Server Tutorial

hello everyone,
It's proeskoet.

Today I'm going to tell you how to host a server and everything you need to know before making one. It is my purpose to tell you all the essentials of starting a server aswell as the more advanced stuff.

I myself have a server called proescraft. If you want to know more about this server, be sure to visit the planetminecraft page of it here: http://www.planetminecraft.com/server/proescraft-1917315/

so, what do you need to start a server? Well, the first thing is a host.

1) Server Host

The server host is probably the most obvious thing you need to start a server.
There are 2 ways to go if you want to host a server:

1.1 home hosting:
Home hosting is the cheapest way of going plus, you have full acces to the server. The downside to it is that you are vunerable for DDOS attacks. And believe me, If you are starting to get a reputeble server, you'll get DDOSed wich could break your internet for a couple of hours. So it's not the smartest idea to do this.

If you however choose to host your server by yourself, you need to open your ports for people to acces your server. You can find more information about that here: http://www.planetminecraft.com/blog/how-to-port-forward-your-minecraft-server-windows/

1.2 renting a server:
Renting a server is probably the best way to go. You need to make some research to find a server hosting company that suits your needs. I personally use serverminer (www.serverminer.com/) It's not the only hosting company out there but for me personally, it was the best.
If you want to find other hosting companies, I recommend reading this article on the bukkit forums: http://forums.bukkit.org/threads/server-host-guide.199884/ .

there is also a third option: dedicated servers. but chances are high that you won't need that and that it is too expensive for you.

2)Building a spawn

The next thing you'll want to do is to build a spawn. There are no real rules about this but keep in mind that new players will see this first. Make sure that the spawn represents your server correctly.

It is also a good idea to give the players information about the server. Make that information inavoidable.

3) Plugins

The next thing you'll want to do is installing plugins. These will protect your server against griefers and hackers aswell as making the server enjoyable for everyone to play on.
First you'll need to install bukkit (or spigot if you want).
you can find a guide for that here: http://wiki.bukkit.org/Setting_up_a_server (please note that some server hosting companies have another way of installing bukkit. contact them for that.)

after that, you'll need to find some plugins. These plugins depend on what kind of server you want to make. You can find plugins here: http://plugins.bukkit.org/
To install them, just drag the *.jar files into the /plugins folder

The plugins that i recommend and use are:

Essentials basic commands and world management
CoreProtect Griefing rollbacks without lag
WorldEdit A building tool, needed for WorldGuard
WorldGuard World management, to create protected areas etc.
Vault An economy API (to link essentials economy to other plugins)
NoCheatPlus Cheating and Hacking protection
ChestShop User managed ChestShops
PermissionsEx A plugin for permission management (we'll get to that later)

before you install a plugin, be sure to read the documentation about it.

4) Permissions and ranks

The next thing you want to do is setting up the permissions. This is a painfull process and requires a lot of testing. if you want to make this process faster, you should ask a friend to test everything.

setting up the permissions:
permissions restrict players from using certain commands and allow you to make groups.

the first thing you want to do is adding your owner rank so that you have acces to all the commands
to do that type these commands in the console (i use permissionsEx if you use another permission system read the guide of that plugin):

/pex group owner add * --> this command will create the group owner aswell as giving you all the commands
/pex user [yourusername] group set owner --> this command will make you the owner

note: everything between [ ] should be replaced with what's in between them, do not type the [ ] in there

if you want to set a prefix (the text before your username) you can do that with this command (you need essentials chat for this):

/pex group owner prefix [prefix here]

you can use colors with minecraft color codes (google them)

then it is time to create the default group. this is the group where new players will join in.

/pex group default add modifyworld.* --> this command allows players to interact with block, chat, etc
/pex group default add [insert nodes here] --> insert the node of a command here.

wait, what is that node thing?
well, every command in the game has a so called node. you can find the nodes of every command on the plugin documentations. Most of the time the nodes are build up like this: pluginname.commandname

You can also use a * for a list of commands. for example: essentials.* would add all the commands of the essentials plugin.

if you want to give someone permissions for everything, give him permission for *

you can also add negative nodes, that looks like this: -pluginname.commandname
these remove that command if you've already added the command in a list.

for example:

essentials.*
-essentials.spawn

--> you would be able to do all the essentials commands except for /spawn

If you're ready, you should do this for all the groups that you want to create.
Do not forget to create a prefix for these groups using

/pex group prefix [prefixhere]

now, how do i rank someone?
type this in the chat:

/pex user [username of te person you want to rank] group set [groupname]

there is much more to permissions but i just want to help you with getting the server working.
if you want to learn more about permissions, read the plugin documentiation.

5) protecting spawn, adding pvp areas, ... WorldGuard

the next thing you want to do is to protect the spawn and other worldguard settings.
to make a spawn protection type:

//wand --> yes 2 /

now you'll get a wooden axe. select the 2 oppsosite corners and then type

//expand vert

this will make sure that you selected the region between the lowest and the highest block in minecraft (air is also considered a block)

next, type this in the chat:

/region define spawn

this will define the selected region as "spawn". and it's already protected.

if you want to make a pvp arena, you should do these steps again (but instead of /region define spawn, you do region define pvparena or something like that) and then type the following commands:

/region flag pvparena pvp allow --> allows pvp in the region called pvparena
/region flag __global__ pvp deny --> denies pvp in the rest of the world
/region flag pvparena greeting you are entering a pvp arena --> this notifies players when they enter the pvp arena
note: pvp must be disabled for this to work

there are much more things you can do with the worldguard flags. you can find more information on the wiki page of worldguard.

if you want to disable tnt and creeper explosions using worldguard, you can do that in the options file in your plugins/worldguard folder.

(tip, edit these thing with notepad++ instead of just notepad)

reload your server when you're done.

6) staff

you can't be online all the time so you'll need to find staff. the best way to find staff is to ask your friends that play minecraft. Be sure that they act mature and that they know the plugins. if not, learn them to use them. set some rules in your staff about how to act against players. ex: how to act against users, when to help and not help the users, item spawning (i recommend you don't spawn items), wat to do with people that violate the rules,...

7) Advertising the server

now, you are ready to make your server public. you'll need to advertise the server.
The best way to advertise your server is using forums like the minecraftforum or server lists like the server section of planetminecraft.

If you put the banner of your server in your signature, people will definatly notice it.

beware: if you post your server IP somewhere, griefers and advertisers will join. Ban them immidiatly. they don't plan to play on your server.

be sure to post pictures that make people want to join the server.

youtube a good place to advertise aswell. but be sure you don't make yourself look like a spammer.