This guide will show you how to host a minecraft server in a screen session on a linux box.

Note: You should NOT run the server as root! Create a special user for this, name it e.g. minecraft.

First, make sure you have java installed. If not, use your package-managment tool to install it, e.g.

aptitude install java5

Get the classic server package from minecraft.net & copy it to your server.

If you try to start the server with

java -cp minecraft-server.jar com.mojang.minecraft.server.MinecraftServer

, you may notice that your shell is blocked. If your user session is closed, the server is a well. To avoid this we’re gonna use screen. So first make sure screen is installed:

aptitude install screen

After that, start the server in a screen session:

screen -dmS minecraft java -cp minecraft-server.jar com.mojang.minecraft.server.MinecraftServer

You have to detach this screen session. To do this, press ctrl + a, d (for detach).

If you want to get an overview over running sessions, type

screen -list

To re-attach a running session, type

screen -r

Ok, the server is running.

Head over to the Isocraft guide to get a nice liveview of the map on your webseite.