Set up a Minecraft server

Stand up a Minecraft Bedrock dedicated server on a Quake AI instance. You configure security groups for SSH and game ports, install the server binary, and run it as a systemd service reachable from the internet.

Prerequisites#

• A Quake AI account with an active project
• An SSH key pair uploaded to your project (How to add an SSH key)
• An SSH client on your local machine

Windows users can use PuTTY or set up a Linux CLI environment.

Step 1: Create a security group#

Create a set of rules for a virtual firewall (called a security group) for data into and out of your network.

1. From the Cloud console, select Networks > Security Groups.
2. Select Create Security Group. In this example, you'll create a security group named SSHMinecraft.

Step 2. Add rules to the security group#

Create and add the rules that allow data ingress and egress for the firewall.

From the Security Groups screen, you'll create rules to enable:

• SSH access to the VM instance
• access to ports on the VM instance for the Minecraft server

Step 2.1 Add SSH access#

1. Select Create Rule from the SSHMinecraft security group.
2. Fill in the following fields:

• Protocol: SSH
• Direction: Ingress
• Ether Type: IPv4
• Source: All Traffic

Step 2.2 Add 1st Minecraft port#

1. Select Create Rule from the SSHMinecraft security group.
2. Fill in the following fields:

• Protocol: Custom UDP Rule
• Direction: Ingress
• Ether Type: IPv4
• Port Type: Custom
• Port: 19132
• Source: All Traffic

Step 2.3 Add 2nd Minecraft port#

1. Select Create Rule from the SSHMinecraft security group.
2. Fill in the following fields:

• Protocol: Custom UDP Rule
• Direction: Ingress
• Ether Type: IPv4
• Port Type: Custom
• Port: 19133
• Source: All Traffic

Step 3. Create VM instance#

Create a virtual machine (VM) instance.

1. Select Compute > Instances > Create Instance.
2. In the Base Config tab, fill in the following fields:
   • Name: my-server
   • Availability Zone: select the zone closest to your location
3. For Specification, select the Shared Resources tab, then select s1a.micro for the flavor. This is the smallest flavor available and a good pick to get started. If you decide you need to increase the performance of the VM, you can always change it later.

1. Select Ubuntu 24.04 for the operating system. Select Next: Network Config.

1. Select PublicEphemeral from the Public Networks tab. This option attaches your VM instance to a network that is accessible to the internet.

1. Select the security group you previously created (SSHMinecraft) to attach to the VM instance.
2. Select Next: System Config. For login type, select Keypair. For Keypair (the SSH keypair you'll use to access the VM instance), you can either add an existing SSH key or create a new one by selecting Create Keypair. See creating and using SSH keypairs for generating or importing keys before launch.

1. Select Next: Confirm Config to review your VM instance creation. Select Confirm.

1. Wait a few seconds until your VM instance changes to the Active state, and you see an IP address in the Fixed IP column. Note this IP: it is the address of your server in Minecraft and the address you SSH to for setup.

Step 4. Download the Minecraft server#

The Bedrock dedicated server ships as a .zip archive. This guide uses version 1.21.73.01. To find the current release, visit the Bedrock server download page and choose the Ubuntu server option. Downloading the server means you accept the Minecraft End User License Agreement.

You'll fetch the archive directly on the VM instance in Step 5, which avoids the browser download button. If you prefer to download through the browser, select Agree on the download page, then select Download to save the .zip archive to your local machine and transfer it in Step 5.

