Easily deploy and manage Minecraft servers with unrivalled flexibility and speed, thanks to our Docker images optimized for maximum elasticity.
Most Minecraft server images available on Docker are often frozen in time, rarely updated and limited in their flexibility to meet advanced user needs.
These standardized images do not always allow easy integration of crucial functions such as :
- advanced management via RCON
- data retrieval via the query protocol
- access to the Minecraft server terminal directly from the Docker terminal.
Our approach is based on the creation of optimized Docker images, offering unrivalled flexibility for an advanced user experience, enabling full exploitation of the Minecraft server's extensive functionality while guaranteeing regular updates for optimal security and performance.
Minecraft Server isn't based on an existing docker image, but was created from 2 elements essential to docker image creation:
- a short and precise dockerfile
- an entrypoint containing all functions to be executed when the image is launched
Minecraft server is initially based on the jammy ubuntu and bookworm-slim debian distribution, and then uses two main programs to manage the minecraft server:
- Screen to manage the terminal server integrated into the docker terminal
- openjdk-17-jdk-headless for launching and managing the mineraft server.
In a second step, the image downloads the minecraft server file from the mojang servers, exposes two ports corresponding to the rcon and server/query ports and finally copies and places the entrypoint at container startup.
Finally, when the container starts and executes the entrypoint, the minecraft server creates the files needed by the minecraft server, checks the integrity of the mojang .jar server file and finishes by launching the screen containing the minecraft server, while at the same time running a check that stops the container when the minecraft server is stopped or crashes.
You need to have docker desktop >= 4.15.0 or docker engine installed.
there are two ways to pull the minecraft server image :
- without tag, it will automatically download the latest vanilla version of minecraft
docker pull thorbeorndev/minecraftserver- with composed tag, the composed tag is separated into two parts, the distro and the minecraft version (list of tags in next section)
docker pull thorbeorndev/minecraftserver:spigot-1.12.2To start a container with our image, there's one main factor to take into account: environment variables (list of tags in next section) :
- without environment variables, booting without environment variables will keep the default boot values (2g RAM and QUERY/RCON disabled).
docker run --name minecraft -it -p 25565:25565 -p 25575:25575 thorbeorndev/minecraftserver
docker run --name minecraft -it -p 25565:25565 -p 25575:25575 thorbeorndev/minecraftserver:spigot-1.12.2- with environment variables, starting with environment variables will change the server parameters to match the expected value. example : server with rcon and query so 2G RAM for startup and 2G for execution
docker run --name minecraft -it \
-p 25565:25565 -p 25575:25575 \
-e xms=2G -e xmx=4G \
-e enablercon=true -e rconpassword="test" \
-e enablequery=true \
thorbeorndev/minecraftserver:vanilla-1.7.10pour cette derniere partie optionnel, nous allons monter un volume entre le server et le container afin d'acceder au fichier server pour modifier des fichiers etc.
Caution
avant de commencer il faut prendre en compte le fait que les fichiers seront supprimer du container puis reécrit sur le volume partager
Important
Some server properties can't be changed from the server.properties file because the environment variables override any changes made to the file (example: the environment variables indicates that the query is enabled; if you disable the query in the server.properties file, it will be changed the next time you restart). Here are the properties that need to be changed in environment variables:
- enable-query
- enable-rcon
- rcon.password
Tip
In accordance with the environment variables section, you can retain full control of the server from the server.properties file by using the environment variables.
-e enableServerPropertiesFile=true
the minecraft server image is used to create minecraft server containers. To choose the server version we use a compound tag, i.e. we can choose the server type such as vanilla, spigot etc. and choose the game version such as 1.2.5, 1.7.10 etc.
to pull a specific image we use the following image with the compound tag : thorbeorndev/minecraftserver:xx-yy
xx -> corresponds to server distribution (vanilla, spigot etc).
yy -> corresponds to the server version (1.2.5, 1.7.10, etc.).
