Setting Up a Minecraft Server with Docker

📢 This article was translated by gemini-3-flash-preview

Using the Image

Image: https://hub.docker.com/r/itzg/minecraft-server

GitHub: https://github.com/itzg/docker-minecraft-server

Documentation: https://docker-minecraft-server.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

Configuration

Vanilla

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services:
  mc:
    image: itzg/minecraft-server:java17
    container_name: mc
    ports:
      - "25565:25565"
    environment:
      EULA: "TRUE"
      TYPE: "VANILLA"
      VERSION: "1.20.1"
      MEMORY: "2G"
    volumes:
      - ./data:/data
    restart: unless-stopped

Forge

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services:
  mc:
    image: itzg/minecraft-server:stable-java17
    tty: true
    stdin_open: true
    ports:
      - "25565:25565"
    environment:
      EULA: "TRUE"
      VERSION: "1.20.1"
      TYPE: "FORGE"
      FORGE_VERSION: "47.4.10"
      MEMORY: "3G"
    volumes:
      - ./data:/data

Check versions here: https://files.minecraftforge.net/net/minecraftforge/forge/

Modpacks

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services:
  mc:
    image: itzg/minecraft-server:java17
    container_name: mc
    ports:
      - "25565:25565"
    environment:
      EULA: "TRUE"
      TYPE: "CURSEFORGE"
      CF_API_KEY: "your-api-key"
      CF_MODPACK_SLUG: "modpack-slug"
      CF_MODPACK_VERSION: "47.4.10"
      MEMORY: "4G"
    volumes:
      - ./data:/data

Server Ports

Get the current zone:

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firewall-cmd --get-active-zones

Open the port:

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sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --permanent --add-port=25565/tcp

Reload firewall:

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sudo firewall-cmd --reload

Verify:

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sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --list-all

Custom Domain

Cloudflare proxying and Nginx reverse proxying are not supported for standard Minecraft traffic.

However, you can use an SRV record to allow connecting via a domain without specifying a port.

Fill in the record as follows:

Name: _minecraft._tcp.your-mc-server.yexca.net
Priority: 0
Weight: 5 or 10
Port: 25565 (or your server port)
Target: your-mc-server.yexca.net

Server Settings

After the first startup, configuration files will be generated in ./data. For specific settings, refer to the documentation: https://minecraft.wiki/w/Server.properties