Practical procedure and troubleshooting notes for Create a Minecraft Server on Proxmox.

This Guide is assuming that you understand some of the fundamental knowledge of proxmox and Ubuntu Linux

VM Settings

Install Ubuntu Server

• Follow through with the install and choose the Ubuntu Server Minimized

Prepare your environment

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install -y openjdk-21-jdk
sudo adduser minecraft # Follow the process
sudo mkdir -p /opt/minecraft/server
sudo chown -R minecraft:minecraft /opt/minecraft/server
sudo -u minecraft -i
cd /opt/minecraft/server

# Go to https://fabricmc.net/use/server/ Use the next two commands from there website for the server version you would like to install
curl -OJ https://meta.fabricmc.net/v2/versions/loader/1.21.11/0.18.4/1.1.1/server/jar
java -Xmx2G -jar fabric-server-mc.1.21.11-loader.0.18.4-launcher.1.1.1.jar nogui

ctrl+C
cd ./mods

# Use wget to obtain the mods that you would like to install
wget https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/mc-mods/fabric-api/download/7514389

cd ..
echo "eula=true" > eula.txt

# Create a Minecraft Service
exit
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/minecraft.service

# Add this to /etc/systemd/system/minecraft.service Ensure you use the second command that you pulleed from fabrics website for the line ExecStart
[Unit]
Description=Minecraft Fabric Server
After=network.target

[Service]
User=minecraft
WorkingDirectory=/opt/minecraft/server
ExecStart=/usr/bin/java -Xmx2G -jar fabric-server-mc.1.21.11-loader.0.18.4-launcher.1.1.1.jar nogui
Restart=on-failure

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

ctrl+X
y enter

# enable your service
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable minecraft

# add your player as OP 
sudo -u minecraft -i
cd /opt/minecraft/server
nano ops.json

# Add to ops.json
[
  {
    "uuid": "YOUR_UUID found on https://mcuuid.net/",
    "name": "YourMinecraftUsername",
    "level": 4,
    "bypassesPlayerLimit": false
  }
]

ctrl+X
y enter

exit

# Start your Server
sudo systemctl start minecraft
sudo systemctl status minecraft

Optionally Mount a Nas and Back up your Server

Mount Nas for Backups

mkdir -p /mnt/nas 
mount -t cifs "//yournas/directory" /mnt/nas -o username=YOURUSERNAME
ls /mnt/nas
sudo cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.bak
sudo nano /etc/fstab
# add the line
//192.168.1.19/DylansNas /mnt/nas cifs username=dylan 
# You will need to run mount -a when loggin in I was unsuccsful with adding password

Create Cron Job

sudo nano /opt/minecraft/backup.sh

# Add this to /opt/minecraft/backup.sh
#!/bin/bash

# Variables
SERVER_DIR="/opt/minecraft/server"
BACKUP_DIR="/mnt/nas/Minecraft/Backups"
TIMESTAMP=$(date +"%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S")
WORLD_DIR="$SERVER_DIR/world"

# Make sure backup folder exists
mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"

# Stop the server gracefully
systemctl stop minecraft

# Backup world folder
tar -czf "$BACKUP_DIR/world_$TIMESTAMP.tar.gz" -C "$SERVER_DIR" world

# Optional: keep only last 7 backups
ls -1t "$BACKUP_DIR"/world_*.tar.gz | tail -n +8 | xargs -r rm

# Start the server
systemctl start minecraft

ctrl+X
y enter

sudo chmod +x /opt/minecraft/backup.sh
sudo apt install cron
sudo systemctl enable --now cron
sudo crontab -e
0 3 * * * /opt/minecraft/backup.sh >> /var/log/minecraft_backup.log 2>&1