How to Install a Minecraft Server on Ubuntu 24.04 VPS (Java Edition)

Running your own Minecraft server puts you back in control -- no player slot fees, no plugin whitelist, no capped TPS, and no forced migrations when the host decides to sunset a plan. This tutorial walks through a production-grade Vanilla Java Edition install on Ubuntu 24.04, with pointers for switching to Paper, Spigot, or Forge along the way. By the end you will have a hardened, auto-restarting server under systemd, tuned with Aikar's JVM flags, nightly backups, and a locked-down firewall that only exposes port 25565.

Want the shortcut? Deploy a pre-configured Minecraft VPS with Java 21, UFW, automated backups, and OpenSSH hardening baked in. Launch a game-ready VPS now -- your first world is online in under two minutes.

Table of Contents

Why Self-Host Minecraft?

Managed Minecraft hosting sounds cheap until you read the per-slot pricing page. The headline number is always a 1 GB plan, which struggles to hold 3 players and one plugin. Bumping up to a usable tier plus "premium" CPU almost always lands north of USD 20 per month, and you are still renting a time-sliced VM that someone else has root on.

Running your own server on a VPS flips the economics and the control surface in your favor:

• Flat-rate RAM and CPU -- a 12 GB VPS hosts a 30-player Paper SMP, a Velocity proxy, and a Fabric creative world on the same box for the price of a "5 GB" managed plan.
• Any plugin, any mod, any datapack -- install Paper, Purpur, Fabric, Forge, NeoForge, Mohist, Arclight, Folia, or a custom-compiled fork. Nobody blocks it.
• Real root and real logs -- tail latest.log, profile TPS with Spark, mount extra disk for map renders. Managed panels give you a fraction of this visibility.
• Your world, your backups -- snapshot on your schedule, rsync offsite, keep versioned history. When a host goes under, you still have every world file.
• No forced upgrades -- you choose when to jump from 1.21.3 to 1.21.5, and you keep the old jar one cp away if a mod breaks.
• Run more than just Minecraft -- the same VPS hosts a Pterodactyl panel, a web dashboard, a Discord bot, and a Uptime Kuma monitor without spinning up a second machine.

Vanilla vs Paper vs Spigot vs Forge

There are four mainstream server flavors for Minecraft Java Edition. Pick one before you download anything.

Official download sources:

• Vanilla server.jar: minecraft.net/en-us/download/server
• Paper: papermc.io/downloads/paper
• Spigot: getbukkit.org/download/spigot (or self-build via BuildTools)
• Forge: files.minecraftforge.net

Cost Comparison: VPS vs Managed Hosts

Here is what EUR 19.99 buys you at the three most-searched managed Minecraft hosts versus a self-hosted CloudCore VPS. Prices are monthly, in the cheapest billing tier, as listed on each provider's public pricing page.

At the same EUR 20 price point, you get 3x the RAM, 6 dedicated vCPU cores, full root, NVMe storage, and the freedom to host other services on the same box. The self-hosted option wins on every axis except "I have never touched a terminal before" -- which is exactly what the rest of this guide solves.

System Requirements

Minecraft's main thread is single-core and I/O-sensitive, so you want fast cores and NVMe storage more than raw core count. RAM scales with concurrent players and loaded chunks.

Recommended Plan: CloudCore Professional -- EUR 19.99/month

The Professional plan is the sweet spot for a 5-20 player SMP with plugins and a backup job:

- 6 vCPU cores (AMD EPYC)

- 12 GB RAM

- 100 GB NVMe SSD

- Unmetered 1 Gbps bandwidth

- DDoS protection included

Prerequisites

Before you start, make sure you have:

• A VPS running Ubuntu 24.04 LTS with root or sudo access
• SSH access (terminal on macOS/Linux, PuTTY or Windows Terminal on Windows)
• An open TCP port 25565 (the Minecraft default)
• A Minecraft: Java Edition account for testing
• Optional: a DNS A record pointing play.yourdomain.com at your VPS IP

ssh root@your-server-ip

Step 1: Update the System and Open the Firewall

Refresh the package index, apply security updates, and install UFW if it is not already present:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install -y ufw wget curl screen

