I want to create multiple Minecraft servers that will run on multiple servers in my network.
The main objective is to only have a single port (TCP 25565) facing the Internet, and then pass the request hostname (mc.example.com) to the right backend server.
Is there any way to achieve this? I know that a reverse proxy can be used, but it's for HTTP, so any way to do this for Minecraft?
EDIT: as @attie said, it won't be possible to use a single IF port for multiple Minecraft servers.
So now, let's say I open a range of 10 ports (25565 to 25575) for those servers. What should I do next to make this more user-friendly? I mean, directly redirecting the user to the IF port when he's entering mc.example.com?
103 Answers
The only reason this works for HTTP is because there is a Host: header within the protocol that can be inspected. It is not possible to do this by listening on a single port if you don't also have something in the protocol that indicates where the connection should be routed.
I don't believe the Minecraft protocol has this extra information in it... If you are absolutely 100% restricted to a single internet-facing port, then your options are not user-friendly:
- Tunnelling (e.g: VPN / SSH / SOCKS) - users will need to setup software on their side. Once connected, they can connect to the actual Minecraft server. NOTE: this will also likely impact the playability (i.e: increased latency)
- Source based packet routing - each user can access one server, but they may see a different server depending on where that user is connecting from.
I recommend that you listen on multiple ports.
1You can try to do with Bind9 of Linux (I used Debian with raspberrypi [Raspbian]) with the SVR Records.
- Install Bind9 in Linux: sudo apt-get install bind9 bind9-doc -y
- And restart the daemon of Bind9 when it finished to install: /etc/init.d/bind9 restart
You need to do your first Domain, for to do it you need do this:
zone "origensone.net" { type master; file "/var/lib/bind/origensone.net.hosts";
};The up text is the config file link of this domain DNS database.
(This is that you need enter in the file what I tell you to continue)
For example my domain in this way is: origensone.net
//
// Do any local configuration here
//
// Consider adding the 1918 zones here, if they are not used in your
// organization
//include "/etc/bind/zones.rfc1918";
// This is a new area for our domain:
zone "origensone.net" { type master; file "/var/lib/bind/origensone.net.hosts";
};- The file "/var/lib/bind/origensone.net.hosts"; is where are the DNS with the SubDomains, is how a DNS database of this domain and subdomains, ALIAS, CNAMEs, etc.
This is how I have my Minecraft Servers in my local DNS Server:
FILE: /var/lib/bind/origensone.net.hosts$ttl 3600
origensone.net. IN SOA DnsServer. ( 1616892692 ; Serial 3600 ; Refresh 600 ; Retry 1209600 ; Expire 3600 ) ; Minimum
origensone.net. IN NS DnsServer. ; --// DnsServer is the hostname of the machine == 127.0.0.1 or 192.168.1.10 == DnsServer.local //--
origensone.net. IN A <PublicIP (of IP Router)>
; --// Subdomain to IP Directions: //--
dnsservidor IN A <PrivateIP-1_for_DNSServerHosting> ; --// 192.168.1.10 for example for the DNSServer. //--
mcservidor IN A <PrivateIP-2_for_MinecraftServerHosting> ; --// 192.168.1.11 for the server of minecraft hosting servers. //--
mcservidortorouter IN A <PublicIP (of IP Router)>
; --// The Canonical Names: //--
mcmods IN CNAME mcservidor
mcsurvi IN CNAME mcservidor
; --// This're the SVR records: //--
_minecraft._tcp.mcsurvi.origensone.net. SRV 0 5 25566 mcservidortorouter.origensone.net.
_minecraft._tcp.mcmods.origensone.net. SRV 0 5 25567 mcservidortorouter.origensone.net._service._protocol.name. TTL Class SRV Priority Weight Port Target:_minecraft._tcp.mcsurvi.origensone.net. SRV 0 5 25566 mcservidortorouter.origensone.net.
- _service = _minecraft
- _protocol.name = _tcp
- TTL is same of Time to Live (Is in Default).
- Class = mcsurvi.origensone.net
- SRV
- Priority = 0
- Weight = 5
- Port = 25566
- Target → mcservidortorouter.origensone.net.
The localhost is the IP: 127.0.0.1
This is a example in SVR records; In this case I'm using two subdomains in ALIAS for can get the two servers:origensone.net (domain):
- mcsurvi (subdomain) → For survival = mcsurvi.origensone.net
- mcmods (subdomain) → For mods = mcmods.origensone.net
When you'll have this with Bind9 DNS Server and the all parts completed, find the instructions here for confirmed what works good the DNS to Port here!.
Or when you finished for confirm that's all good, you need to do this:
- In a terminal of Linux put this commands:
nslookup # Press Enter. set query=srv _minecraft._tcp.mcsurvi.origensone.net
This is in Windows CMD: [The grey spaces are my Public IP for that are censured]
This is in Raspbian (DnsServer.): [Grey block is my name for that is censured]
For try to do this you can do it in the same server or in other computer that have that DNS Server Connected in the NetworkCard of that Host).
And IF this works, when we will go to do a PING to this subdomain.domain the console give to our the ping correctly of 192.168.1.11 or that's same the IP of Minecraft Hosting Server.
There is a project called "Minecraft Redirect Proxy" () that is doing exactly what you want.
@attie The Minecraft protocal does include the requested hostname. It is send with the first packet the server recives.
Configuration is also very easy. Here an untested example:
{ "versionName": "ProxyCup", "maxPlayers": 0, "onlinePlayers": 0, "motd": "Couldnt connect to requested backend server. If you believe this to be an issue, contact the administrator of this proxy.", "port": 25565, "nodes": [ { "hostname": "domain1.com", "remoteHostname": "localhost", "remoteHostPort": 25566 }, { "hostname": "domain2.com", "remoteHostname": "localhost", "remoteHostPort": 25567 } ]
}
