Intro#

The GitHub link:

Some simple intro from its doc (https://docker-minecraft-server.readthedocs.io/en/latest/):

This docker image provides a Minecraft Server that will automatically download the latest stable version at startup. You can also run/upgrade to any specific version or the latest snapshot. See the Versions section below for more information.

To simply use the latest stable version, run

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docker run -d -it -p 25565:25565 -e EULA=TRUE itzg/minecraft-server

where, in this case, the standard server port 25565 will be exposed on your host machine.

Docker compose#

I do not recommend you to directly run this image with the command above. Instead, Docker compose is the best method like other usual projects.
Here are the official instructions.

1. Create a new directory

2. Put the contents of the file below in a file called compose.yaml

3. Run docker compose up -d in that directory

4. Done! Point your client at your host’s name/IP address and port 25565.

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services:
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  mc:
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    image: itzg/minecraft-server:latest
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    pull_policy: daily
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    tty: true
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    stdin_open: true
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    ports:
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      - "25565:25565"
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    environment:
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      EULA: "TRUE"
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    volumes:
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      # attach the relative directory 'data' to the container's /data path
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      - ./data:/data

To apply changes made to the compose file, just run docker compose up -d again.

Follow the logs of the container using docker compose logs -f, check on the status with docker compose ps, and stop the container using docker compose stop.

If you are a beginner of Docker, you may be confused about the volumes. Well, it’s actually quite simple; you can look at one possible structure below.

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Your-MC-Server-Folder
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├── data
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│   ├── config
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│   ├── eula.txt
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│   ├── kubejs
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│   ├── mods
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│   ├── server.properties
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│   └── world
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└── docker-compose.yml

Obviously, the /data folder inside /Your-MC-Server-Folder is the place where you need to put all the mods and world into. Of course, you can use docker compose command to let docker generate these data by itself. Also, you could just move your existing data into the /data.

Loader and Mod#

Starting a modded server is also possible by just changing the variables in the compose.yaml. I will show you my own one. You can use this website https://setupmc.com/java-server/ to assist you in generating your own config.

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services:
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  mc:
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    image: itzg/minecraft-server:latest
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    tty: true
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    stdin_open: true
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    ports:
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      - "25565:25565"
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      - "24454:24454/udp"
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    environment:
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      EULA: "TRUE"
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      TYPE: "NEOFORGE"
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      VERSION: "1.21.1"
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      INIT_MEMORY: "4G"
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      MAX_MEMORY: "12G"
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      MOTD: "A Minecraft Server"
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      TZ: "Asia/Tokyo"
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      DIFFICULTY: "hard"
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    volumes:
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      - "./data:/data"

Btw, port open to 24454 due to the mod ‘Simple Voice Chat’. In this situation, you also need to change the ip to 0.0.0.0 in the Simple Voice Chat config.

And…#

Have fun!