Allow SSH (so you do not lock yourself out), then open the Minecraft port:

sudo ufw allow OpenSSH
sudo ufw allow 25565/tcp comment 'Minecraft Java Edition'
sudo ufw --force enable
sudo ufw status numbered

Expected output:

Status: active
     To                         Action      From
     --                         ------      ----
[ 1] OpenSSH                    ALLOW IN    Anywhere
[ 2] 25565/tcp                  ALLOW IN    Anywhere
[ 3] OpenSSH (v6)               ALLOW IN    Anywhere (v6)
[ 4] 25565/tcp (v6)             ALLOW IN    Anywhere (v6)

If you plan to enable RCON (remote console) later, open port 25575 as well but restrict it to a trusted IP:

sudo ufw allow from YOUR.ADMIN.IP.HERE to any port 25575 proto tcp comment 'Minecraft RCON'

Never expose RCON to 0.0.0.0 on the public internet -- its auth is a shared password with no rate limiting.

If the kernel was updated during apt upgrade, reboot now:

sudo reboot

Reconnect after the server is back.

Step 2: Install OpenJDK 21

Minecraft 1.20.5 and all newer releases require Java 21. Ubuntu 24.04's main repository ships OpenJDK 21 directly, so no third-party PPA is needed.

sudo apt install -y openjdk-21-jre-headless

Verify the install:

java --version

Expected output:

openjdk 21.0.4 2024-07-16
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 21.0.4+7-Ubuntu-1ubuntu2~24.04)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 21.0.4+7-Ubuntu-1ubuntu2~24.04, mixed mode, sharing)

Running an older Minecraft version?

• 1.18 - 1.20.4 -- install openjdk-17-jre-headless
• 1.17 -- install openjdk-16-jre-headless (requires ppa:openjdk-r/ppa)
• 1.16.5 and older -- install openjdk-8-jre-headless

Step 3: Create a Dedicated minecraft User

Never run a game server as root. Create an unprivileged system user that owns the server directory:

sudo adduser --system --shell /bin/bash --home /opt/minecraft --group minecraft
sudo mkdir -p /opt/minecraft/server
sudo chown -R minecraft:minecraft /opt/minecraft

Drop into the minecraft user for the next steps:

sudo -u minecraft -i
cd /opt/minecraft/server

The rest of the tutorial assumes you are operating as the minecraft user in /opt/minecraft/server unless noted.

Step 4: Download the Vanilla server.jar

Grab the official server jar URL from minecraft.net/en-us/download/server -- Mojang updates this link with every release, and the URL is not stable.

At the time of writing, the current release is 1.21.4. Download it:

wget -O server.jar https://piston-data.mojang.com/v1/objects/4707d00eb834b446575d89a61a11b5d548d8c001/server.jar

For Paper instead of Vanilla, grab the latest build from the Paper downloads API:

# Replace 1.21.4 and 232 with the current version/build from papermc.io
wget -O server.jar https://api.papermc.io/v2/projects/paper/versions/1.21.4/builds/232/downloads/paper-1.21.4-232.jar

Verify the jar is present and non-zero:

ls -lh server.jar

Expected output:

-rw-rw-r-- 1 minecraft minecraft 49M Apr 16 10:00 server.jar

Step 5: Accept the EULA and First Run

Run the jar once to generate the eula.txt, server.properties, and logs/ directory. It will exit immediately because the EULA has not been accepted yet:

java -Xms1G -Xmx2G -jar server.jar --nogui

Expected output (last few lines):

[10:01:30] [ServerMain/INFO]: Building unoptimized datafixer
[10:01:32] [ServerMain/ERROR]: Failed to load properties from file: server.properties
[10:01:32] [ServerMain/WARN]: Failed to load eula.txt
[10:01:32] [ServerMain/INFO]: You need to agree to the EULA in order to run the server. Go to eula.txt for more info.

