How to Make a Minecraft Bedrock Server: Step by Step

Requirements

• Operating system: Bedrock Dedicated Server is released for Windows and Ubuntu. This guide uses Ubuntu.
• RAM: 1–2 GB for a few players, 4 GB for busy servers and behavior packs.
• CPU: The server's world simulation relies largely on a single core; high single-core speed determines how smooth the game feels.
• Players: Bedrock Edition and a Microsoft account.

All you need to know is how to connect to the server with SSH; we give the rest of the commands step by step.

Downloading the server files

For security, run the server as a separate user instead of root:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install unzip wget tmux
sudo useradd -m -s /bin/bash bedrock
sudo su - bedrock

On the Bedrock Dedicated Server download page on the official Minecraft website, choose the Ubuntu version, accept the terms of use and copy the download link. Then download and extract it on the server:

mkdir ~/server && cd ~/server
wget -O bedrock-server.zip "https://.../bedrock-server-X.X.X.X.zip"
unzip bedrock-server.zip

The URL contains the current version number from the website. If downloading directly on the server fails, you can download the file to your own computer and upload it with SFTP.

Settings in server.properties

The server's settings are in the server.properties file:

nano ~/server/server.properties

The most important settings:

Always leave online-mode set to true; turning it off lets players join under someone else's name.

Starting the server

Start the server in a tmux session so it doesn't shut down when you close your SSH connection:

cd ~/server
tmux new -s bedrock 'LD_LIBRARY_PATH=. ./bedrock_server'

When you see "Server started" in the console, the server is ready. Press Ctrl + B and then D to detach from the session, and use tmux attach -t bedrock to go back. To shut the server down, type stop in the console; the world is saved and the server shuts down cleanly.

Ports and the firewall

By default the Bedrock server uses these ports:

• 19132 UDP: Game traffic over IPv4.
• 19133 UDP: Game traffic over IPv6.

If you use ufw on Ubuntu:

sudo ufw allow 19132/udp
sudo ufw allow 19133/udp

The Bedrock server uses UDP, not TCP; opening only the TCP port is the most common mistake. We explain how ports work in our What is a port? article.

Connecting to the server

In Minecraft, go to Play → Servers, press the Add Server button at the bottom of the list and enter a server name, the IP address and port 19132. Players on phones, tablets and Windows connect directly this way.

Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch have no button to add a custom server; on these platforms only featured servers are listed.

Allowlist and operator permissions

To open the server only to your friends, set allow-list=true in server.properties and add players from the server console by their Xbox gamertags:

allowlist add PlayerGamertag
allowlist remove PlayerGamertag
allowlist list

To make a player an operator, type this in the console while the player is connected to the server:

op PlayerGamertag

Permissions are stored permanently in the permissions.json file with the player's ID number (XUID). Operators can use commands in the game; this may require cheats to be turned on in the world.

Add-ons: behavior and resource packs

Bedrock servers are customized with add-ons instead of the plugins used on Java:

• Resource pack: Changes to textures, sounds and the interface.
• Behavior pack: The behavior of entities, items and game rules; more advanced features with the Script API.

Copy the packs to the resource_packs and behavior_packs folders on the server, then add the pack's ID (pack_id) and version to the world_resource_packs.json and world_behavior_packs.json files in the world's folder. To require players to download the resource pack, set texturepack-required=true in server.properties. Restart the server after installing a pack.

Backups and updates

World files are kept in the worlds folder. To take a consistent backup while the server is running, follow this sequence in the console:

1. save hold: Temporarily stops the server from writing to the world.
2. save query: Shows whether it's ready for the backup; when it's ready, it prints the list of files.
3. Copy the worlds folder.
4. save resume: Returns the server to normal saving.

Shutting the server down and taking a backup is even simpler:

tar -czf ~/bedrock-backup-$(date +%F).tar.gz -C ~/server worlds server.properties allowlist.json permissions.json

Updating: Because Bedrock games update automatically, your server needs to be updated quickly too; if the versions don't match, players can't connect. Shut the server down with stop, download and extract the new version, and don't overwrite your worlds folder or your server.properties, allowlist.json and permissions.json files. The safest way to do this is to extract the new version into a separate folder first and copy these files over from the old folder. We cover taking regular backups that are independent of the server in our Server backups guide.

Nodesty for your Bedrock server

Because Nodesty Minecraft server hosting plans give you full administrator access, you can also set up Bedrock Dedicated Server yourself with the steps in this guide. The plans run in Frankfurt on Ryzen 9 9950X processors reaching 5.7 GHz, with NVMe storage and L3–L7 DDoS protection, and include free daily backups kept for 7 days. If you want to manage the server yourself and run it alongside other services, take a look at our AMD Ryzen 9 9950X VPS plans too.

Minecraft is a trademark of Mojang AB. Nodesty is not affiliated with or endorsed by Mojang or Microsoft.