| Available distribution | Compatible version |
|---|---|
| vanilla | - 1.2.5 - 1.3.x - 1.4.x - 1.5.x - 1.6.x - 1.7.x - 1.8.x - 1.9.x - 1.10.x - 1.11.x - 1.12.x - 1.13.x - 1.14.x - 1.15.x - 1.16.x - 1.17.x - 1.18.x - 1.19.x - 1.20-1.20.3 |
| spigot | - 1.4.6-1.4.7 - 1.5.x - 1.6.2 - 1.7.2 - 1.7.5 - 1.7.8-1.7.10 - 1.8 - 1.8.3-1.8.8 - 1.9 - 1.9.2 - 1.9.4 - 1.10 - 1.10.2 - 1.11.x - 1.12.x - 1.13.x - 1.14.x - 1.15.x - 1.16.1-1.16.5 - 1.17.1 - 1.18.2 - 1.19.x - 1.20-1.20.3 |
| craftbukkit | - 1.0.0 - 1.1 - 1.2.2-1.2.5 - 1.3.x - 1.4.2 - 1.4.5-1.4.7 - 1.5.x - 1.6.x - 1.7.2 - 1.7.5 - 1.7.8-1.7.10 - 1.8 - 1.8.3-1.8.8 - 1.9 - 1.9.2 - 1.9.4 - 1.10 - 1.10.2 - 1.11.x - 1.12.x - 1.13.x - 1.14.x - 1.15.x - 1.16.1-1.16.5 - 1.20.1-1.20.2 |
| paper | - 1.8.8 - 1.9.4 - 1.10.2 - 1.11.2 - 1.12.x - 1.13.x - 1.14.x - 1.15.x - 1.16.1-1.16.5 - 1.17.x - 1.18.x - 1.19.x - 1.20-1.20.2 - 1.20.4 |
| fabric | - 1.14.x - 1.15.x - 1.16.x - 1.17.x - 1.18.x - 1.19.x - 1.20-1.20.4 |
| forge | - 1.6.1-1.6.2 - 1.7.2 - 1.7.10 - 1.8 - 1.8.8-1.8.9 - 1.9 - 1.9.4 - 1.10 - 1.10.2 - 1.11 - 1.11.2 - 1.12.x - 1.13.2 - 1.14.2-1.14.4 - 1.15.x - 1.16.1-1.16.5 - 1.17.1 - 1.18.x - 1.19.x - 1.20-1.20.2 |
Environment variables are used to manage the server's main functions, such as RAM or enabled protocols.
Here's a table showing the key/value of each environment variable and their description
| Environment variable | Possible value | Default value | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| enablequery | true/false | false | The Query protocol is a mechanism for querying a Minecraft server for information on its status, connected players, game statistics and more. It works by using specific UDP requests sent to the Minecraft server. |
| enablercon | true/false | true/false | RCON is a communication protocol for remote management and control of a Minecraft server. It offers a secure way of sending commands to the server, reading console output and even interacting with certain aspects of the server without being directly connected to it. |
| rconpassword | true/false | true/false | The RCON protocol is password-protected, ensuring that only authorized users can interact with the server console. |
| enableServerPropertiesFile | true/false | true/false | Bypasses other environment variables except RAM and lets the server be managed by the server.properties file. |
| xms | xG/xM (x is integer) | xG/xM (x is integer) | Maximum RAM used at startup |
| xmx | xG/xM (x is integer) | xG/xM (x is integer) | Maximum RAM used during execution |
- container with only rcon and 2G RAM for startup and 4G for execution
docker run --name minecraft -it \
-p 25565:25565 -p 25575:25575 \
-e xms=2G -e xmx=4G \
-e enablercon=true -e rconpassword="test" \
thorbeorndev/minecraftserver:xx-yy- container with only query
docker run --name minecraft -it \
-p 25565:25565 -p 25575:25575 \
-e enablequery=true \
thorbeorndev/minecraftserver:xx-yy- container with the server.properties file manage the server configuration.
docker run --name minecraft -it \
-p 25565:25565 -p 25575:25575 \
-e enableServerPropertiesFile=true \
-v /absolute/path/to/folder:/minecraft \
thorbeorndev/minecraftserver:xx-yywe can change the minecraft server's listening ports using the -p option, which allows us to remap the container's internal ports to accessible external ports.
by default, we use :
- 25565 for query and server ports
- 25575 for the RCON port
Important
If the ports are changed in the server.properties file, they will have to be changed in the mapping from internal to external ports. example:
- server port is 25566 QUERY port is 25567 RCON port is 25568
then we have : -p 25566:25566 -p 25567:25567 -p 25568:25568