Install Minecraft Server

First, Install OpenJDK

Create a directory to store Minecraft

sudo mkdir /opt
cd /opt
sudo mkdir minecraft

Download Minecraft

cd /opt/minecraft

sudo wget https://launcher.mojang.com/v1/objects/3dc3d84a581f14691199cf6831b71ed1296a9fdf/server.jar -O minecraft_server.1.14.4.jar

if [ -h minecraft_server.jar ]; then
    sudo rm -f minecraft_server.jar
fi

sudo ln -s minecraft_server.1.14.4.jar minecraft_server.jar

Start the server to generate all of the supporting files

cat > /tmp/eula.txt << EOF
eula=true
EOF
 
sudo mv /tmp/eula.txt /opt/minecraft/

cd /opt/minecraft
sudo chmod o+w /opt/minecraft
java -Xms1024M -Xmx1024M -jar minecraft_server.jar nogui
# After the server startup is "done", stop the server by pressing Ctrl-C
sudo chmod o-w /opt/minecraft

Create a user for Minecraft to run under

sudo useradd minecraft

Make sure that the minecraft user owns all of the files…

sudo chown -R minecraft:minecraft /opt/minecraft

I also like to have plugins on my server so I use Spigot:

cd /tmp
wget https://hub.spigotmc.org/jenkins/job/BuildTools/lastSuccessfulBuild/artifact/target/BuildTools.jar
 
java -jar BuildTools.jar --rev 1.13.2
 
sudo mv craftbukkit-1.13.2.jar spigot-1.13.2.jar /opt/minecraft/
 
cd /opt/minecraft
 
if [ -h spigot.jar ]; then
    sudo rm -f spigot.jar
fi
 
sudo ln -s spigot-1.13.2.jar spigot.jar
 
if [ -h craftbukkit.jar ]; then
    sudo rm -f craftbukkit.jar
fi
 
sudo ln -s craftbukkit-1.13.2.jar craftbukkit.jar 

cat > /tmp/minecraft.conf << EOF
# description "start and stop the minecraft-server"

chdir /opt/minecraft

exec su -s /bin/sh -c 'exec "\$0" "\$@"' minecraft -- \
    /usr/bin/java -Xms1024M -Xmx1024M -jar minecraft_server.jar nogui > /dev/null

start on runlevel [2345]
stop on runlevel [^2345]

EOF

sudo mv /tmp/minecraft.conf /etc/init/
sudo chown root:root /etc/init/minecraft.conf

cat > /tmp/minecraft.service << EOF
[Unit]
Description=Minecraft Server
Documentation=

Wants=network.target
After=network.target

[Service]
User=minecraft
Group=minecraft
KillMode=process
SuccessExitStatus=0 1 143

ProtectHome=true
ProtectSystem=full
PrivateDevices=true
NoNewPrivileges=true
PrivateTmp=true
ReadWriteDirectories=/opt/minecraft
WorkingDirectory=/opt/minecraft
ExecStart=/usr/bin/java -Xmx1024M -Xms1024M -jar minecraft_server.jar nogui

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

sudo mv /tmp/minecraft.service /etc/systemd/system/
sudo chown root:root /etc/systemd/system/minecraft.service

sudo systemctl enable minecraft.service

sudo service minecraft start