Minecraft Server via Docker

30 Dec, 2024

Most of us enjoy playing games - For the most part.
Sometimes having a dedicated game server is a really cool thing.
So let’s host a vanilla Minecraft server via Docker and have some fun!

Getting Docker

There are two ways in which one can deploy Docker. Option number one is to get it directly from the official Docker repo for Debian/Ubuntu (Or other distros). There is nothing against going that route. I just personally prefer to use the version of Docker already shipped in the Debian repos.

Installing Docker and all the needed tools is simply done via apt in my case.

$ sudo apt install docker.io docker-compose

NOTE: We are going to use a compose file to set up the container - That is why we need the compose plugin.

You now have Docker installed - so far so good!
To being able to use Docker I’d strongly suggest you create a dedicated user and add it to the docker group.
This is not needed in general - but I like to run containers under a unprivileged user if I can (YMMV).

Whatever you decide on, you need to add the user in question to the docker group.

$ sudo gpasswd -a $USER docker

NOTE: Be sure to logout and back in if the user in question is the same you use currently for the group membership to take effect!

Preparing the compose file

Deploying a Minecraft server is quite simple. First we need to create a compose file and alter it’s contents to our needs.
This is the compose file I currently use on my own server in my homelab.

services:
  mc:
    image: itzg/minecraft-server:latest
    container_name: seven-minecraft
    tty: true
    stdin_open: true
    ports:
      - "25565:25565"
    environment:
      UID: 2000
      GID: 2000
      EULA: "TRUE"
      TYPE: "VANILLA"
      MOTD: "Seven Minecraft Server"
      MODE: "survival"
      MEMORY: "4G"
      MAX_PLAYERS: 2
      TZ: "Europe/Berlin"
    volumes:
      - /srv/minecraft:/data
    networks:
      - minecraft_net

networks:
  minecraft_net:
    name: vbr0
    external: true

SETTINGS:

image: The used Minecraft container image itself (Latest Tag)
container_name: Chose a name that makes sense for your container
UID: The UID of my user
GID: The GID of my user
EULA: Set this to TRUE to accept the EULA
TYPE: The type of server you want. I go with the default Vanilla server
MOTD: Message of the day
MODE: Set the desired mode
MEMORY: I limit this to 4GB - Change this to your needs
MAX_PLAYERS: Set the desired number of players you want on the server
TZ: Set your timezone here

Volumes designate where the data of the container is stored. I use /srv usually for all my containers. Make sure you set this to the location you desire.

Also, the network settings need to be altered to what you acutally want/need - Don’t blindly copy everything from the example!

All set and done, let’s fire up the container in the next step.

Running the container

Since we now have docker installed and ready to use it is time to start the container.

$ sudo -u service docker-compose up -d

Or if you don’t want to run as another user

$ docker-compose up -d

Docker will now pull all the images and create the container we’ve just asked it to build.
True magic!

Pulling mc (itzg/minecraft-server:latest)...
latest: Pulling from itzg/minecraft-server
de44b265507a: Pull complete
8b2aca828e42: Pull complete
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41bf705101c0: Pull complete
749d4fc208c3: Pull complete
Digest: sha256:8decd4eea622aa12a5194af5781fff431be22dfb5aa04b05dc4b2be54693594a
Status: Downloaded newer image for itzg/minecraft-server:latest
Creating seven-minecraft ... done

Alright, that is done. Let’s continue to connect to the server.

Minecraft all the way

The only thing left to do is to actually start the Minecraft client and connect to the server.
Start your Minecraft client and go over to multiplayer in the menu.

Minecraft Multiplayer

In here you need to set the IP adress or DNS name of your server and a name. In this example I connect over to my Debian mini pc with the IP 10.0.5.50 and I gave it the name of “Seven Minecraft”.
After that is done you can connect to the server in question.

Minecraft Server selection

Once you are connected you can check the server logs to verify that all went well - Or if you just want to check out the log the server writes.

$ sudo -u service docker logs seven-minecraft

Or without a specific user

$ docker logs seven-minecraft

Minecraft Server selection

You can see my local IP from which I connected to the server. Also, you can spot that I’ve disconnected not soon after.
The logs provide useful information which is a good thing to look at from time to time - also when troubleshooting of course.

The journey begins

I’m not kidding you, this is were all your Minecraft related adventures begin!
You now have a local Minecraft server running under Docker which you can customize and tweak to your needs. Check out the following resources to learn more:

There are plenty more options and also you can run a different Minecraft server altogether. Check the given sites and have fun playing around.

there is only one more thing to say…

Stay Open!

#Debian #Ubuntu #Minecraft #Docker #Compose #Stack #Server #Gaming