How To Use Microsoft Azure To Host A Minecraft Server

If you've ever been interested, here is a way to set up your own Minecraft Server using Microsoft Azure. Depending on what you use to play Minecraft, such as Windows 10 PCs or Macs, there are many reasons why you might choose to use Microsoft Azure to host Minecraft Servers instead of your own.

Here's a short list:

- Choose a preconfigured Minecraft virtual machine that you can launch from the Azure Marketplace. There is no installation required. - Select from a variety of VM sizes to meet both your cost and performance requirements. You can choose between limiting your home network access and exposing your home network network to the internet by running a server on your personal machine. Avoid hardware costs by only purchasing a virtual machine when you use it. You can then shut it down when it is not. Whitelist trusted players to connect anywhere without the need for firewalls or port forwarding. - Freedom from worry about losing data to hardware failure with disks backed by Azure Storage Service. - If you do damage to the entire machine, it is no big deal. Simply delete it and create another. You can always start over if you back up your entire world.

Now that you understand the benefits of Azure, let us take a look at how to set-up your Minecraft Server.

1. Set up a Mojang profile and purchase Minecraft. These are necessary to play Minecraft and for setting up a Minecraft Server.

2. Get a Microsoft Azure account. There's a free trial, plus some free credits for your first month on Microsoft Azure.

3. Select the Minecraft Server Virtual Machine from the Azure Marketplace.

4. Click "Create Virtual Machine".

5. Next, log into your Microsoft Azure Account and click on "Create".

6. Here, you'll have to do some important configuration steps (some are optional):

Choose a name and upload an ssh key to access your server.

7. Click "Create", and Azure will create your Minecraft Server. (This may take several minutes so wait!

8. Once that's done your Minecraft server is ready. In order to connect to your server in Minecraft, use the URL and Port 25565 like this: Minecraftservername.cloudapp.net:25565

9. You might receive an error message telling to update your Minecraft server if Minecraft is not up-to-date. Update your Minecraft Server with the most recent version. It's time for

10. You can log into your server to update and manage other settings using SSH (available only on Linux or Mac), or PuTTY (available only on Windows). Windows 10's Anniversary Update will include SSH and Bash.

11. After logging into your Minecraft server with you username and password, go to the folder of your Minecraft Server "cd /srv/minecraft_server".

12. Use CURL to download the latest Minecraft server version. Currently, this would be "sudo curl -remote-name ttps://s3.amazonaws.com/Minecraft.Download/versions/1.10/minecraft_server.1.10.jar". This is the link to download the latest server version.

13. While in the correct folder, you can update the ops.json file so you have the correct permissions to modify the game while you are logged into our server. You can edit the file by using nano: "sudo nu ops.json". You can edit the file as shown below by using your Minecraft username. To find your Minecraft unique ID, click here

[ "uuid": "uuid", "name": "minecraft_username", "level": 4 ]

14. You can now save the file. Save the file by using "CTRL + o" and exit Nano using "CTRL + x". You can also edit your "server.properties" file in order to further manage different configuration settings on your server. More information about Minecraft server properties can found on the Minecraft Wiki.

15. In order to use the current version of Minecraft Server that you downloaded, you need to edit the service configuration using Nano like this: "sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/minecraft-server.service". You will need to reference the new version of the Minecraft Server here (see below).

16. All you need to do now is to save the file and exit Nano.

17. Next, stop the Minecraft Server service and restart it. You may also need to reload the systemd state before using "systemctl daemon-reload". To restart the service, you can run "systemctl start minecraft-server".

18. It may take up to a minute for the service to restart after you have restarted it. You can then restart the service in your Minecraft client.

19. Hooray! Congratulations!

For more information or assistance with error messages and problems, visit the Minecraft Wiki "Setting up servers" for additional information. The Minecraft Wiki provides helpful information on managing and configuring Minecraft server configuration settings.