Hello! Today I will be showing you all how to make a Hamachi Server with Bukkit, add plugins and manage it. This server is good for playing with your friends or if you want to play single player with some of the cool plugins available.

To begin, Create a folder on your desktop called "Server" or "Hamachi". Something you will be able to identify, this will be where you run the server and add plugins.

Creating your server starter


To create the executable file to start your server when you want, simply type or copy the following into a notepad document:


@ECHO OFF
SET BINDIR=%~dp0
CD /D "%BINDIR%"
"%ProgramFiles%Javajre7binjava.exe" -Xincgc -Xmx1G -jar craftbukkit.jar
PAUSE

Save this as "server.exe" and put it within your server folder. This file will get info from Craftbukkit.jar (the main bukkit file) and get everything to start your server and load your plugins/settings. As you can see in the 4th line of code at the end it says "craftbukkit.jar" This means it will be communicating with the file "craftbukkit.jar". So when we get our Bukkit file it will be needed to named "craftbukkit.jar" or the server will not start.

Getting CraftBukkit
Now we can go off and get Bukkit into the server. I will be getting the reccomended build for bukkit because it is less buggy and more stable than later Dev builds.. You can go to the following link to obtain the reccomended build for Bukkit.

dl.bukkit.org/downloads/craftbukkit/

Now download that and put it into your server file. Rename it as "craftbukkit.jar" so your server.exe can detect it and load all bukkit information.

Hosting with Hamachi
Now run the "server.exe" file and it should bring up a black Command Box. This is the box where you can see plugins load, spawns build, people do commands and talk. After it says "done" in the command box, close it and you will notice alot of folder and files within your folder. These are all the configurations for your server to let you set it up the way you want it.

To be able to play your server it requires to be run off of an IP Adress. Hosting with Hamachi is alot safer because people joining are not going into your network to play but Hamachi's. So you may go to the following link to download and install LogMeIn Hamachi.

secure.logmein.com/products/hamachi/download.aspx

You want to download the Unmanaged Mode. Once it is all installed and running, you want to click the Power button within the GUI. It will say probing then ask you to join a network or create one. Click "Create Network" and then follow the prompt to create it. Your Network ID is what people will use to gain access to the network, and the password as well. So make these things something you can remember, but not a personal password if you are giving it to friends.

Once the network is created you can see an adress next to your name starting with 5. It will look like: 5.55.136.96 [Random Number]. Go into your Server folder and the serverproperties folder, right click that and click edit [Easier editing with Notepad++] Where it says Server IP just type in the IP on your hamachi and save the document. Now the next time you run the server it will run off that adress so you can go into minecraft, add a server with that address, and play.

Installing Plugins
Now you might want some plugins to give yourself some commands, and cool features. You can go to Bukkit.org and in the Get Plugins section, you will see a vast amount of plugins for your server. Now make sure that the plugins are the same version as your server or they wont work. So if you run a 1.2.4 server the plugin must be compatible with it. All plugins will say what version they are for.

A good plugin to start with is Essentials. It gives you a wide amount of commands and things you can control within your server. The download link for Essentials is right below.

forums.bukkit.org/threads/gen-sec-econ-tp-admn-essentials-2-9-1-a-collection-of-useful-commands-1-2-4-r1.15312/

Simply click "Essentials Core" to Download the package. There will be 4 different Jar files in that folder. ALL plugins are in the JAR format. Go to your server folder and open up the Plugins Sub-Folder. Drag in the JAR files from Essentials to your Plugins. Now run your server to load the plugins into the server. You can go back into the plugins sub-folder and go into the folders created by the server for essentials. In these folders are all the settings for Essentials. I highly recommend using Notepad ++ to edit these files as they can be confusing with regular notepad.

Congratulations!
You are now running and managing your very own Hamachi Server! To invite your friends, have them join your Hamachi network with the ID and Password you set, and then they can add a server in Minecraft with your hamachi address to play. More info on Bukkit servers and plugins go to Bukkit.org