Tailscale Lets you Run a Private Minecraft Server

Minecraft is a very popular multiplayer game, in which players can connect to the Minecraft world that is hosted within one of the player's running game, or connect to a separate server hosting a world.

It isn't possible to create a Minecraft server accessible from outside your home without Tailscale.

- paying for hosting from a third party or - opening ports in firewalls which could allow access to any rando that is on the Internet

Tailscale lets you share it with anyone, anytime.

In this guide, we'll show how to create a Minecraft bedrock_server and connect to the server from anywhere using Tailscale.

Prerequisites

A Linux server is required. These instructions assume a Linux server or VM running within the home and behind a firewall. Tailscale allows clients to connect to computers from any location and there is no need to worry about accessibility. Gaming crypto Gaming crypto It's just a matter of being connected to the internet. If you sign up for a VM hosted on the cloud provider's server be sure that the firewall blocks all access.

This guide assumes that you are using Ubuntu or Debian. However, the modifications for other Linux distributions will be minimal.

Step 1: Install the bedrock_server on Linux.

The bedrock_server can be used with Windows and Linux. This guide will cover Linux.

We recommend creating an account on the Minecraft server user and installing some packages later.

Download the current version of the Linux bedrock_server binary from https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/download/server/bedrock. This is the best way to do it because the minecraft user has just created:

Minecraft bedrock_server is updated frequently. When the Minecraft game app is updated, it will require the most recent version of the server. We'll also prepare for future updates by storing the server files in the git directory:

Every subsequent update to the bedrock server can be stored in git. Be certain to be aware of permissions.json and server.properties since any subsequent bedrock_server update will erase any modifications that you've created.

systemd

systemd allows you to start services automatically upon booting. We will create a few files to ensure that bedrock_server starts automatically.

/etc/systemd/system/minecraft.service

/opt/minecraft/start.sh

/opt/minecraft/stop.sh

Also make the shell scripts executable: chmod +x /opt/minecraft/start.sh /opt/minecraft/stop.sh

As root, you can now systemctl begin minecraft. Gaming crypto Voila! You are now running a Minecraft bedrock server.

As a Minecraft user, you can connect to tmux and see the server console:

To detach from tmux and to let bedrock_server run Press Ctrl-B and then "d" for detach.

Step 2 Install Tailscale

Tailscale can be used with almost any modern Linux distribution. However, the installation instructions might differ slightly.

Download Tailscale

Once installed and active on the tailnet, the Minecraft bedrock_server is accessible from any of your other Tailscale clients.

Step 3: Play Minecraft

You will need to install the Tailscale client, available from the App Store for iOS and the Play Store Android. Additionally, you'll need the Minecraft application.

Select Play in the Minecraft app. Next, click on the Servers tab. The list will include a few third-party servers that have been promoted however scroll to the bottom to locate a button to add the server.

Include the details of your server including the Tailscale IP Address (the 100.x.y.z address) to the description. These details can be found in the Tailscale app or in the admin console.

You'll be asked to login to XBox Live before being allowed to connect to the server. live.com accounts are free, and you don't need an XBox to register one. Tailscale does not receive the live.com account, Minecraft simply requires it before connecting.