
        volumes: # Mount the server data directory
            - ./server:/data
        restart: on-failure:3 # Restart the container on failure 3 times
        ports: # Expose the server port
            - "25565:25565"

Run the server

• To run the Minecraft server container, you'll need to build the Docker image and start the container.

  • Build the Docker image:

  docker compose build

  • Start the Minecraft server container:

  docker compose up -d

• Once the server is running, you can connect to it using the Minecraft client.

  • The server address will be localhost:25565.