Create and configure an Arm-based virtual machine instance on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure

Set up and launch a virtual machine instance

To create an Ampere powered A1 virtual machine (VM) instance that you’ll use for the Minecraft server, follow these steps:

1. Log on to Oracle Cloud .
2. On the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) dashboard, go to Compute > Instances to start a new instance: Navigate to Compute -> Instances in the OCI dashboard
3. Select Create instance.
4. Select an availability domain for your instance.
5. Under Image and shape, select Edit.
6. To update the instance’s image, select Change image.
7. In the Select an image panel, search for and select Oracle Linux 9, then select Select image.
8. To update the shape of the instance, select Change shape and update the following in the Browse all shapes panel:
   • For Instance type, select Virtual machine.
   • For Shape series, select Ampere.
   • For Image, select VM.Standard.A1.Flex.
   • Allocate two OCPUs and 12 GB of memory to your instance. Configure the VM instance shape to VM.Standard.A1.Flex
9. After updating the instance shape, select Select shape.
10. Leave the security and storage options as defaults. Then, under Networking, update the following:
    • Create a new Virtual Cloud Network (VCN) and public subnet if you don’t have one already, or choose an existing VCN configuration.
    • Select Automatically assign public IPv4 address to allow remote access to your Minecraft server instance.
    • Create and download an SSH key pair if you don’t already have one, or upload the public key for an existing key pair so that you can connect to your instance over SSH after it’s created.
11. After verifying that the instance is correctly configured, choose Create to provision a new instance. It can take up to 2 minutes for your instance to be created.

Allow clients to connect to the Minecraft server instance

After creating the instance, change the network policy to allow clients to connect to the Minecraft server over TCP port number 25565.

To do this, modify the networking settings for the instance as follows:

1. On the OCI Instances page, choose the Minecraft server instance.

2. Under the Networking tab, select the subnet name. Open the subnet from the instance Networking tab

3. Under the Security tab of the subnet page, choose the security list which is active for the instance. By default, this is called Default Security List for vcn-xxxxxxxx. Select the Default Security List on the Subnet Details page

4. Under Security rules, select Add Ingress Rules to add a new ingress rule, then update the following:

   • Set Source CIDR to the public IP address (or range) of the players who’ll connect to your server. For example, if your home IP address is 203.0.113.45, set the Source CIDR to 203.0.113.45/32 to allow only that address.

     You can find your current public IP address by searching “what is my IP address?” in a web browser from the network you’ll use to connect. You can add multiple ingress rules if players connect from different networks.

   Warning

   Avoid using `0.0.0.0/0` as the **Source CIDR**. `0.0.0.0/0` opens the port to the entire internet and
   exposes your server to unauthorized access attempts. Always restrict access to only the IP addresses that need to connect.
   

   • Set the Destination Port Range field to 25565. Security list ingress rule for Minecraft traffic on port 25565

Connect to the instance over SSH

After creating the instance and opening a port for the Minecraft server, navigate to the Networking tab for the instance:

Find the instance public IPv4 address

Note the IP address under Public IPv4 address.

SSH into your instance, replacing <path to private key> with the path to your SSH private key and <public IPv4 address> with the instance’s public IP:

    

        
        
ssh -i <path to private key> opc@<public IPv4 address>

    

What you’ve accomplished and what’s next

You’ve now provisioned an Ampere A1 virtual machine instance on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, configured its virtual network to assign a public IP address, opened port 25565, and connected to the server securely over SSH.

Next, you’ll install Java and download the Minecraft server software.