Step 5. Set up the Minecraft server on the VM instance#

1. Connect to the VM instance over SSH, then download the server archive. Replace YOUR_SERVER_IP with the VM instance IP address from the Fixed IP column on the Instances page.

ssh ubuntu@YOUR_SERVER_IP

Set the version, then fetch the archive with curl. The default wget user agent returns 403 Forbidden, so pass a browser user agent:

MINECRAFT_VERSION=1.21.73.01
curl --http1.1 -A 'Mozilla/5.0' -o ~/bedrock-server-${MINECRAFT_VERSION}.zip \
  "https://www.minecraft.net/bedrockdedicatedserver/bin-linux/bedrock-server-${MINECRAFT_VERSION}.zip"

If you downloaded the archive through the browser in Step 4, copy it from your local machine instead, then continue:

scp bedrock-server-1.21.73.01.zip ubuntu@YOUR_SERVER_IP:~/

1. Install unzip, extract the server into /opt/minecraft, and create the service account that runs it:

sudo apt -y update
sudo apt -y upgrade
sudo apt -y install unzip

sudo mkdir -p /opt/minecraft
sudo useradd minecraft
sudo unzip ~/bedrock-server-*.zip -d /opt/minecraft
sudo chown -R minecraft:minecraft /opt/minecraft

1. Create the systemd service. Run the following command to write the unit definition to /etc/systemd/system/minecraft.service:

sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/minecraft.service > /dev/null <<'EOF'
[Unit]
Description=MineCraft server
After=network.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/opt/minecraft/bedrock_server
Restart=always
User=minecraft
Environment=LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/minecraft
WorkingDirectory=/opt/minecraft

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

1. Reload systemd, then enable and start the service:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable minecraft
sudo systemctl start minecraft

1. Check the status of your server by running the following in the terminal.

sudo systemctl status minecraft

You'll see a message such as the one below, showing that the server is active.

ubuntu@my-server:~$ sudo systemctl status minecraft
● minecraft.service - MineCraft server
     Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/minecraft.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Tue 2025-04-15 16:52:35 UTC; 3s ago
   Main PID: 2599 (bedrock_server)
      Tasks: 14 (limit: 1111)
     Memory: 146.1M (peak: 146.4M)
        CPU: 1.323s
     CGroup: /system.slice/minecraft.service
             └─2599 /opt/minecraft/bedrock_server

Apr 15 16:52:37 my-server bedrock_server[2599]: [2025-04-15 16:52:37:399 INFO] IPv4 supported, port: 19132: Used for gameplay and LAN discovery
Apr 15 16:52:37 my-server bedrock_server[2599]: [2025-04-15 16:52:37:400 INFO] IPv6 supported, port: 19133: Used for gameplay
Apr 15 16:52:37 my-server bedrock_server[2599]: [2025-04-15 16:52:37:428 INFO] Server started.
Apr 15 16:52:37 my-server bedrock_server[2599]: [2025-04-15 16:52:37:429 INFO] ================ TELEMETRY MESSAGE ===================
Apr 15 16:52:37 my-server bedrock_server[2599]: [2025-04-15 16:52:37:429 INFO] Server Telemetry is currently not enabled.
Apr 15 16:52:37 my-server bedrock_server[2599]: [2025-04-15 16:52:37:429 INFO] Enabling this telemetry helps us improve the game.
Apr 15 16:52:37 my-server bedrock_server[2599]: [2025-04-15 16:52:37:429 INFO]
Apr 15 16:52:37 my-server bedrock_server[2599]: [2025-04-15 16:52:37:429 INFO] To enable this feature, add the line 'emit-server-telemetry=true'
Apr 15 16:52:37 my-server bedrock_server[2599]: [2025-04-15 16:52:37:429 INFO] to the server.properties file in the handheld/src-server directory
Apr 15 16:52:37 my-server bedrock_server[2599]: [2025-04-15 16:52:37:429 INFO] ======================================================
ubuntu@my-server:~$

1. Connect to your Minecraft server and start playing. For example, from the iPhone Minecraft edition, select Play, then Servers > Add Server. Give your server a name and add the IP address of your VM instance running your Minecraft server. Leave the default port of 19132.
2. Select Add Server.

1. Find your server from the list and select Play.

If you ever need to view your minecraft server logs, run the following command.

sudo journalctl -u minecraft

Clean up#

Stop the service, delete the instance from Compute > Instances, and remove the security group when you no longer need the server:

sudo systemctl stop minecraft
sudo systemctl disable minecraft