I want to setup a minecraft server for our family - any recommandations? #minecraft #server #lazytröt
That wonderful age old response to technical questions with subtle parts: "It Depends."
You don't indicate much on your profile, which is fine, but it's the first place I looked to guess your technical skill.
Presuming you have no skill, no resources, and *ONLY* want to kick something around like a private LAN game for a couple of days...
You can start running a game (on Java) and use "Open to LAN", others on your home LAN can start playing RIGHT NOW, and you don't have to spend any money or do anything. But that's only cool if "family" means "sitting with me in my living room."
If you are using Bedrock, they don't even have to be in your home. I'm "XBox Friends" with my young nephew, and he and I can play on one another's games from across the country so long as that game is being played. If he closes it down, I'm "kicked" from the game he's playing, of course. It's very "I don't have to do anything."
#MinecraftRealms is a safe bet to just get started NOW playing among family in your home. Either Bedrock or Java, for a low price you can have up to 10 players at a time enjoying a game that's up all the time, as long as you pay.
As you have more detailed requirements *AND* resources, the "recommendations" change, but without info it's really hard to anticipate.
In my case, I can compile JAVA so I'm using the following:
https://extravm.com/minecraft.php, a hosting provider that does NOT hold your hand like other providers, but is less expensive and I can do my own hand-holding anyway. It's paid for by a friend who plays with us, but otherwise trusts me to handle all the support questions.
#SpigotMC, a "server binary" that takes the Official Java Code and makes alterations to it to better support the needs of a server.
#GeyserMC, (A mod, known as a plugin) allows my nephew playing Bedrock to connect to my Spigot Java server. My wife will be spending a month with her adult daughter, and without a PC this will also be her way to use her Android pad to connect to the game and play on it, if she wishes.
I update the Spigot version... from time to time there are bug-fixes that should be done to the version I run. I do that on my local machine and upload it to ExtraVM. I also make backups, and I can verify those backups work on my machine at home.
I *can*, and I *have* run Spigot on a "headless" (no video) machine at home, but it performs better on ExtraVM, and besides... Comcast really frowns upon that. Don't tell them, though. People I allowed could connect to it from the outside, but you *really* have to have expertise to do it securely. ExtraVM just makes all that fuss go away.
So that's a sketchy overview of what's possible, but without more info on 1) your expertise, 2) your resources, 3) what exactly it is you want to do... Java only? Bedrock Only? Mixed? People not living under your roof? ... Without more info, it's really hard to say.
But I'm here, and I'd be happy to help.
@Romaq One goal is to play #Minecraft together -obvious. And the other goal ist to build together the server with the kids - learning something about computers while having fun.
We currently looked at two other options:
Our first option for now is to create a VM with a Java oder Bedrock Server on Google Cloud - just for the moments we ware playing. The other option is to use Single Board Computer, maybe a Banana Pi in our home network as the Minecraft Server.
Good! It sounds like you have technical expertise, which is your most critical resource. That, and your interest in learning to grow your expertise.
To "build" my Spigot server (I think also true of code forks from Spigot such as PaperMC) I go to the directory on my Windows machine, I right-click inside the directory and select "Git Bas Here" and I drop to a MINGW64 prompt... a way to run "*NIX-like" on Windows. I'm at a "$" prompt, I curser up twice to bring back this one line: "$ java -jar BuildTools.jar --rev 1.19.2"
That's it. BuildTools.jar handles the rest. I just sit & wait for the server to rebuild to the latest update pulled from GIT.
The result for me is "spigot-1.19.2.jar". I transfer that file to ExtraVM while shutting my existing server down and making a backup. They use http://www.multicraft.org/ which is a web based "server manager". It lets them manage multiple servers and it an interface for JUST the server I manage, including options to start and stop it without having to deal with command line (and exposing their system to a shell).
If you are only doing this on a "headless" machine, you *should* be using sftp out-of-habit, but you do *NOT* need multicraft. In my opinion, it just adds another layer of "something I have to deal with," although it is an option if you wish to kick the tires, as it were.
I download my backup and rename "java17.jar" (the old binary) to "java17.jar~", then "spigot-1.19.2.jar" to "java17.jar" which is how Multicraft knows to trigger Java17 on the host... and let it run.
All that's Java. If everyone is happy with Bedrock, they won't know what they are missing and won't care. You can run https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/download/server/bedrock without any of that complexity. What you get is all you're going to get, but it's enough. You don't get plugins like with Spigot and such, but then you don't have the flexibility of using data packs like you can download with https://vanillatweaks.net/ (works also with base Java Server) or plugins (Only Spigot & forks of it) like you find here: https://www.spigotmc.org/resources/
You CAN use SOME Bedrock addons, but paid resource packs are tied to YOUR account and won't work on a Bedrock server. Special Bedrock Maps and such? I don't know. Someone else might clarify more. Spigot has a far higher confidence factor of "I have control, I do what I want."
https://geysermc.org/ lets you have a mixed Bedrock/ Java environment. It does have "stuff you have to know and do", but THAT is something that isn't a big deal. If you can run Spigot, you can deal with Geyser.
As far as either a VM on Google Cloud or a Pi in your home network, it depends on how you wish to limit your exposure. If it's only "family in my LAN," I think having a headless machine will provide more long-term usefulness and "I don't have to constantly pay for this." My wife and I also play Valheim, Ark: Survival Evolved, and Foundry: Virtual Table-Top (FVTT). NOT all at the same time. I don't have to pay or maintain what I'm not dealing with right now. I know my machines and I know what I want to do with them. I *AM* sysadmin. There isn't anyone to deal with, and I don't want to deal with anyone else. If you are of that mindset, the Pi may be the better option. Choose accordingly.
