How to self-host minecraft safely with port forwarding

This is a tutorial that will teach how to host a modded minecraft server with Fabric on your own machine (you can use a VPS too but then port forwarding is not needed), then using Proton VPN (or any VPN that allows port forwarding) to expose your server on the interent safely and linking it to a domain you own so that you can have a cool URL for your friends to connect to instead of them needing to switch the IP/port every time you restart your PC (because of the VPN).

I’m a linux user and thus I’ll show how to do it on linux through a terminal (most of the time). All things I’m showing can be installed and configured with GUIs, I will not show how but it’s supposedly easier than through a terminal (if you’re not familiar with one).

What you need #

For the modded minecraft server

• Java
• Fabric

For the port forwarding

• A paid VPN that allows port forwading (I’ll show Proton, use one that you trust)

For the custom domain

• A domain from a registrar that allows you to edit DNS records of type A and SRV (most do).

For the server configuration

• A text editor

I will show the “cool way” with tmux, tmuxinator and neovim, but you can use what you’re confortable with.

Installing Java #

I recommend managing Java versions via Mise if you’re not good with CLI’s you can use Mise Versions to browse the package you want to install via Mise.

Docs about how mise handle Java here (linking for information, you should not need to look at this for this tutorial)

Install Java at version 25.0.2 or the latest current LTS version.

mise use -g java@25.0.2

There are a lot of Java providers as seen here and in the Mise Versions java page since this is for a minecraft server and not for long term development that needs continuous maintenance I recommend installing openjdk at the latest LTS. If your idea is to have a server running for years and being activelly maintened you might prefer temurin or whatever is the current recommendation for development.

To check if the installation worked run

java --version

should show something similar to

openjdk 25 2025-09-16
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 25+35-3488)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 25+35-3488, mixed mode, sharing)

Installing Fabric #

Before doing so create and enter the directory where you want your server to be.

I have my directory structure like this:

.minecraft_servers
├── server1
└── server2

In my case to make server1 a Fabric server I need to install fabric at ~/.minecraft_servers/server1/

so cd ~/.minecraft_servers/server1/ to be inside the server directory.

Then go to fabricmc.net/use/server and get the curl command to download the fabric .jar which currently has this structure

DO NOT RUN THIS COMMAND AS IT WILL NOT WORK, THIS IS HERE AS AN EXAMPLE

curl -OJ https://meta.fabricmc.net/v2/versions/loader/<minecraft_version>/<fabric_loader_version>/<fabric_installer_version>/server/jar

So for minecraft 26.1.2 with fabric 0.19.3 and installer version 1.1.1 you should run this command.

curl -OJ https://meta.fabricmc.net/v2/versions/loader/26.1.2/0.19.3/1.1.1/server/jar

You should always install the latest fabric version when possible, then tell your players the exact version of minecraft and fabric you’re using. In the example it would be minecraft 26.1.2 and fabric 0.19.3.

Starting a server #

With java and fabric installed you can already run a server, on the same directory you downloaded fabric, agree to Minecraft eula by creating an eula.txt file with eula=true written in it

echo "eula=true" > eula.txt

then start the server:

This will create the files and directories needed in a minecraft server and run your server in your local IP with the settings declared at server.properties

java -Xms1G -Xmx4G -jar fabric-server-mc.26.1.2-loader.0.19.3-launcher.1.1.1.jar nogui

-Xms1G means that the minimum memory for the server will always be 1 Gigabyte
-Xmx4G means that the maximum memory for the server will be 4 Gigabyte
-jar fabric..jar is telling java to run the server using the fabric loader
nogui is so that java dont start a graphical interface to show you the server logs (it will show in the terminal instead)

You can have less minimum memory or more maximum memory if your machine has more RAM available and you will need to play with those numbers to find the sweet spot for your server depending on how many mods and players (at the same time) you have.

VPN Config #

Enable port forwarding on your VPN settings

On Proton VPN servers that have port forwarding enabled will show this arrow icon

Connect to your VPN and you should se a number in your interface indicating the port they assigned to you

After connecting to the VPN find your IP with this

curl https://api.ipify.org

The current IP for Proton US-NY#297 is 146.70.115.174, this is your VPN IP, if you dont have a custom domain that IP will be the one you share with your friends.

IP’s are not static so in a few months this IP might change since ISPs (and VPN providers) shift IP blocks every now and then for many reasons. It is not something that happens often so you can save the server you connected to (in my case US-NY#297 and always connect to it, that way you only need to change the port when you reconnect to your VPN instead of needing to change both port and IP.

Some VPNs provide a service of a static port that you can have yourself, if you want to have a server for years this might be a good thing to look into to reduce the rassle. The better thing in this case would probably have a VPS or a static IP from your ISP and do a port forward on your router, even better if you can have a separated network for your on-prem server and your house for safety since that would be opening a real port on your machine.

Minecraft server config #

Now get your VPN port in my case 50196 and go to your server.properties, there you will find a server-port=25565, change that to match your VPN port.

server-port=50196

If you server was open go to the terminal that it was and type /stop to stop gracefully, else start your server.

Now on your minecraft if you go to localhost:50196 you should be able to join your server, and to check if it’s publicly working you can go to canyouseeme.org and type your port and IP there.

If you don’t have the server open or did something wrong this is what is shown:

If you are connected to the VPN with port forwarding enabled, edited your server properties to the correct port and restarted your server this is what you should see

Custom domain DNS config #

Now go to where you bought your custom domain (your registrar) and go to the DNS configuration page of your domain. Then you need to add two records, an A and a SRV one.

A (Address) record #

On the A record Host you will put a subdomain that you want your server to be in like mc for mc.luigiminardi.com to be my server.

On the Value you put your VPN IP address (146.70.115.174 in my case).

