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Minecraft Guide

Getting Started with Minecraft Hosting

Everything you need to set up, manage, and troubleshoot your Minecraft server from your NordServ portal.

Instant setup Where things are in the portal Start / Stop / Restart Plugins & mods Long plugin & mod lists SFTP access Connecting to your server Why can't I connect? NeoForge & other mod loaders Changing server type Op / admin access Whitelist World backup & restore Console (RCON) Server settings Scheduled restarts Server logs Live logs & full log download Billing tab

🚀 Instant setup

Your server is created automatically as soon as your order is confirmed — there's no manual provisioning step on our end, so it's usually ready within a couple of minutes. You'll get an email with your connection details as soon as it's live, and the same information is always available on your service page in the portal.

🗂️ Where things are in the portal

Your Minecraft service page is split into five tabs. Click a tab to switch between them — the page remembers the last one you opened.

  1. Overview: the Minecraft Server card (connection address, SFTP status, server type, version, RAM, disk usage) with the Start / Stop / Restart buttons, the Server Status card (online status, players, live RAM), and the Why can't I connect? card.
  2. Console & Logs: the Console card (RCON) and the Server Logs card.
  3. Files: the SFTP access card, the Plugins or Mods card, and the World Backup & Restore card.
  4. Settings: Change Server Type, Server Admins, Whitelisted Players, Scheduled Restarts, and Server Settings.
  5. Billing: Change Plan, Cancel Subscription, and Payment History.
Note: The Service Details card at the top of the page (plan, next renewal date, payment method) sits above the tabs, so it's visible whichever tab you're on.

🎮 Start / Stop / Restart

The Start, Stop, and Restart buttons are on the Overview tab, at the bottom of the Minecraft Server card — no support ticket needed. Which buttons appear depends on whether your server is running: a stopped server only shows Start, a running one shows Stop and Restart. The Server Status card just below shows whether it's online right now.

  1. Log in to your portal and open your Minecraft service.
  2. Stay on the Overview tab and find the buttons at the bottom of the Minecraft Server card.
  3. Click Start, Stop, or Restart — you'll be asked to confirm before anything happens.
Tip: A restart is usually enough to recover from a crashed plugin or a frozen world — try that before opening a ticket.

🧩 Plugins & mods

The Plugins card (called Mods on Fabric, Forge, and NeoForge servers), on the Files tab, lets you upload .jar files directly from your browser — no SFTP client needed for everyday uploads, and you can pick several files at once (up to 100 MB each, and about 100 MB per upload in total — use SFTP for bigger batches). Files are picked up the next time the server restarts, so upload your plugin or mod, then restart from the Overview tab to load it.

Tip: Make sure the plugin or mod version matches your server's Minecraft version and loader (Paper, Fabric, Forge, or NeoForge) — a mismatched version is the most common cause of a server failing to start after an upload.

🔎 Long plugin & mod lists

The upload form always sits at the top of the Plugins (or Mods) card, with the list of installed files underneath. When you have more than 10 files — a big modpack, for example — the list starts collapsed so it doesn't take over the page: click the "show / hide list" line to open it. Once it's open, type part of a file name in the filter box to show only the matching files, then use the ✕ next to a file to delete it.

🔐 SFTP access

For bigger transfers, or anything the browser upload doesn't cover, you can turn on SFTP and use any SFTP client (FileZilla, WinSCP, and Cyberduck all work). SFTP is off until you enable it, and you can switch it on and off yourself at any time while your service is active.

  1. Open the Files tab and find the SFTP access card (the SFTP row on the Overview tab's Minecraft Server card also links straight to it).
  2. Click Enable SFTP. The card then shows your Host, Port (22), Username, and Password.
  3. Copy the password right away — it's shown only once. If you lose it, click Reset password to get a new one.
  4. In your SFTP client, choose the SFTP protocol (not plain FTP) and enter the Host, Port, Username, and Password from the card.
Note: You land directly in your server's folder — your plugins or mods, worlds, config files, and logs are all there. Files you upload are picked up the same way as browser uploads, so restart the server after adding or removing plugins or mods.
Note: Reset password replaces the current password and closes any SFTP session that's still open. Disable SFTP removes the login completely — your server's files aren't touched — and you can enable it again later, which gives you a new password.
Warning: SFTP turns itself off automatically 24 hours after you enable it, because an open SFTP login is one more way into your server. Disable it sooner once you're done transferring files, or click Extend 24 hours on the card if you need more time (same password). Turning it back on takes one click.
Warning: Too many failed logins will temporarily block your IP address: 5 failed attempts within 1 hour block it for 1 hour. The block applies to your IP address on that whole host (SFTP, and also joining the game itself), not just your SFTP account, and clears by itself after 1 hour. Copy-paste the password (it is shown only once) rather than typing it. If you are blocked 4 times within 24 hours, the block becomes permanent — contact support to have it lifted.

