Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Tip:
Host With the Most
Ifhostingwithyourownhardwaredoesn'tappealforsecurityorotherreasons,but
youstillhavetheurgetoshareaworldforcollaborativecreationorotherwise,con-
sider using a paid hosting provider. There are numerous providers online who spe-
cialize in Minecraft hosting and will provide youwith all youneed, including con-
figuration and customization tools.
Mcprohosting.com
starts for as little as $2.50
per month for five players.
At this point you should have a server running on your local network, but you'll need its
IP address to connect. The IP is the address on your local network, usually looking like
192.168.0.
x
or 90.0.0.
x
, where x is the final IP number assigned to your computer.
Discovering the IP depends on the server's operating system. On Windows you'll find it
under the network card or wi-fi connection in the Network and Sharing Center in the Con-
trol Panel. Select the active connection and click
Details
to see the IP address. On OS X,
open
SystemPreferences...
undertheApplemenu,click
Network
andthentheactivecon-
nection. You will see the IP address under the Status line in the right-panel of the window.
If you're using Linux, I'm just going to go right ahead and assume you already know how
to discover the address.
Connect to the server using the same steps as connecting to a multiplayer server using the
IP address as the Server Address in the Add Server window.
Opening the server up to the broader world requires a few more steps, and it is not without
its risks as you'll have to expose your server through the firewall to the untethered wilds
of the Internet. I can't provide specific steps as this is all about router configuration, and
they're all different, but here are some pointers that should help:
1.
Assign a permanent local IP to your server. You want to ensure, for example, that
if your server is addressed on your local network as 192.168.0.4, that it stays that
way. Typically IP addresses are dynamically assigned within the local network, but
if your router supports IP reservation then you can use the MAC address of the
server to assign a permanent local address.
2.
Use the router's port forwarding to send all traffic it receives on port 25565 to the
server's local IP address.
3.
In almost all cases, your Internet provider assigns you a dynamic IP address—an
address that can change without notice. Static IP addresses cost extra, sometimes
hundreds of dollars, so I'd recommend using a dynamic DNS service instead. I
prefer dyndns.org, but there are many available. A dynamic IP ensures that you or
others can reach the server from anywhere with a standard address such as “mc-
