It’s always paramount to understand the importance of security whenever starting your Minecraft server. Although a Minecraft server and its integrity might not seem like the most likely targets, those who seek to cause trouble online won’t stop their favorite pastime to spare those just looking to unwind. After focusing for countless hours to “craft” your adventurous world, taking steps to protect yourself from DDoS (server overload) attacks and various hacking attempts are critical. Fortunately, there are reputable companies out there such as Apex Hosting that provide protection against these threats 24/7.
By using Apex Hosting, the IP address that you use for personal use won’t be what’s used when connecting to servers. Instead, an IP address will be provided for you based on the server-client hosted by the company. These intricate networks of servers are robust enough to withstand DDoS attacks from aggressors, and will protect your local IP and identity.
After properly securing your connection to your Minecraft server, the next thing to focus on would be securing your experience while in the game. Internet trolls will frequently attempt to ruin the experience of players by performing awkward or otherwise intolerable actions such as destroying surroundings, constructing odd barricades to important resources, and stealing hard-won items. It would take countless hours to remake a full world, killing the fun for everyone who put so much time and effort into it in the first place. Thankfully, there are many ways to prevent this from happening.
First and foremost, there must be a line in the sand that prevents players from joining the server that shouldn’t. The most effective means of doing this is by whitelisting players who can participate on the server you’re managing. Normally as soon as a server is open, anyone who has the IP address will be able to log onto it. It is not uncommon for players to even mistakenly join your Minecraft server while attempting to join another one. Therefore, keeping the peace by allowing only certain people who are allowed on the list access will provide a buffer against several headaches at once. Players who aren’t on your whitelist will have a message pop up, notifying them of their denial of access, while those who you have already typed will be able to connect without any issues whatsoever. Whitelists are easy to maintain by either yourself or a trusted moderating group and can be turned on or off at will.
Making your server public in this way can add an element of surprise and chaos into the mix that is frequently entertaining. Allowing everyone access can create bigger communities faster than simply adding one name at a time to whitelists. Given that collaborative working and world-building are cornerstones of the Minecraft experience, many people opt for this. Players that join and are interested in causing problems can be banned either temporarily or permanently by using administrative commands; administrative capabilities are assigned using the /op command and allows your trusted admin group the ability to give bans. It’s very important that only people you’ve properly vetted beforehand be given this power because they’ll be able to ruin the experience of the entire group if they turn out to be secretly trolls. Please make a note to never allow anyone to have complete access to your control panel either, as this will jeopardize your control of the server entirely and it may not even be recoverable.
Plugins are allowed on server launchers such as Spigot and Bukkit. A server owner can make great use of them in order to control customized chat and other responses to people who would otherwise be allowed to participate but may say the occasional naughty or unacceptable word. On the creative side, they also allow for unique RPG elements that only affect the server and not the users on it.
While everybody has unique tastes and play conditions, securing your server against attacks no matter what size and style make for an important backbone for the full Minecraft experience to be enjoyed by all. Taking it seriously is a major step in developing a community that will grow for years to come.