📡 Connecting to your server

Your server's address (IP and port) is always shown on the Overview tab, in the Connect row of the Minecraft Server card — that's exactly what your players enter in Minecraft's "Add Server" screen. This address doesn't change for the life of your service, so it's safe to share with your players once and not worry about it again.

🛡️ Why can't I connect?

If a connection to your service fails even though the service is running — a game client, an SFTP or mail app, or your browser — our firewall may have blocked the IP address it comes from. Our servers automatically block addresses that cause too many failed logins or suspicious traffic. The Why can't I connect? card on the Overview tab of your service page checks this for you, on the server that runs this service.

  1. Open your service in the portal and stay on the Overview tab — the Why can't I connect? card is open by default.
  2. Your current IP address is already filled in. To check another connection — a player's, or the network you play or send mail from — replace it with that public IPv4 or IPv6 address.
  3. Click Check. The card shows the address it checked and one of the answers below.
  • Blocked by our firewall: the address is blocked with no set end date.
  • Temporarily blocked by our firewall until …: the block lifts by itself at the date and time shown (in your own time zone) — simply wait until then.
  • Not blocked on this service's server: our firewall isn't the problem. Double-check the server address and port, and your own network (Wi-Fi, VPN, internet provider or local firewall).
  • We could not complete the check right now: try again in a few minutes.

When an address is blocked and we know why, the card also shows the reason: too many failed login attempts, suspicious or excessive traffic, an address on a public abuse blocklist (often a shared or previously misused address), or blocked by our team.

Tip: Blocked with no end date, or you think the block is a mistake? Contact support and include the IP address shown in the result so we can look into it.
Note: The check only looks at the firewall of the server(s) running this service, and only public IP addresses can be checked. To prevent abuse it is limited to 20 checks and 5 different addresses per hour — if you reach a limit, try again later. The card is available while the service is active (including a cancelled service until its end date), but not while it is suspended.

🆕 NeoForge & other mod loaders

Every plan supports NeoForge alongside Forge, Fabric, and Paper — pick the loader you need when you set up your server, and switch an existing server to a different one yourself later from the Change Server Type card on the Settings tab (see below).

🔄 Changing server type

The Change Server Type card on the Settings tab switches an existing server between Vanilla, Paper, Purpur, Spigot, Fabric, Forge, and NeoForge — no ticket needed. Moving between the unmodded types (Vanilla, Paper, Purpur, Spigot) keeps your world exactly as it is. Crossing between an unmodded type and a modded loader (Fabric, Forge, NeoForge) in either direction needs a fresh world, since mods add blocks and items the other side doesn't know about. The same card also switches the server's Java version (Auto, Java 8, 11, 17, 21 or 25), on its own or together with the type, without touching your world. A Java version too old for your Minecraft version can't be picked, since the server wouldn't start (Minecraft 26.x needs Java 25, 1.20.5–1.21.x needs Java 21, 1.17–1.20.4 needs Java 17), and Java 8, 11 and 17 are offered only for Fabric, Forge and NeoForge.

Warning: When the change does cross that modded/unmodded line, the portal asks you to type WIPE to confirm — that's because your current world is erased and can't be recovered afterward. Download your world first (see World backup & restore below) if you want to keep it.

👑 Op / admin access

You can grant server operator (op) permissions to players from the Server Admins card on the Settings tab — no console command needed. Enter a player's Minecraft username and click Make Admin, and they'll get op the next time they join.

🔒 Whitelist

Minecraft has no server-wide connection password — the closest equivalent is the Whitelisted Players card on the Settings tab. Adding your first player's username automatically restricts the server to the whitelist; anyone not on the list can't join even with your server address. Removing the last player opens the server back up to everyone.

Tip: The server needs to be running to add or remove a whitelisted player — the change won't save if it's stopped.

💾 World backup & restore

You can download a full copy of your world data (Overworld, Nether, and End) as a .zip archive from the World Backup & Restore card on the Files tab — useful for keeping your own backup, moving to a different host, or opening the world locally in a single-player game. The same card also lets you upload a world to restore it: pick a .zip or .tar.gz archive (up to 1.5 GB) and we'll detect the world folders inside it automatically, even if your archive tool wrapped them in an extra folder. Your server is stopped during the swap and restarted automatically once it's done.

