Minecraft Server Control Script

A powerful command-line control script for UNIX and Linux powered Minecraft servers.

Index

• Features
• Installation
• Usage
• Server Customization
• License
• Issues

Features

• Run multiple Minecraft worlds.
• Start, stop, and restart single or multiple worlds.
• Create, delete, disable, and enable worlds.
• Includes support for additional server types: Forge, BungeeCord, SpigotMC, etc.
• Users automatically notified of important server events.
• Uses the Minecraft Query protocol to keep track of current server conditions.
• LSB and systemd compatible init script, allows for seamless integration with your server's startup and shutdown sequences.
• Map worlds using the Minecraft Overviewer mapping software.
• Backup worlds, and remove backups older than X days.
• Update the server and client software automatically.
• Send commands to a world server from the command line.

See the Usage section below for a description on how to use these features.

Installation

Download

You can download the script from the following locations:

• Get a zip file:

    wget https://github.com/sandain/MinecraftServerControlScript/archive/master.zip
  

• Make a clone of the git repository:

    git clone https://github.com/sandain/MinecraftServerControlScript.git
  

Configuration

To get your server to run the script on startup, and cleanly down the server on shutdown, the mscs script must be copied to /usr/bin, have its execute permissions set, and the system must be instructed to use the script on startup and shutdown. For Bash programmable completion support, the mscs.completion script must be copied to /etc/bash_completion.d. For security reasons, the script uses a user account named minecraft rather than root and the account must be created before the script is used.

This can all be done automatically with the included Makefile in Debian and Ubuntu like environments by running:

sudo make install

You can manually add the minecraft user and install the script with the following commands:

sudo adduser --system --group --home /opt/mscs --quiet minecraft
sudo install -m 0755 mscs /usr/bin/mscs

To manually link the script to your server's startup and shutdown sequences when using systemd (ie. Ubuntu 15.04+):

sudo install -m 0644 mscs.service /lib/systemd/system/mscs.service
sudo systemctl -f enable mscs.service

To manually link the script to a server using a SysV-style init system (or something compatible like Upstart in Ubuntu 14.10):

sudo ln -s /usr/bin/mscs /etc/init.d/mscs
sudo update-rc.d mscs defaults

To manually add Bash Completion support:

sudo install -m 0644 mscs.completion /etc/bash_completion.d/mscs

The Minecraft server software will be automatically downloaded to the following location on the first run:

/opt/mscs/server/

EULA

As of Minecraft version 1.7.10, Mojang requires that users of their software read and agree to their EULA. After you have read through the document, you need to modify the eula.txt file in your world's folder, changing the value of the eula variable from false to true.

#By changing the setting below to TRUE you are indicating your agreement to our EULA (https://account.mojang.com/documents/minecraft_eula).
eula=true

Requirements

We've made an attempt to utilize only features that are normally installed in most Linux and UNIX environments in this script, but there are a few requirements that this script has that may not already be in place:

• Java JRE - The Minecraft server software requires this.
• Perl - Most, if not all, Unix and Linux like systems have this preinstalled.
• Python - Required by the Minecraft Overviewer mapping software.
• GNU Wget - Allows the script to download software updates via the internet.
• rdiff-backup - Allows the script to efficiently run backups.
• Socat - Allows the script to communicate with the Minecraft server.
• Iptables - Although not explicitly required, a good firewall should be installed.

If you are running Debian or Ubuntu, you can make sure that these are installed by running:

sudo apt-get install default-jre perl python wget rdiff-backup socat iptables

Mapping Software

The script uses the Minecraft Overviewer mapping software to generate maps of your worlds. Minecraft Overviewer is a command-line tool for rendering high-resolution maps of Minecraft worlds. It generates a set of static html and image files and uses the Google Maps API to display a nice interactive map.

You can download premade binaries for supported systems, or build your own binary from source if needed.

Repositories for automatic installation are also available:

• Debian/Ubuntu
• RHEL/CentOS/Fedora

Firewall / NAT

If you have a firewall installed on your computer, or a router using NAT installed in your network, you will need to route some ports to your server. Instructions on how to accomplish this are beyond the scope of this post, but here are some things you will need to know:

• The default port for the Minecraft server is: 25565.
• If you wish to run multiple world servers using this script, you will want to open a range of ports (for example 25565 - 25575).

See the iptables.rules file for a very basic set of rules that you can use with the Iptables firewall.

Usage

Permissions

All commands below assume that you are running them as either the minecraft user or as root (through sudo).

Note: If the script is run as the root user, all important server processes will be started using the minecraft user instead for security purposes.

sudo mscs [option]

Options

• start [world]

  Start the Minecraft world server. Start all worlds by default.

• stop [world]

  Stop the Minecraft world server. Stop all worlds by default.

• force-stop [world]

  Forcibly stop the Minecraft world server. Forcibly stop all worlds by default.

• restart [world]

  Restart the Minecraft world server. Restart all worlds by default.

• force-restart [world]

  Forcibly restart the Minecraft world server. Forcibly restart all worlds by default.

• create [world] [port] [ip]

  Create a Minecraft world server. The world name and port must be provided, the IP address is usually blank.

• delete [world]

  Delete a Minecraft world server.

• disable [world]

  Temporarily disable a world server.

• enable [world]

  Enable a disabled world server.

• list [option]

  Display a list of worlds. Options:

  • enabled

    Display a list of enabled worlds, default.

  • disabled

    Display a list of disabled worlds.

  • running

    Display a list of running worlds.

  • stopped

    Display a list of stopped worlds.

• status [world]

  Display the status of the Minecraft world server. Display the status of all worlds by default.

• broadcast [command]

  Broadcast a command to all running Minecraft world servers.

• send [world] [command]

  Send a command to a Minecraft world server.

