Minecraft Server Admin

Minecraft Server Administration Skill

Scope and Routing Boundaries

Routing Boundaries

• Use when: the task is infrastructure or live operations for Minecraft servers (deployment choice, tuning, backups, proxying, security, incident response).
• Do not use when: the task is writing plugin code (minecraft-plugin-dev) or writing mods/loaders (minecraft-modding, minecraft-multiloader).
• Do not use when: the task is WorldEdit command workflows (minecraft-worldedit-ops) or EssentialsX workflow/policy design (minecraft-essentials-ops).
• Do not use when: the task is datapack/resource-pack authoring (minecraft-datapack, minecraft-resource-pack).

Support Assets

• Read references/deployment-checklists.md when the task is an incident, rollout window, proxy change, or recovery drill and you need a compact checklist before acting.

Deployment Decision Matrix

Use this table first. Pick a deployment type before changing configs.

| Deployment profile | Recommended stack | Pick this when | Watch-outs |

|---|---|---|---|

| Small SMP on Paper | Paper only | Up to ~30 concurrent players, broad plugin compatibility, low ops overhead | Do not over-tune early; profile before changing many defaults |

| Larger public Paper server | Paper + Spark + stricter plugin/change control | Public server with frequent joins, moderate plugin set, uptime matters | Plugin sprawl is the top TPS risk |

| Velocity-backed network | Velocity + multiple Paper backends | Hub/minigame/factions split across servers, need shared entrypoint | Forwarding/auth mismatches can block joins |

| Purpur gameplay-heavy server | Purpur (optionally behind Velocity) | You want gameplay knobs exposed in config without custom plugin code | Extra toggles increase misconfiguration risk |

| Folia high-concurrency server | Folia + Folia-compatible plugins only | Very high concurrency with region-threading goals | Many plugins are not Folia-safe |

| Fabric/NeoForge mod server | Fabric or NeoForge server build | You require loader mods, custom content, modpack behavior | Bukkit/Paper plugins do not apply |

Deployment Type Routing

• Small SMP and most public plugin servers: use Paper baseline first.
• Use Purpur only when you explicitly need Purpur gameplay controls.
• Use Folia only when plugin compatibility has been validated for region-threading.
• Use Velocity when one process is not enough or you need separate backend roles.
• Use Fabric/NeoForge when the requirement is mod-driven, not plugin-driven.

Playbook: Performance Tuning

Step 1: Establish baseline

Collect a baseline before edits. Linux host example:

free -h
top -b -n 1 | head -n 25

Windows PowerShell host example:

Get-CimInstance Win32_OperatingSystem | Select-Object FreePhysicalMemory,TotalVisibleMemorySize
Get-Process java | Sort-Object CPU -Descending | Select-Object -First 5 Id,CPU,WorkingSet,Path

In server console:

tps
mspt
spark healthreport

Record:

• peak player count
• MSPT at idle and at peak activity
• top plugins by CPU from Spark report

Step 2: Profile the real bottleneck

Use Spark instead of guesswork:

spark profiler --timeout 180
spark tps
spark tickmonitor --interval 10

Then identify whether the issue is:

• plugin task load
• entity count / mob farm pressure
• chunk generation / disk I/O
• garbage-collection pauses

Step 3: Apply targeted fixes

Do not tune everything at once. Apply one group at a time.

• Chunk and simulation pressure:
• lower view-distance and simulation-distance first
• pre-generate worlds for survival-heavy maps

• Entity pressure:
• adjust despawn ranges and mob-spawn behavior in Paper world config
• cap problematic entities where appropriate

• Plugin pressure:
• disable or replace top offenders from Spark traces
• reduce async task frequency where plugin settings allow

Step 4: Use stable startup flags

For Java 21 on Paper/Purpur:

java -Xms10G -Xmx10G \
  -XX:+UseG1GC \
  -XX:+ParallelRefProcEnabled \
  -XX:MaxGCPauseMillis=200 \
  -XX:+UnlockExperimentalVMOptions \
  -XX:+DisableExplicitGC \
  -XX:+AlwaysPreTouch \
  -XX:G1NewSizePercent=30 \
  -XX:G1MaxNewSizePercent=40 \
  -XX:G1HeapRegionSize=8M \
  -XX:G1ReservePercent=20 \
  -XX:G1HeapWastePercent=5 \
  -XX:G1MixedGCCountTarget=4 \
  -XX:InitiatingHeapOccupancyPercent=15 \
  -XX:G1MixedGCLiveThresholdPercent=90 \
  -XX:G1RSetUpdatingPauseTimePercent=5 \
  -XX:SurvivorRatio=32 \
  -XX:+PerfDisableSharedMem \
  -XX:MaxTenuringThreshold=1 \
  -Dfile.encoding=UTF-8 \
  -jar server.jar --nogui

For under 12 GB memory budgets, reduce heap and use smaller region size.

