Opening a Minecraft Bedrock server

Here's how to open a server on Ubuntu for playing with friends who use phones, tablets or the Windows app (Bedrock Edition). For a PC Java Edition server, see Creating a Minecraft server (Java Edition, Paper and vanilla).

Before you start

Specs: For a few friends, 2–4GB of memory or more is enough. How to choose VPS specs (recommended specs by use case)
Network: If your server will be open to the public, consider the Security Zone.

1. Download the server files

On minecraft.net, copy the download link for Ubuntu (Linux) from the "Bedrock Dedicated Server" download page.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y unzip curl screen
mkdir ~/bedrock && cd ~/bedrock
curl -L -A "Mozilla/5.0" -o bedrock.zip "copied download link"
unzip bedrock.zip

2. Run it

Run it inside screen so it keeps going even after you close the SSH window. (How to use screen)

screen -S bedrock
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=. ./bedrock_server

If you see Server started., it worked.

Leave while keeping the server running: press Ctrl + A, then D
Go back in: screen -r bedrock
Stop the server: stop in the server console

3. Open the firewall

A Bedrock server uses UDP port 19132. If you open it as TCP, no one can connect.

sudo ufw allow 19132/udp

4. Connect

In Minecraft → Play → Servers → Add Server, enter the server IP as the server address and 19132 as the port.

Consoles like Xbox, PlayStation and Switch have no option to add a server directly on screen, so it's hard to connect from them directly this way.

5. Change settings

With the server stopped, edit it with nano server.properties.

Setting	Description
`server-name`	The name shown in the server list
`gamemode`	`survival`, `creative`, `adventure`
`difficulty`	`peaceful`, `easy`, `normal`, `hard`
`max-players`	Maximum number of players
`allow-cheats`	Whether commands (cheats) are allowed
`allow-list`	When set to `true`, only people on the allow list can join
`online-mode`	Keeping it `true` is recommended (Xbox account authentication)

6. Admins and the allow list

Enter these in the server console.

allowlist add friendname    # Add to the allow list (when allow-list=true)
op yourname                 # Admin privileges (while they're connected)

7. Update the server

When the game updates, the server has to be on the same version for players to connect.

Stop the server with stop.
Back up your worlds and settings.

cd ~/bedrock
tar -czf ~/bedrock-backup-$(date +%F).tar.gz worlds server.properties permissions.json allowlist.json

Download the new version's zip and unzip it, without overwriting your settings files.

curl -L -A "Mozilla/5.0" -o bedrock.zip "new version download link"
unzip -o bedrock.zip -x server.properties permissions.json allowlist.json

Run it again.

Common problems

I can't connect — Check that you opened the firewall for UDP, and that the game and server versions are the same.
World backups — With the server stopped, download the worlds folder to your PC.