How to set up your Minecraft server

Pick a plan that fits your server

RAM is what decides how many players and plugins your server can handle. Pick from the plans page, you can upgrade later without losing your world.

Once payment goes through, your panel account is created automatically and your login details are emailed to you. That usually lands within a minute.

Log in to the game panel

Head to panel.pulsedmc.net and sign in with the email and password from your welcome email. Your new server is sitting on the dashboard, click it to open the console.

Our panel runs on Pterodactyl with a PulsedMC theme on top, so if you've used another host before, everything is where you'd expect it, the colours are just nicer.

First thing worth doing: open Account → Settings and change the generated password to something you'll remember, then turn on two-factor authentication while you're there.

Choose your server software & version

Open the Startup tab. This is where you tell the server which Minecraft version to run and which jar to build from.

Which software should I pick?

• Paper: the default, and what we recommend. Vanilla gameplay, much better performance, and it runs Bukkit/Spigot plugins.
• Vanilla: exactly what Mojang ships. No plugins.
• Fabric / Forge / NeoForge: for modpacks. Your players need the same mods installed client-side.
• Velocity: a proxy that links several servers into one network. Only useful once you're running more than one server.

To switch software entirely (Paper → Fabric, say), change the Egg in the Startup tab, then reinstall in the next step.

Install the server & accept the EULA

Go to Settings → Reinstall Server and click Reinstall. That downloads the jar you picked and lays out the files. Give it thirty seconds or so.

Mojang requires you to accept their EULA before the server will boot. Open the Files tab, edit eula.txt, and change the last line:

#By changing the setting below to TRUE you are indicating your agreement to our EULA.
eula=true

Save the file. If eula.txt isn't there yet, start the server once, it gets created on the first boot attempt.

Start the server

Back on the Console tab, hit Start. The first boot takes the longest because it generates the world. You're looking for a line like this:

[12:04:51 INFO]: Starting minecraft server version 1.21.11
[12:04:53 INFO]: Preparing level "world"
[12:04:55 INFO]: Preparing spawn area: 84%
[12:04:58 INFO]: Done (6.412s)! For help, type "help"

Done! means you're live. The status dot next to your server name turns green, and the CPU/RAM graphs start moving.

Connect, then claim a subdomain

Your address is shown at the top of the Console tab, as IP:PORT. In Minecraft go to Multiplayer → Add Server and paste it in exactly, colon and all.

192.0.2.41:25587

Give it a proper name

Nobody remembers an IP. Under Network → Allocations you can attach a free subdomain, so players connect to something like:

yourname.pulsedmc.net

Already own a domain? Point it here with two DNS records at your registrar, an A record for the IP and an SRV record so players don't have to type the port:

Configure your world

Almost every setting lives in one file. Open Files → server.properties and edit it there. The ones that actually matter:

motd=&6My Awesome Server &8| &eNow open!
max-players=40
difficulty=normal
gamemode=survival
pvp=true
spawn-protection=0
view-distance=8
simulation-distance=6
online-mode=true
enable-command-block=false

• view-distance: the single biggest lever on performance. 8 is a good balance; 10+ on a busy server will cost you TPS.
• spawn-protection: set to 0 or non-ops can't build near spawn.
• online-mode: leave this true. It's what verifies players against Mojang.

Restart the server after saving, server.properties is only read on boot.

Op yourself and set a whitelist

Type commands straight into the panel console, no leading slash needed there. Give yourself operator rights so you can run admin commands in-game:

op YourUsername

Want to keep the server private while you build? Turn on the whitelist:

whitelist on
whitelist add YourFriend
whitelist list

And when you're ready to open the doors, whitelist off.

Install plugins

Plugins are .jar files that drop into the plugins/ folder. The short version is below, the full plugin guide covers configuring and permissioning them.

• Panel upload: Files → plugins → Upload. Fine for a few files.
• SFTP: credentials are under Settings → SFTP Details. Use FileZilla or WinSCP when you're moving a lot at once.

Restart the server after uploading. You should see each plugin load:

[12:10:02 INFO]: [EssentialsX] Enabling EssentialsX v2.20.1
[12:10:03 INFO]: [LuckPerms] Successfully enabled.
[12:10:03 ERROR]: Could not load 'plugins/OldPlugin.jar'

Set up backups and automatic restarts

Do this before you need it. Under the Backups tab, click Create Backup for a manual snapshot you can restore with one click.

Automate it

The Schedules tab runs tasks on a cron timer. Two schedules worth having on every server:

Invite your team

Don't share your panel password. Go to Users → New User, enter their email, and tick only the permissions they need, a builder-admin might get console and file access, while a moderator only needs the console.

They'll get their own login, and every action they take is recorded in the Activity log.

Troubleshooting