Step 5: Verify improvements

After each change set:

spark tps
spark healthreport

Keep the change only if MSPT/tick stability improves under representative load.

Playbook: Plugin Operations

Safe plugin change workflow

• Build a plugin inventory:
• plugin name and version
• required dependencies
• minimum server version

• Stage updates:
• apply plugin updates in staging first
• run smoke checks: joins, teleports, economy, permissions, saves

• Production rollout window:
• announce maintenance window
• stop server cleanly
• snapshot plugin jars and config
• deploy update batch

• Post-rollout verification:
• watch startup logs for API warnings
• run command and permission sanity checks
• track TPS/MSPT for 15-30 minutes

Rollback checklist

• Keep previous plugin directory snapshot.
• If severe regression occurs:
• stop server
• restore prior plugin jars/configs
• start and confirm login/world integrity
• Document failing plugin/version pair for future blocks.

Playbook: Proxy and Forwarding (Velocity)

Velocity baseline

velocity.toml essentials:

bind = "0.0.0.0:25565"
online-mode = true
player-info-forwarding-mode = "modern"
forwarding-secret-file = "forwarding.secret"

Backend server requirements

server.properties on backend:

online-mode=false

Paper backend forwarding support (config/paper-global.yml):

proxies:
  velocity:
    enabled: true
    online-mode: true
    secret: "paste-the-shared-forwarding-secret-here"

Use the same secret value stored in Velocity's forwarding.secret file; the backend

config takes the secret string itself, not a file path.

Keep enforce-secure-profile at the server default unless you are handling a

specific legacy-client or incident workaround. It is not part of the baseline

Velocity setup. Also confirm settings.bungeecord: false in spigot.yml; do

not enable BungeeCord forwarding and Velocity modern forwarding at the same time.

Validation runbook

• Confirm proxy port is reachable from clients.
• Confirm backend is firewalled from direct internet access.
• Join through proxy and verify:
• UUID consistency
• skin/profile forwarding
• plugin permission behavior

Common proxy incidents

• "Invalid player info forwarding":
• mismatch in forwarding mode or shared secret between Velocity and backend.
• Random auth/session failures:
• mixed online-mode expectations or direct backend exposure.

Playbook: Backup and Recovery

Backup policy template

| Asset | Frequency | Retention | Notes |

|---|---|---|---|

| World folders (world*) | Hourly incremental + daily full | 7 daily, 4 weekly | Highest priority |

| plugins/, config/, and root server state | Daily | 14 daily | Required for operational restore |

| Proxy config/secrets | Daily | 30 daily | Store encrypted off-host |

| Container/orchestration files | On change + weekly | 8 weeks | Git-tracked where possible |

Example backup script

For a production server, quiesce world writes before copying live world folders.

The example below assumes a maintenance window and a cleanly stopped server. If

you use RCON-based live backups instead, choose a client/secret mechanism that

does not expose the password in command arguments, flush chunks first, and test

the restore path before trusting the backup.

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

: "${SERVER_STOPPED_CONFIRMED:?set SERVER_STOPPED_CONFIRMED=1 after stopping the server cleanly}"

DATE="$(date +%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S)"
BACKUP_ROOT="/backups/minecraft"
SERVER_ROOT="/srv/minecraft"
DEST="${BACKUP_ROOT}/${DATE}"

mkdir -p "$DEST"

tar -czf "${DEST}/worlds.tar.gz" -C "$SERVER_ROOT" world world_nether world_the_end

state_items=()
for item in \
  plugins config server.properties bukkit.yml spigot.yml paper-global.yml \
  paper-world-defaults.yml permissions.yml ops.json whitelist.json \
  banned-players.json banned-ips.json; do
  [[ -e "$SERVER_ROOT/$item" ]] && state_items+=("$item")
done

if [[ "${#state_items[@]}" -gt 0 ]]; then
  tar -czf "${DEST}/server-state.tar.gz" -C "$SERVER_ROOT" "${state_items[@]}"
fi

Recovery drill (must be tested)

• Stop server.
• Restore selected backup to staging directory.
• Validate ownership/permissions.
• Start server in maintenance mode.
• Verify:
• world spawn loads
• player data is readable
• key plugins initialize
• Reopen to players.

