This repository contains scripts and configurations to launch a Minecraft server on the Akash blockchain. It can be easily configured with only changes to deploy.yaml, and supports any Minecraft version, including multiple modded server types.
The intention behind this project is to make it easy to deploy a Minecraft server on Akash with a single command. Scripts are included which automatically request a deployment, select and accept the cheapest bid, and provide a link to the running server and port. Reasonable defaults are configured for a vanilla server, but mod support is easy to activate with simple change of environment variables. All configuration takes place in one file at runtime - there's no need to build your own docker image, and making a change and redeploying it only takes a few seconds.
Akash is a blockchain-based distributed cloud computing platform that aims to cut the cost of on-demand cloud computing. This repository was created for a hackathon to showcase Akash's capabilities in a practical way.
The included scripts should run anywhere Bash is available and the below dependencies are met. Users can also use the deploy.yaml file directly with other Akash deployment clients as they become available, or deploy manually following the user guide.
A default vanilla configuration is provided - just clone this repository, and you can launch a Minecraft server on the blockchain immediately with just the ./deploy.sh command.
- akash CLI
- curl:
apt install curl - jq:
apt install jq - yq:
pip install yq
Prior to using the scripts, you need to create a wallet.
If you haven't ordered any Akash deployments before, you will also need to create a certificate.
Deployments are paid for with the AKT token. You can buy the token on various exchanges.
At the time of writing, you must have a minimum of 5AKT in your wallet - this is held in escrow for the duration of the deployment, and will be returned to you, minus the hosting costs you accrue.
Typical costs for running this Minecraft server with default settings, at the time of writing, are 8uAKT per block (uAKT = 1/1,000,000th of an AKT).
Execute with ./deploy.sh.
The script will verify all dependencies are present, and check that a suitable wallet exists; if more than one wallet is present on the system, it will prompt you to select the one you want to use. It does not attempt to verify that you have enough funds, so please make sure you have sufficient funding for the escrow process (see above), as well as gas fees for blockchain transactions and the deployment fees themselves.
The script downloads the latest list of nodes, and automatically selects the best one based on its ping time relative to you.
The script sends the deployment request to the blockchain, and gives you a dseq number - you can use this to manage the deployment manually without the script, or to close it down later.
The script automatically chooses the best bidder for the deployment - it waits a pre-defined amount of time, collects bids, and chooses the lowest bidder. If there is more than one bidder at the lowest price, it selects randomly between them.
The script then reports the address of the provider it's chosen, and sends the manifest. Once the manifest has been accepted, you get a report of the lease status.
The script then gives you a URL you can connect to with your Minecraft client, and share with your friends. Bear in mind it can take a minute or two for the server to spin up, once the lease has been created, so be patient if you can't connect immediately.
The script also generates akash commands for you to run if you want to get the Minecraft server logs, or the Kubernetes logs for the container.
The result of all transactions is verified by query commands after, so even if a transaction response gets lost due to a timeout or RPC error, the script (and the deployment) will continue and succeed.
Execute with ./close.sh.
A convenience wrapper to automatically find the last deployment you launched, and tell akash to close it (i.e. shut it down) immediately.
You do not need to use this to close a deployment - it is provided just as a convenience function. You can always just close down deployments manually as per the user guide, using the dseq number which was given to you by the deploy.sh script. Guidance for how to close a deployment manually: https://docs.akash.network/guides/deployment#close-your-deployment
Be careful - if you have launched other deployments since this Minecraft deployment, it will simply attempt to close the last one you launched.
The scripts can be run with various environment variables set for debugging purposes:
debug=true- will print out everyakashcommand the scripts are about to run, allowing you to duplicate the workflow or debug errors.dry_run=true- will only execute query commands, and will not commit anything to the blockchain. Use in conjunction withdebug=trueto see a dry run of a deployment - however, bear in mind that as the new deployment won't be committed to the blockchain, subsequent commands querying that deployment will fail - this is to be expected, and the script handles this gracefully. This setting is useful to enable to repeat a deployment attempt, after one has failed, to find out what went wrong (as it will dry-run against the last deployment of yours it finds).
Example commandline usage: debug=true dry_run=true ./deploy.sh
The simplest way to configure your Minecraft server is through environment variables; just edit deploy.yaml prior to deploying, looking at the env block: https://github.com/slowriot/akash_minecraft/blob/master/deploy.yaml#
The default variables are minimal:
- FORCE_REDOWNLOAD=true
- EULA=TRUE
- VERSION=latest
- SERVER_NAME=AkashMinecraft
- MEMORY=4G
- MAX_PLAYERS=10
If you wish to run a different version of the game, simply state the version in the VERSION=... variable. This can be set to LATEST, SNAPSHOT, or a numerical version such as 1.7.10.
Difficulty can be adjusted with settings like DIFFICULTY=hard, HARDCORE=true. Server name is self-explanatory. Op and whitelist players can be listed with OPS=user1,user2 and WHITELIST=user1,user2. The default maximum number of players is 20, if no value is specified in environment variables, and the default for this configuration is 10 to match the performance settings below - feel free to experiment with this. A full list of variabels can be found in the container's documentation at https://github.com/slowriot/docker-minecraft-server#server-configuration.
You can run a modded server by specifying TYPE=FORGE, TYPE=BUKKIT, TYPE=SPIGOT, TYPE=PAPER, etc. Mod packs can be added in different ways depending on the framework - for example, for Spigot use SPIGET_RESOURCES=9089,34315 where the numbers are resource IDs, and for Forge, Bukkit etc you can use MODPACK=http://www.example.com/mods/modpack.zip. For detailed instructions on managing mods, see the link to the Minecraft server container documentation at the end of this page.
Configuring the performance of the server can also be done by editing deploy.yaml prior to deploying. The default settings attempt to offer good performance while offering the cheapest costs, and should be adequate for up to 10 players. It is easy to adjust these settings for your particular needs.
If you want to adjust your memory usage - either to increase it in order to accomodate more players, or to reduce it in order to reduce deployment cost - you need to alter it in two places. By default, MEMORY=4G instructs the Minecraft server itself to use a maximum of 4GB of RAM, and memory: size: 5Gi specifies the maximum memory for the container it runs in. The memory for the container should always be larger than the memory configured for the game, but you can experiment with how big a gap you need between the two.
Default CPU usage is configured as 1.5 - that's one-and-a-half cores, which seems to work well for vanilla Minecraft, which at the time of writing is still largely single-threaded. If you find server performance could be better (for example if you are using a lot of redstone, or have a lot of mobs on the server), you may want to raise this - and the cost of the deployment may rise slightly as a result.
If you are an advanced user and would like to adjust JVM options directly, this is also possible with environment variables - see the JVM options documentation for more details.
For more detailed information on configuring the Minecraft docker image, including how to enable mod support, see the docker container's documentation at https://github.com/slowriot/docker-minecraft-server#readme. Wherever an environment variable is given with -e VARIABLE=VALUE, just insert VARIABLE=... under the env section of deploy.yaml.