Accept the Minecraft EULA by editing the generated file:

sed -i 's/eula=false/eula=true/' eula.txt

Confirm:

cat eula.txt

Expected output:

#By changing the setting below to TRUE you are indicating your agreement to our EULA (https://aka.ms/MinecraftEULA).
#Wed Apr 16 10:01:32 UTC 2026
eula=true

Step 6: Tune server.properties

The default server.properties is fine for a LAN test but leaves performance on the table. Edit the key fields for a production server:

nano /opt/minecraft/server/server.properties

Recommended values for a 5-15 player SMP on a 6 vCPU / 12 GB VPS:

# Core gameplay
motd=\u00A76CloudCore SMP \u00A77| play.example.com
gamemode=survival
difficulty=normal
hardcore=false
pvp=true
spawn-protection=16
max-players=20
online-mode=true
white-list=false
Network / performance
server-port=25565
view-distance=8
simulation-distance=6
network-compression-threshold=256
sync-chunk-writes=false
entity-broadcast-range-percentage=80
max-tick-time=60000
World generation
level-name=world
level-type=minecraft\:normal
allow-nether=true
spawn-animals=true
spawn-monsters=true
spawn-npcs=true
generate-structures=true
Security
enforce-whitelist=false
prevent-proxy-connections=false
enable-rcon=true
rcon.port=25575
rcon.password=replace-with-a-strong-random-password
enable-query=false

Notes on the tuning choices:

• view-distance=8 -- the default 10 pushes chunk loading costs up 50% for marginal visible range. 8 is the sweet spot for medium servers; drop to 6 on under-powered boxes.
• simulation-distance=6 -- controls how far out mobs, redstone, and tile entities tick. Lower than view-distance is fine and saves significant CPU.
• network-compression-threshold=256 -- packets smaller than 256 bytes skip compression, reducing CPU overhead on LAN and modern networks. Set to -1 to disable entirely on a local proxy.
• sync-chunk-writes=false -- lets chunk saves happen asynchronously. Safe on journaled filesystems like ext4 (which Ubuntu uses by default).
• online-mode=true -- required for Mojang authentication. Only disable this if the server is behind a Velocity proxy in forwarding mode.

Step 7: Create the systemd Service with Aikar's Flags

Running Minecraft inside screen or tmux works in a pinch, but systemd is the right answer for production: it restarts on crash, starts on boot, integrates with journald, and does not leave a dangling session if you get disconnected.

Aikar's JVM Flags Explained

Aikar's flags are a well-tested set of G1GC tuning parameters that dramatically reduce GC pause times on Minecraft servers. They are designed for 12+ GB heaps but work acceptably down to 4 GB. The key changes from stock G1GC:

• Larger G1NewSizePercent and G1MaxNewSizePercent (40 / 50) -- Minecraft allocates heavily in the young generation during chunk ticks.
• Smaller G1HeapRegionSize=8M -- more granular collection, fewer full pauses.
• InitiatingHeapOccupancyPercent=15 -- starts concurrent GC cycles earlier, avoiding stop-the-world events.
• +ParallelRefProcEnabled and +DisableExplicitGC -- prevent plugin-triggered manual System.gc() calls from stalling the server.

Exit the minecraft user and write the unit file as root:

exit  # back to your sudo user
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/minecraft.service

Paste the following (tuned for an 8 GB heap -- adjust Xms/Xmx to your plan):