Define targets:

• RPO (acceptable data loss window)
• RTO (acceptable restore duration)

Playbook: Live Troubleshooting

Incident triage flow

• Classify incident:
• crash on startup
• severe lag / TPS collapse
• join/auth failures
• memory/disk pressure

• Capture evidence first. Linux host example:

df -h
free -h

Windows PowerShell host example:

Get-PSDrive -PSProvider FileSystem
Get-CimInstance Win32_OperatingSystem | Select-Object FreePhysicalMemory,TotalVisibleMemorySize

From server/proxy console:

spark tps
spark healthreport

• Stabilize:
• stop risky rollout changes
• disable newest suspect plugin first
• reduce player impact (maintenance mode, temporary queue, restricted worlds)

• Recover and document:
• apply rollback or hotfix
• document root cause and permanent preventive action

Fast symptom map

| Symptom | First checks | Typical root cause |

|---|---|---|

| Startup crash after plugin update | latest logs, plugin dependency chain | incompatible plugin/API mismatch |

| High MSPT only at peak hours | Spark profiler, entity/chunk stats | mob farms, heavy scheduled tasks, chunk I/O |

| Players cannot join via proxy | forwarding mode + secret + backend exposure | Velocity/backend config mismatch |

| Periodic hard lag spikes | GC pauses + autosave + backup overlap | memory pressure, backup I/O contention |

Operational Config Reference

server.properties high-impact keys

max-players=100
view-distance=10
simulation-distance=8
sync-chunk-writes=true
max-tick-time=60000
enable-rcon=false

bukkit.yml and spigot.yml

Use Spigot/Bukkit docs as authoritative for version-specific defaults and side effects.

Tune conservatively and re-measure after every change set.

Paper config files

• config/paper-global.yml
• config/paper-world-defaults.yml

Adjust these only after profiling identifies an actionable bottleneck.

Deployment Patterns

Docker Compose (Paper)

services:
  paper:
    image: itzg/minecraft-server:java21
    container_name: mc-paper
    environment:
      EULA: "TRUE"
      TYPE: "PAPER"
      VERSION: "1.21.11"
      MEMORY: "10G"
    ports:
      - "25565:25565"
    volumes:
      - ./data:/data
    restart: unless-stopped

This Docker example targets the repository's 1.21.x guidance and Java 21.

Minecraft 26.1.x/Paper 26.x requires Java 25 and Paper's 26.x version line; use

a Java 25 image and re-check plugin compatibility before changing VERSION.

Pterodactyl/Wings notes

• Keep startup command and memory allocations consistent with tested JVM flags.
• Pin panel and Wings versions to supported combinations.
• Validate backup mount and restore workflow before production.

Security Hardening Checklist

• Keep online-mode=true unless proxy forwarding requires backend online-mode=false.
• Never expose backend Paper ports directly when using Velocity.
• Restrict RCON and panel/admin surfaces by firewall/IP allowlist.
• Rotate secrets (forwarding.secret, panel credentials, backup credentials).
• Keep plugin sources trusted; verify checksum/release source before install.
• Maintain off-host encrypted backups.
• Keep Java runtime and host OS patched.

References

Paper (primary)

• https://docs.papermc.io/paper/
• https://docs.papermc.io/paper/admin
• https://docs.papermc.io/paper/profiling/

Spigot/Bukkit (primary config reference)

• https://www.spigotmc.org/wiki/spigot-configuration/
• https://www.spigotmc.org/wiki/bukkit-configuration/
• https://www.spigotmc.org/wiki/start-up-parameters/

Proxy and ecosystem docs

• https://docs.papermc.io/velocity/
• https://spark.lucko.me/docs
• https://geysermc.org/wiki/geyser/
• https://pterodactyl.io/project/introduction.html