This is mainly a Mac OS X blog. YET, there are some Windows 7 guides within the blog.

Step 1.) Organize, and choose your server requirements. I have a blog about that which can be found here: www.planetminecraft.com/blog/server-requirements/

Step 2.) Create a folder on your desktop. You can call it whatever you want. I personally like to call the folder 'Minecraft Server.' This folder will store all your files for the server.

Step 3.) You need to choose whether you want a Vanilla or a Craftbukkit server. The difference between them is that you find the Vanilla .jar on www.minecraft.net , which is called minecraft_server.jar. That is plain out survival. A Craftbukkit server is found on bukkit.org/ at the right hand side of the page. The craftbukkit .jar is called craftbukkit-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar. Craftbukkit is different because after you start your server, it will generate a plugins folder. In it you can download plugins for your server to improve and make the gameplay a lot more fun. After you choose one, download it and save it to your server folder, in my case, the 'Minecraft Server' folder.

Step 4.) Now you need to run the server. Open up terminal. Terminal can be found by clicking the magnify-glass at the top right hand corner of the screen, and searching 'terminal.' You can also find it by going into your 'Applications' folder, then into the 'Utilities' folder. After opening it, type ' cd ' then drag in your minecraft server folder into the window. You then hit enter. After that, copy and paste this code: java -Xms1024M -Xmx1024M -jar craftbukkit.jar nogui . The first number is the minimum amount of RAM you want the server to be dedicated to. The second one is the maximum amount of RAM. The ' 1024 ' is equal to one gigabyte of RAM. The numbers are in megabytes. If you want the numbers to be in gigabytes, you simply change the 'M' after the number to 'G' (you will also have to change the '1024' to something like 1, 2, or 5). Hit enter when you finish, and then files should be generating.

Step 5.) Your server should be done. To stop simply type ' stop ' in the window. This will stop the server. If you are running craftbukkit, and install a plugin, then you need to restart the server. There are two ways of doing this. If the server is running, type ' reload ' in the window, and the plugins folder will reload. You can also stop then start your server.

Step 6.) Now you need to forward your port so other people can join your server. There are two ways to do that. First, you can download 'PortMap' (google search it). Afterwards, open it and click the '+' button at the bottom left hand corner. Change the local port to the port that is found in your Minecraft Server folder, then in your server.properties. The description could be whatever you want. Then click add mapping. The IP is the numbers that are shown at the top of the window, which are BOLD! If it can't find the router, then you need to do it manually, which is the second way. Type your routers ip in your browsers window. There you will need to enter your username and password to your router. When you do that, you will need to find port forwarding. Forward the port just like the first way.

Congrats! You now have your own server.

Part 2, Installing Plugins and Updating Your Server: www.planetminecraft.com/blog/instaling-plugins-for-craftbukkit-and-updating-your-server---part-2/
Part 3: www.planetminecraft.com/blog/hating-multiplayer-servers/