[Unit]
Description=Minecraft Java Edition Server
Wants=network-online.target
After=network-online.target
[Service]
Type=simple
User=minecraft
Group=minecraft
WorkingDirectory=/opt/minecraft/server
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=10s
SuccessExitStatus=0 143
Hardening
NoNewPrivileges=true
PrivateTmp=true
ProtectSystem=strict
ProtectHome=true
ReadWritePaths=/opt/minecraft
Aikar's flags for 8 GB heap on Minecraft 1.20+ with Java 21
ExecStart=/usr/bin/java \
  -Xms8G -Xmx8G \
  -XX:+UseG1GC \
  -XX:+ParallelRefProcEnabled \
  -XX:MaxGCPauseMillis=200 \
  -XX:+UnlockExperimentalVMOptions \
  -XX:+DisableExplicitGC \
  -XX:+AlwaysPreTouch \
  -XX:G1NewSizePercent=40 \
  -XX:G1MaxNewSizePercent=50 \
  -XX:G1HeapRegionSize=8M \
  -XX:G1ReservePercent=15 \
  -XX:G1HeapWastePercent=5 \
  -XX:G1MixedGCCountTarget=4 \
  -XX:InitiatingHeapOccupancyPercent=15 \
  -XX:G1MixedGCLiveThresholdPercent=90 \
  -XX:G1RSetUpdatingPauseTimePercent=5 \
  -XX:SurvivorRatio=32 \
  -XX:+PerfDisableSharedMem \
  -XX:MaxTenuringThreshold=1 \
  -Dusing.aikars.flags=https\://mcflags.emc.gs \
  -Daikars.new.flags=true \
  -jar server.jar --nogui
Graceful shutdown -- systemd sends SIGTERM, Minecraft saves and exits cleanly
ExecStop=/bin/kill -SIGTERM $MAINPID
TimeoutStopSec=60s
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Heap sizing rule -- set Xms equal to Xmx so the JVM does not waste cycles resizing the heap. Leave at least 2 GB of VPS RAM free for the OS, off-heap JVM memory, and any plugin native libraries.

Reload systemd, enable the service on boot, and start it:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now minecraft

Watch it boot:

sudo journalctl -u minecraft -f

You should see the world load and the server announce readiness within 30-60 seconds:

[10:15:01] [Server thread/INFO]: Preparing spawn area: 100%
[10:15:01] [Server thread/INFO]: Done (12.345s)! For help, type "help"

Press Ctrl+C to stop tailing the log (the server stays running).

Connect from your Minecraft client using your-server-ip:25565 or your DNS record. You are live.

Step 8: Automated Backups with 7-Day Rotation

A Minecraft server without a backup strategy is a disaster waiting to happen -- one corrupted region file or one bad /fill command can delete hours of work. Schedule nightly tarballs with a 7-day rotation.

Create the backup script:

sudo nano /opt/minecraft/backup.sh

Paste:

#!/bin/bash
Minecraft world backup with 7-day rotation
set -euo pipefail
BACKUP_DIR="/opt/minecraft/backups"
SERVER_DIR="/opt/minecraft/server"
STAMP=$(date +%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M)
ARCHIVE="${BACKUP_DIR}/world-${STAMP}.tar.gz"
mkdir -p "${BACKUP_DIR}"
Tell the server to flush and pause world saves via RCON (requires rcon-cli or mcrcon)
Skip if RCON is disabled -- this fallback uses systemd to pause briefly
echo "[$(date)] Starting backup: ${ARCHIVE}"
cd "${SERVER_DIR}"
tar --exclude='./logs/' --exclude='./cache/' -czf "${ARCHIVE}" \
    world world_nether world_the_end \
    server.properties ops.json whitelist.json banned-players.json banned-ips.json \
    2>/dev/null || tar -czf "${ARCHIVE}" world server.properties
Rotate: keep last 7 backups
find "${BACKUP_DIR}" -name 'world-*.tar.gz' -type f -mtime +7 -delete
echo "[$(date)] Backup complete: $(du -h "${ARCHIVE}" | cut -f1)"

Make it executable and set ownership:

sudo chown minecraft:minecraft /opt/minecraft/backup.sh
sudo chmod +x /opt/minecraft/backup.sh

Schedule it via the minecraft user's crontab (runs daily at 4:00 AM server time):

sudo -u minecraft crontab -e

Add:

0 4   * /opt/minecraft/backup.sh >> /opt/minecraft/backups/backup.log 2>&1

Test it manually once:

sudo -u minecraft /opt/minecraft/backup.sh
ls -lh /opt/minecraft/backups/

For offsite backups, add a second cron line that rsyncs the backup directory to a remote host or pushes it to S3-compatible storage via Restic or Rclone. A single destroyed VPS is the most common way to lose a world permanently -- always have a copy on a different machine.

