Linux Unit File for Minecraft Server

This is a unit file to stop and start Minecraft server using systemd.

This file must be placed in /etc/systemd/system

Please modify the Description and WorkingDirectory to use this unit file.

For those who are not familiar with unit file, here are some of the additional information

Description=xxxxx is a description that shown when running sudo systemctl status minecraft.service

WorkingDirectory=xxxx is the folder that the server is located, recommanded to put it inside /opt/ or /srv/ (eg /opt/minecraft_server)

Whenever you modified the file, please run sudo systemctl daemon-reload to update the systemd

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To use this script, user named minecraft must present in the server. To create it please run sudo useradd -s /bin/bash -m minecraft, then sudo passwd minecraft to assign a password to the user.

Screen command must also need to be installed. To install it on Ubuntu, please run sudo apt install screen

A start.sh bash script is recommended, you can generate it in here: Start Script Generator | PaperMC Docs

In this unit file, it will automatically execute the ./start.sh file located in the in the root directory of the Minecraft server using a screen instance as the user minecraft.

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To enable the auto-start of the server during the boot process, please run sudo systemctl enable minecraft.service

To disable the auto-start of the server during the boot process, please run sudo systemctl disable minecraft.service

To start the server manually, please run sudo systemctl start minecraft.service

To stop the server manually, please run sudo systemctl stop minecraft.service

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For more information regarding systemd and unit file, please refer to this article systemd - ArchWiki (archlinux.org)