The TTL should be set to 1 minute so that DNS propagation happens fast.

If you have a static IP and port you might prefer to use a higher TTL as explained here.

SRV (Service) record #

As you can see in the image my registrar SRV Host fields only shows the _service and the _protocol fields, some registrars also have a _name field after the protocol one.

Set your _service as _minecraft.

If you have a _name field set it the same as the subdomain on the A record and set your _protocol to _tcp.

If you only have a _protocol you will do _protocol.subdomain as your field and match the subdomain of your A record in it. So my _protocol will be _tcp.mc since I need to match the mc of my A record.

On the Value you can see 0, 0, 1 then example.com, that is the priority, weight, port and target respectively.

If the only thing you have on your domain is the minecraft server priority and weight can be maintained as 0.

Lower priority numbers are tried first, weight is for load balance between servers with the same priority, so if you have a huge server you can set 100 in your expensive VPS and 10 in your cheap one and the expesive VPS would get 10x more traffic making the cheap one as a fallback.

The port is the port your VPN provided you (in my case 50196).

The target is your A record Host field (complete), so in my case mc.luigiminardi.com.

Some registrars show you the propagation state, you need to wait for it to fully propagate for your server to work.

More detailed explanations on SRV here

After your server has fully propagated you can check if its working here

With this you’re done and you can share your server with your friends (in my case mc.luigiminardi.com)

If you shut the server down it should show as this

IMPORTANT #

Every time you shut down your computer OR your VPN/switch VPN servers you need to update your A record and your SRV record to match the new IP and port and your server.properties to match the new port. Then wait the DNS to propagate again and your server will be back to up and running.

If you configured your custom domain your players don’t need to do anything, if you’re sharing your VPN IP and port with them then you need to share the new IP and port for the server every time.

On your own machine since you access your port directly via localhost or a local IP you will need to edit the port or your server in your minecraft launcher to match the new port, else you wont be able to join your world.

The extra mile #

Now I will show how I did my tmuxinator config for easy turning the server on and off and also showing players that the server is going to shut down.

I also recommend installing the just enough backups mod in your server so that you can have backups automatically done every X time.

Tmuxinator #

Make sure you have tmux, tmuxinator, ruby and neovim installed.

Create a new tmuxinator session

tmuxinator new minecraft

Copy my configuration into it, remember to change the server panes java command to the same you use to launch your server and the root to the path to your server files.

If you use bat you can replace tail on the on_project_stop with bat /tmp/minecraft-pane.log -r -30:.

# ~/.config/tmuxinator/minecraft.yml

name: minecraft
root: ~/.minecraft_servers/server1/

# Run on project stop
on_project_stop: |
  tmux send-keys -t minecraft:2.1 'title @a title {"text": "Server Shutting Down","color":"red"}' Enter;
  tmux send-keys -t minecraft:2.1 'title @a subtitle {"text": "gracefully with tmuxinator","color":"aqua"}' Enter;
  sleep 5;
  tmux send-keys -t minecraft:2.1 "/stop" Enter;
  sleep 2;
  tmux capture-pane -t minecraft:2.1 -S -100 -p > /tmp/minecraft-pane.log;
  tail /tmp/minecraft-pane.log -n 30

# Specifies (by name or index) which window will be selected on project startup. If not set, the first window is used.
startup_window: server

# Controls whether the tmux session should be attached to automatically. Defaults to true.
attach: false

windows:
  - editor:
      layout: main-vertical
      panes:
        - nvim server.properties
  - server:
      layout: main-vertical
      panes:
        - java -Xms1G -Xmx4G -jar fabric-server-mc.26.1.2-loader.0.19.3-launcher.1.1.1.jar nogui

This config starts tmux in detached mode when you run the start command and tells your players that the server is shutting down and also logs the shutdown for you and display the last 30 lines of the log for you to make sure everything worked propperly after running the stop command.

starting the server #

tmuxinator start minecraft

stopping the server #

tmuxinator stop minecraft

attaching tmux #

tmux attach -t minecraft

Switching to nvim to edit the server.properties #

inside the attached tmux do Ctrl + b then 1 or 0 depending on the number that shows before your editor window.

then on nvim you can edit the file however you see fit.

detaching tmux #

Ctrl + b then press d

tmux cheatsheet for beginners

Just Enough Backups (JEB) #

On config/justenoughbackups.json this is my JEB config

{
  "backupMode": "FULL",
  "automaticBackupsEnabled": true,
  "pauseAutomaticBackupsWithoutPlayers": true,
  "backupOnServerStart": false,
  "backupOnServerStop": false,
  "automaticIntervalMinutes": 60,
  "automaticBackupWarningEnabled": true,
  "automaticBackupWarningMinutes": 5,
  "commandPermissionLevel": 2,
  "messageChannel": "ACTION_BAR",
  "integrityMode": "STRICT",
  "includeSummaryFile": false,
  "minimumFreeSpaceReserveMb": 512,
  "retention": {
    "full": 5,
    "incremental": 20,
    "differential": 10,
    "maxTotalSizeMb": 0
  },
  "popup": {
    "enabled": true,
    "showTitle": true,
    "centerText": true,
    "showBorder": true,
    "x": 8,
    "y": 8,
    "xRatio": -1.0,
    "yRatio": -1.0,
    "backgroundColor": "0xAA101010",
    "runningColor": "0xFF55FFFF",
    "completedColor": "0xFF55FF55",
    "failedColor": "0xFFFF5555",
    "textColor": "0xFFE0E0E0",
    "title": "Just Enough Backups",
    "runningText": "Running {reason} {type}",
    "completedText": "Completed {reason} {type}",
    "failedText": "Unable to Backup"
  },
  "backupDirectory": "backups/"
}