Step 9: Op Your First Player

To grant yourself admin (operator) privileges, connect to the server console via journalctl or by attaching to the systemd service's stdin. The cleanest way is sending a command through systemd:

# Get the Minecraft console using RCON (install mcrcon on your client)
Or use the server console if you started it manually
Easiest: open a runtime socket or use an rcon CLI client
sudo apt install -y rcon-cli
rcon-cli --host 127.0.0.1 --port 25575 --password YOUR_RCON_PASSWORD "op YourMinecraftUsername"

Expected reply:

Made YourMinecraftUsername a server operator

Rejoin the server -- you now have /gamemode, /give, /tp, and every other op command available.

Switching to Paper, Spigot, or Forge

Everything above works unchanged for Paper and Spigot -- just swap the server.jar:

sudo systemctl stop minecraft
cd /opt/minecraft/server
sudo -u minecraft mv server.jar server.jar.vanilla-bak
Paper
sudo -u minecraft wget -O server.jar https://api.papermc.io/v2/projects/paper/versions/1.21.4/builds/232/downloads/paper-1.21.4-232.jar
sudo systemctl start minecraft

For Forge, the install flow differs slightly. Download the installer from files.minecraftforge.net, run:

sudo -u minecraft java -jar forge-1.21.4-installer.jar --installServer

This generates a run.sh and a user_jvm_args.txt. Update your systemd ExecStart= to point at run.sh (or to the forge-*.jar that the installer drops in the directory), keep Aikar's flags, and restart the service.

For modpacks (All the Mods, RLCraft, Create: Above and Beyond), the pack author usually ships a serverfiles.zip with a preconfigured run.sh. Unzip into /opt/minecraft/server, point systemd at run.sh, and bump Xmx to the pack's recommended value (usually 6-10 GB).

Troubleshooting

sudo journalctl -u minecraft -n 200 --no-pager
sudo tail -f /opt/minecraft/server/logs/latest.log

FAQ

How much RAM does a Minecraft server need?

Plan for roughly 4 GB of heap for 1-5 players, 6 GB for up to 15 players, and 10-12 GB for 20-40 concurrent players. Always leave at least 1 GB free for the OS and JVM off-heap memory (metaspace, direct buffers, native plugin libraries). Modded servers like All the Mods 9 or RLCraft need 2-3x the RAM of Vanilla at the same player count because mods add entities, chunk loaders, and background processing. If TPS drops below 18 and the G1 "young" pool stays above 90%, you are RAM-starved.

Should I use Vanilla, Paper, Spigot, or Forge?

Use Vanilla only if you want exact Mojang behavior and plan to extend via datapacks. Use Paper for anything plugin-based -- it is 3-5x faster than Vanilla at the same player count and is a drop-in replacement for the Vanilla jar. Spigot is only relevant if a specific plugin will not run on Paper, which is rare in 2026. Use Forge or NeoForge exclusively for mod servers; mods and plugins are architecturally incompatible unless you run a hybrid like Mohist, Magma, or Arclight (which carry their own stability caveats). When in doubt, start with Paper.

Which Java version do I need for Minecraft?

Minecraft 1.20.5 and newer require Java 21. 1.18 - 1.20.4 run on Java 17. 1.17 needs Java 16. Anything older than 1.17 still works on Java 8. Ubuntu 24.04 ships OpenJDK 21 directly from the main repository, which is what this guide installs. You can have multiple JDKs installed side by side and switch with sudo update-alternatives --config java per-terminal, or just reference the full path in your systemd unit (/usr/lib/jvm/java-17-openjdk-amd64/bin/java) for a specific service.

Can I run a Minecraft server on my home PC instead of a VPS?

