Server Owner Guide

🛡️ Server Owner Guide

Running Slimefun is closer to operating a modpack than installing a small utility plugin. The core, addons, data, protection plugins and automation systems form one ecosystem.

Recommended operating model

1. Maintain a staging server

Before a production upgrade, clone representative data and test the exact Paper, Java, Slimefun Legacy and addon versions you intend to deploy.

See Installation & Upgrades for the deployment sequence.

2. Keep a known-good plugin set

Archive the exact JARs from the last stable deployment. A backup is much more useful when you can reproduce the software that created it.

3. Version-control your configuration

Keep a copy of the configuration that produced each known-good deployment. When changing machine/network timing, research, radiation or stability settings, change one group at a time and document why.

See Server Configuration.

4. Treat addon changes as platform changes

An addon can register machines, recipes, storage types, schedulers and listeners. A core update can expose an addon bug, and an addon update can expose a core compatibility gap.

Use:

/sf versions
/sf doctor compatibility
/sf doctor dependencies

Read Addon Ecosystem before deploying a large addon stack.

5. Watch machine and storage health

Legacy includes safeguards for machine failures, storage/item repair, shutdown/write state and addon callback boundaries. Do not ignore repeated circuit-breaker or linkage warnings — they are usually evidence, not cosmetic noise.

6. Never use /reload

Use full restarts. Reloading a complex plugin ecosystem can leave tasks, inventories, listeners and addon state in unsafe combinations.

Production checklist

• Full backup completed and verified.
• Old core JAR removed; only one provider remains.
• Java version matches the supported runtime.
• Paper/Purpur line matches the release target.
• Server starts without unresolved hard dependencies.
• /sf doctor status is healthy.
• /sf doctor compatibility reviewed.
• /sf doctor dependencies reviewed.
• Guide and search tested.
• Backpack/storage tested.
• Cargo and an electric machine tested.
• Energy generation/storage tested under load.
• Protection behavior tested as a non-OP player.
• High-value addon machines tested.
• A short performance profile shows no new pathological hotspot.

Protection and claims

Do not assume Slimefun integration is correct because a machine works as an operator. Test normal players, claim boundaries, protected containers, Androids, special tools and entity interactions.

See Protection Plugins & Claims.

Performance practices

Slimefun performance problems are often local rather than global. When TPS or chunk performance changes, identify the world, chunk, machine class or addon involved instead of immediately removing the core.

Useful evidence includes:

• spark/Paper profiles;
• /sf timings;
• machine counts in the affected area;
• entity and armor-stand counts;
• Cargo complexity;
• addon ownership of failing items/machines;
• repeated stack traces;
• region/thread ownership on Folia.

The full workflow is in Server Performance.

Factory policy

Large public servers benefit from clear automation rules. Consider documenting expectations around:

• enormous Cargo/energy networks
• chunk loaders supplied by addons
• unattended reactors
• Android farms/mines
• high-speed machine arrays
• shared public factory infrastructure

The goal is not to ban automation; it is to prevent one uncontrolled build from becoming everyone else's performance problem.

See Factory Design Patterns for designs that are easier to operate and troubleshoot.

Folia

Folia remains experimental. Legacy routes a growing set of location/entity/machine work through owning schedulers, but cross-region Cargo/Energy behavior is intentionally conservative. Every addon must independently be Folia-safe.

If you want the least surprising production environment, use the primary Paper target.

Security and permissions

Keep cheat, debug, migration, repair, backpack-other and bypass permissions restricted to trusted operators. Review Commands & Permissions before delegating administrative access.

When reporting a security-sensitive issue, remove tokens, passwords and private server information from logs before sharing them.

Administrator quick links

Configuration · Performance · Protection · Addons · Doctor · Troubleshooting · Bug Reporting