• logrotate [world]

  Rotate the server.log file. Rotate the server.log file for all worlds by default.

• backup [world]

  Backup the Minecraft world. Backup all worlds by default.

• list-backups [world]

  List the datetime of the backups for the world.

• restore-backup [world] [datetime]

  Restore a backup for a world that was taken at the datetime.

• console [world]

  Connect to the Minecraft world server's console. Hit [Ctrl-D] to detach.

• watch [world]

  Watch the log file for the Minecraft world server.

• map [world]

  Run the Minecraft Overviewer mapping software on the Minecraft world. Map all worlds by default.

• update

  Update the client and server software packages.

Examples

To start all of the world servers, issue the command:

sudo mscs start

To create a world named alpha, issue the command:

sudo mscs create alpha 25565

To start just the world named alpha, issue the command:

sudo mscs start alpha

To send a command to a world server, issue the command:

sudo mscs send [world] [command]

ie.

sudo mscs send alpha say Hello world!

Import Existing Worlds

You just need to create a new directory in the worlds folder for the world you wish to import. Suppose the world you wish to import is called alpha, you would create a new folder in /opt/mscs/worlds, then copy the data files over to that directory.

If the directory containing the world alpha you wish to import looks like this:

$ ls
alpha
banned-ips.txt
banned-players.txt
crash-reports
logs
ops.txt
server.properties
white-list.txt

You can just copy your world into the worlds directory:

mkdir /opt/mscs/worlds/alpha
cp -R * /opt/mscs/worlds/alpha

Make sure you check server-port and query.port in server.properties to make sure it does not overlap with other servers created by the MSCS script. Also ensure that enable-query is set to true. If you do not have enable-query and a query.port set, you will not be able to check the status of the world with the script.

Server Customization

The default values in the script can be overwritten by modifying the /etc/default/mscs file.

For example, to modify the default MAPS_URL variable, add the following line to the file:

MAPS_URL="http://server.com/minecraft/maps"

The server settings for each world can be customized by adding certain key/value pairs to the world's server.properties file.

The following keys are available:

• mscs-version-type - Assign the version type (release or snapshot).
• mscs-client-version - Assign the version of the client software.
• mscs-client-jar - Assign the .jar file for the client software.
• mscs-client-url - Assign the download URL for the client software.
• mscs-client-location - Assign the location of the client .jar file.
• mscs-server-version - Assign the version of the server software.
• mscs-server-jar - Assign the .jar file for the server software.
• mscs-server-url - Assign the download URL for the server software.
• mscs-server-args - Assign the arguments to the server.
• mscs-initial-memory - Assign the initial amount of memory for the server.
• mscs-maximum-memory - Assign the maximum amount of memory for the server.
• mscs-server-location - Assign the location of the server .jar file.
• mscs-server-command - Assign the command to run for the server.

The following variables may be used in some of the values of the above keys:

• $JAVA - The Java virtual machine.
• $CURRENT_VERSION - The current Mojang Minecraft release version.
• $CLIENT_VERSION - The version of the client software.
• $SERVER_VERSION - The version of the server software.
• $SERVER_JAR - The .jar file to run for the server.
• $SERVER_ARGS - The arguments to the server.
• $INITIAL_MEMORY - The initial amount of memory for the server.
• $MAXIMUM_MEMORY - The maximum amount of memory for the server.
• $SERVER_LOCATION - The location of the server .jar file.

Example key/value pairs

Equivalent to the default values:

mscs-version-type=release
mscs-client-version=$CURRENT_VERSION
mscs-client-jar=$CLIENT_VERSION.jar
mscs-client-url=https://s3.amazonaws.com/Minecraft.Download/versions/$CLIENT_VERSION/$CLIENT_VERSION.jar
mscs-client-location=/opt/mscs/client/$CLIENT_VERSION
mscs-server-version=$CURRENT_VERSION
mscs-server-jar=minecraft_server.$SERVER_VERSION.jar
mscs-server-url=https://s3.amazonaws.com/Minecraft.Download/versions/$SERVER_VERSION/minecraft_server.$SERVER_VERSION.jar
mscs-server-args=nogui
mscs-initial-memory=128M
mscs-maximum-memory=2048M
mscs-server-location=/opt/mscs/server
mscs-server-command=$JAVA -Xms$INITIAL_MEMORY -Xmx$MAXIMUM_MEMORY -jar $SERVER_LOCATION/$SERVER_JAR $SERVER_ARGS

Run a Minecraft version 1.6.4 server:

mscs-client-version=1.6.4
mscs-server-version=1.6.4

Use Forge to run a 1.8.4 server (requires additional setup):

mscs-client-version=1.8.4
mscs-server-version=1.8.4
mscs-server-jar=forge-1.8-11.14.1.1419-universal.jar
mscs-server-url=http://files.minecraftforge.net/maven/net/minecraftforge/forge/1.8-11.14.1.1419/forge-1.8-11.14.1.1419-universal.jar

Use the latest BungeeCord successful build (requires additional setup):

mscs-server-jar=BungeeCord.jar
mscs-server-url=http://ci.md-5.net/job/BungeeCord/lastSuccessfulBuild/artifact/bootstrap/target/BungeeCord.jar

License

See LICENSE

Issues

We have only tested this code in a Debian/Ubuntu environment, but there is no reason that it shouldn't work in any appropriately configured UNIX-like environment, including Apple Mac OSX and the other BSD variants, with only minor modifications. If you experience errors running this script, please post a copy of the error message and a note detailing the operating environment where the error occurs to the support thread, and we will try to work out a solution with you.

Support thread: http://www.minecraftforum.net/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=129833

Github Issues: https://github.com/sandain/MinecraftServerControlScript/issues