  1. Open the Files tab of your Minecraft service and find the World Backup & Restore card.
  2. To back up: click Download world — the .zip starts once it's ready.
  3. To restore: choose a .zip or .tar.gz file and click Upload world, then confirm.
Tip: The archive can take a moment to generate on larger worlds — the download starts once it's ready, there's no separate "please wait" step to click through first.
Warning: Uploading a world replaces your server's current world data. We keep your most recent previous world as a one-generation backup on our side, but treat an upload as a real replace, not a merge.

Starting over with a new world: the New World card on the same tab generates a fresh world, with a seed of your choice (a number or text up to 32 characters; leave it blank for a random one) and, optionally, another world type (Superflat, Large biomes, Amplified) or no structures. Type RESET to confirm. Your current world is first kept as a backup on the server, the same one-generation backup as an upload (reachable over SFTP as world.bak-…). Everything stored in the world folder starts fresh: builds, player inventories and advancements, datapacks and per-world mod settings. A running server restarts with the new world; a stopped server stays stopped and generates it at its next start.

🖥️ Console (RCON)

The Console card on the Console & Logs tab lets you send a command directly to your running server — the same as typing it at the server's own console prompt, with no separate RCON client to set up. Type a command like say hello everyone, time set day, or weather clear and click Send.

Warning: Commands run immediately with no confirmation, including ones that affect gameplay or stop the server — the console is a direct line to your server, so double-check what you're about to send.

⚙️ Server settings

The Server Settings card on the Settings tab lets you change your server's options without editing server.properties by hand or opening a ticket: difficulty, game mode, hardcore, PvP, monster/animal spawning, the Nether, command blocks, max players, admin (op) permission level, spawn protection radius, world border, view/simulation distance, the server list message (MOTD), a resource pack, and more. Only the settings your Minecraft version actually has are shown. Networking, RCON, and other infrastructure-level settings aren't exposed here on purpose, since changing them could break how your server connects to our platform. The seed and world type are chosen in the New World card (see World backup & restore above), since they only apply when a world is generated.

Tip: Changes save immediately but only take effect after your server restarts — use the power controls or a scheduled restart below to apply them.

⏰ Scheduled restarts

Set up a recurring restart — daily or on a specific day of the week — from the Scheduled Restarts card on the Settings tab. This is useful for applying pending server-settings changes automatically, or just clearing accumulated memory usage on a long-running server. Restarts happen within a few minutes of the time you set, in Eastern time.

📋 Server logs

The Server Logs card on the Console & Logs tab shows recent server output right in your browser — click Load Recent Logs to see it. It's the same log a crash report or a plugin error would normally only show in the console, so it's usually the fastest way to figure out what happened after a crash, before reaching out to support.

Tip: If you do need to open a ticket about a crash, pasting the last 20-30 lines of the log saves a back-and-forth — it's usually the first thing we'll ask for.

📡 Live logs & full log download

The Server Logs card has two more buttons next to Load Recent Logs. Live view follows your server's console as it happens — new lines appear about every 2 seconds, so you can watch a startup or reproduce a crash while you read. Download full log gives you a .zip with everything your server's console has printed since the server was last rebuilt (a plan change or server type change starts a fresh log), in a single timestamped file — useful when the problem happened long before the last few hundred lines.

  1. Open the Console & Logs tab and find the Server Logs card.
  2. Click Live view to start following the log, and Stop live view when you're done.
  3. Click Download full log to save it as a .zip.
Note: The live view stops by itself after 30 minutes, so a forgotten browser tab doesn't keep polling forever — just click Live view again to resume. It also pauses while your browser tab is in the background or you're on another tab of the service page.
Tip: The full log can be large, so downloads are limited to 5 every 10 minutes per service. If a download is refused, wait a few minutes and try again.

💳 Billing tab

Everything about paying for your server lives on the Billing tab. Change Plan moves you to a bigger or smaller plan: upgrades take effect as soon as the prorated difference is paid, downgrades take effect at your next renewal with no refund for the current period. Cancel Subscription stops future payments while your server stays active until the end of the period you've already paid for. Payment History lists every payment for this service with its date, amount, type, and transaction ID.

Tip: How upgrades are charged for each payment method, and how to switch payment methods, is covered in the Billing guide.

Still stuck? Check the FAQ or contact us — we'll answer directly.

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