Install the Minecraft server on an Arm-based virtual machine

Install the Java Runtime Environment

Before you install the Minecraft server, install necessary dependencies. For Minecraft 26 or earlier, you’ll need to install Java 25.

After connecting to your VM instance over SSH, install Java 25:

    

        
        
sudo dnf install java-25-openjdk.aarch64 -y

    

Create a persistent terminal session for the server

The Minecraft server runs in the foreground of your terminal session. If you close your SSH connection, the server process will stop. To keep the server running after you disconnect, use tmux to create a persistent terminal session.

Install tmux on the VM instance:

    

        
        
sudo dnf install tmux -y

    

Start a new tmux session named minecraft:

    

        
        
tmux new -s minecraft

    

You’re now inside a tmux session. Any commands you run here will continue running even after you disconnect from SSH. You’ll start the Minecraft server inside this session.

When you need to disconnect, press Ctrl+B then D to detach from the session. The server continues running in the background.

To reattach to the session later (for example, after reconnecting to the instance via SSH), run:

    

        
        
tmux attach -t minecraft

    

Download and install the Minecraft server

For the latest version of the Minecraft server, see the Minecraft website .

Copy the minecraft_server.x.x.x.jar URL from that page. Then, run the following command on the instance to download server.jar from the Mojang website:

    

        
        
wget <paste URL to server.jar here>

    

You’ll have a server.jar file on your OCI instance. To make it easier to keep track of different server versions, rename the server.jar file to something more meaningful

For example:

    

        
        
mv server.jar minecraft_server.26.2.jar

    

Start the Minecraft server

To start the Minecraft server, run the command:

    

        
        
java -Xmx8G -Xms8G -jar minecraft_server.26.2.jar nogui

    

This runs the server without a graphical user interface, and allocates 8 GB of memory to it.

The first time you do this, the startup will fail and a file called eula.txt is created in the local folder.

Before starting the server again, accept the End User License Agreement.

Open eula.txt and change eula=false to eula=true, or run:

    

        
        
sed -i 's/eula=false/eula=true/' eula.txt

    

After accepting terms of use, you’ll be able to run the server successfully with the same command as earlier.

The output is similar to:

    

        
        [00:40:50] [Server thread/INFO]: Starting minecraft server version 26.2
[00:40:50] [Server thread/INFO]: Loading properties
[00:40:50] [Server thread/INFO]: Default game type: SURVIVAL
[00:40:50] [Server thread/INFO]: Generating keypair
[00:40:51] [Server thread/INFO]: Starting Minecraft server on *:25565
[00:40:51] [Server thread/INFO]: Preparing level "world"
[00:40:51] [Server thread/INFO]: Selecting global world spawn...
[00:41:04] [Server thread/INFO]: Loading 0 persistent chunks...
[00:41:04] [Server thread/INFO]: Preparing spawn area: 100%
[00:41:04] [Server thread/INFO]: Time elapsed: 13099 ms
[00:41:04] [Server thread/INFO]: Done (13.448s)! For help, type "help"
[00:41:04] [Server thread/INFO]: Saving chunks for level 'ServerLevel[world]'/minecraft:overworld
[00:41:04] [Server thread/INFO]: Saving chunks for level 'ServerLevel[world]'/minecraft:the_nether
[00:41:04] [Server thread/INFO]: Saving chunks for level 'ServerLevel[world]'/minecraft:the_end
[00:41:04] [Server thread/INFO]: ThreadedAnvilChunkStorage (world): All chunks are saved
[00:41:04] [Server thread/INFO]: ThreadedAnvilChunkStorage (DIM-1): All chunks are saved
[00:41:04] [Server thread/INFO]: ThreadedAnvilChunkStorage (DIM1): All chunks are saved
[00:41:04] [Server thread/INFO]: ThreadedAnvilChunkStorage: All dimensions are saved

        
    

What you’ve accomplished and what’s next

You’ve now installed the open-source Java Runtime Environment on your instance, downloaded the Minecraft server files, accepted the End User License Agreement, and started the game server.

Next, you’ll connect a Minecraft client to the server.