Paper MC systemd scripts

Steps for using the provided scripts and setting up the Paper MC server as a systemd service. This will allow you to control the server with systemctl and interact with it using the minecraft command.

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Create Service Account

Create a user account named minecraft. This will be the service account for running the server.

sudo useradd -m -r minecraft
sudo passwd minecraft

Download Paper MC

Log into the minecraft service account. Download Paper server from: https://papermc.io/software/paper

Place the server in /home/minecraft/paper then rename the Paper server executable file to server.jar.

Using the commands below, replacing for the correct download URL and filename:

mkdir paper
cd paper
wget https://api.papermc.io/v2/projects/paper/GETLATESTFROMWEBSITE
mv paper-x.xx.x-xxx.jar server.jar

Note: If this is the first time you're running Paper on your server, you'll want to manually run it at this point to agree to its EULA.

Run:

java -Xms4G -Xmx4G -jar server.jar --nogui

And follow the on screen prompts.

Configure scripts

Switch back to your primary account with sudo access.

Clone this repo:

git clone https://github.com/AtomicSponge/paper-systemd.git
cd paper-systemd

Create link of file minecraft-console.py in /usr/local/bin and make sure it has execute permissions by running:

chmod 555 minecraft-console.py
sudo ln minecraft-console.py /usr/local/bin

Place files minecraft.service and minecraft.socket in /etc/systemd/system:

sudo mv minecraft.service /etc/systemd/system
sudo mv minecraft.socket /etc/systemd/system

Then to start the service run:

sudo systemctl enable minecraft

Memory Setting

Default memory setting is 4GB, to change edit minecraft_java.env and update JAVA_OPTS to your desired values::

-Xms4096M -Xmx4096M

Usage

Commands are passed to the server via the provided script minecraft-console.py.

To run commands, open console by running minecraft-console.

After executing the command, you will see the server log from journalctl and a prompt to enter the command.

To exit the console, press CTRL+C

_{Note: Do not use / before the command name}

To view server output use the journalctl command.

For example, this will monitor the log:

journalctl -u minecraft -f

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References

For a list of server commands see: https://minecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Commands

Service script is using the Aikar's flags from: https://docs.papermc.io/misc/tools/start-script-gen

journalctl manual: https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/latest/journalctl.html#

Adapted from: https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/612118