Starting a server Season 1 - Introduction

Me and my friend decided to start a server. My friend, the nerd, knows how to set up a server. Myself, the noob, knows nothing about coding, but loves to build. In the upcoming series of projects I will share my creations with you, and tell you how we set up our server. Hopefully it will give you some tips and ideas on how to set up your server with some interesting builds!

Before we begin with step 1, we need to do some basic things off course:

• Find a nerd, find a noob - check ✓
  You need both, or you can be both. You need someone who knows how to run a server.
• Find a good server host - check ✓
  Look up information before you choose a hosting, compare prices, and compare server setups. You'll find out that the one you thought was cheap isnt the most cheapest one after all.
• Set up a basic server - check ✓
  We decided to choose a standard map for a spawn that was chosen throughout our server setup. At least people see a "decent" build when they connect. A glass box full of signs is depressing and claustrophobic and scares people away.
• Set up security - check ✓
  Since our visitors cant do anything yet, we secured our server with proper security plugins. We set up different ranks like Owner, Developer, Builder and some more but I forgot, I'm the noob remember!

Ok, we are set to go!

Starting a server Season 1 - Step 1: Creative Spawn

We used PlotSquared for the creative world. This is a useful plugin for setting up a creative world. Almost everything is automated and the commands players and admins can use are also to much for me to remember!
The build is 16 creative plots big, and placed on a 4x4 location. I took 4 plots in a square shape as the first stage, but quickly asked for a 4 by 4 plot area. Therefore 16 by 16. You still keeping up?

spAIreIf you want to enlarge your plots, do it before you build! Claiming the plots afterwards will implant the standard pathways and plotborders to every plot provided by the PlotSquared plugin. (It's a noob mistake that we've encountered)

For the build we wanted a 'open' spawn without little claustrophobic spots, thats why the build is pretty open and simple. We kept the floor leveld because of the creative world design. (flat with squares for plots) If you would like to see the finished creative spawn, you can go to the Step 1: Creative Spawn Project Page.

If you want more information on how we set up our server, reply to this message and we will give you all the information you need to get starting!

Step 2 of these series is currently under construction! And to let you in on a little secret, Step 2 is called "Server Spawn" and will be released when the build is finished!

Useful Links:
PlotSquared (bukkit)
Step 1: Creative Spawn Project Page (PMC)