Technically yes, but a VPS gives you 24/7 uptime, static IP, DDoS protection, higher upload bandwidth, and no port-forwarding exposure on your home network. Residential ISPs typically cap upload speeds at 20-40 Mbps, which caps how many players you can host before everyone rubber-bands. A CloudCore Starter plan at EUR 7.99/month costs less than the electricity of leaving a desktop on all month, and you avoid exposing your home IP to the wider internet (including to anyone who threatens to DDoS your server after a ban).

How do I reduce lag and boost TPS?

In order of impact: (1) switch to Paper if you are on Vanilla; (2) reduce view-distance from 10 to 7-8 in server.properties; (3) set simulation-distance=5-6; (4) apply Aikar's JVM flags (Step 7 above); (5) install Spark to profile actual hot paths; (6) use Chunky to pre-generate a 5000-block-radius spawn area so chunk-gen does not interrupt gameplay; (7) install ClearLag or Ent Culling to trim stale mobs and item entities. Paper's paper-global.yml also exposes dozens of optimization toggles worth reading.

Is self-hosting cheaper than Apex, Shockbyte, or BisectHosting?

Yes. Apex Hosting charges USD 9.99/month for 3 GB, Shockbyte USD 7.99 for 2 GB, and BisectHosting USD 9.99 for 4 GB Premium. A CloudCore Professional VPS at EUR 19.99 gives you 12 GB dedicated RAM, 6 vCPU, 100 GB NVMe, full root, and the ability to run unlimited game servers, a web dashboard, a Discord bot, and offsite backups on the same machine. For the price of a single Shockbyte "Stone" plan, you get roughly 6x the RAM and none of the plugin restrictions.

Can I migrate an existing world from another host?

Yes. Stop the source server cleanly (so chunks flush), zip world/, world_nether/, world_the_end/ plus banned-players.json, ops.json, whitelist.json, and server.properties. Upload to the VPS with scp or rsync, extract into /opt/minecraft/server/, chown -R minecraft:minecraft, and start the service. The server picks up the existing world automatically. Keep the same Minecraft version on both ends; upgrading a 1.19 world to 1.21 works but is one-way -- back up before you try it.

Next Steps

Now that your Minecraft server is running under systemd with Aikar's flags, backups, and a locked firewall, here is what to do next:

• Install a game server panel -- Deploy Pterodactyl to get a web UI for managing this and future game servers, including file editor, console, and user permissions.
• Add monitoring -- Install Uptime Kuma to ping your Minecraft port and alert on Discord when the server is down.
• Pre-generate your world -- Install the Chunky plugin (Paper only) and run /chunky radius 5000 && /chunky start to generate a 10k x 10k chunk area so players never wait on chunk gen.
• Host more games on the same VPS -- Same box can comfortably run a Valheim server, an ARK: Survival Evolved server, a 7 Days to Die server, a Satisfactory dedicated server, a Project Zomboid server, or a Space Engineers server. Just pick different ports.
• Set up a Velocity proxy -- If you want a network of Minecraft servers (survival, creative, minigames) sharing one address, put Velocity in front and run each backend with online-mode=false plus modern forwarding.
• Enable snapshot backups on the VPS -- Use your provider's snapshot feature for disaster recovery in addition to the tarball backups configured in Step 8.

Skip the Manual Install -- Launch a Pre-Built Minecraft VPS

Our Professional VPS plan comes tuned for Minecraft out of the box: OpenJDK 21, UFW firewall, automated daily backups, and systemd unit ready to run Paper. Deploy in 60 seconds and start handing out IPs.

- 12 GB RAM, 6 vCPU AMD EPYC, 100 GB NVMe

- Unmetered 1 Gbps bandwidth, DDoS protection included

- Full root, no plugin restrictions, no slot caps

- One-click SSH key deployment

Deploy Your Minecraft VPS Now -- Plans start at EUR 7.99/month (Starter), EUR 19.99 (Professional), EUR 29.99+ (Business).