Hosting A Server On Your Computer

Vanilla Server:
▫ Create a new folder somewhere on your computer called Server.
▫ Download the Minecraft server JAR and save it to the Server directory.
▫ [Windows] Create a new text file inside the Server directory and call it start.bat
▫ [Windows] Right click the file, click edit, and then paste the following into the file:
java ▫Xmx1024M ▫Xms1024M ▫jar minecraft_server.jar nogui
▫ [Windows] Save the file the close Notepad.
▫ [Mac] Open TextEdit, create a blank document, then paste the following in:
cd /Path/To/Server/
java ▫Xmx1024M ▫Xms1024M ▫jar minecraft_server.jar nogui
▫ [Mac] Press Shift+Command+T to convert the document to plain text, and the save it as start.command
▫ Double click the start.bat or start.command file inside the Server directory to launch the server.
▫ The server will start creating files inside the Server directory, and will also generate a world.
▫ Once it finishes everything that it is doing, type stop into the Command Prompt or Terminal.
▫ Double click your start file again.
▫ Open Minecraft, select Multiplayer, and set the server IP as localhost to test your server.
▫ When you are done, open the Command Prompt or Terminal window that came up and type stop.

Bukkit Server:
▫ Create a new folder somewhere on your computer called Server.
▫ Download a Bukkit build and save the JAR to the Server directory. Selecting a proper Bukkit build and configuring all the plugins that you want can be a difficult process. Usually you should look at all the plugins that you have downloaded, and see what versions they support. Then look for a preferred build of Bukkit that is very close to, but not less than, those version numbers.
▫ Rename the downloaded JAR to craftbukkit.jar
▫ [Windows] Create a new text file inside the Server directory and call it start.bat
▫ [Windows] Right click the file, click edit, and then paste the following into the file:
java ▫Xmx1024M ▫Xms1024M ▫jar craftbukkit.jar noggui
▫ [Windows] Save the file the close Notepad.
▫ [Mac] Open TextEdit, create a blank document, then paste the following in:
cd /Path/To/Server/
java ▫Xmx1024M ▫Xms1024M ▫jar craftbukkit.jar nogui
▫ [Mac] Press Shift+Command+T to convert the document to plain text, and the save it as start.command
▫ Double click the start.bat or start.command file inside the Server directory to launch the server.
▫ The server will start creating files inside the Server directory, load all your plugins, create the plugin config files, and will generate a world.
▫ Once it finishes everything that it is doing, type stop into the Command Prompt or Terminal.
▫ Now is the time to configure all your plugins. Setting plugins up is up to you, as every plugin is different and there is no way I can cover every one. Most developers have an extensive wiki or an explanation on their release thread.
▫ Open Minecraft, select Multiplayer, and set the server IP as localhost to test your server.
▫ When you are done, open the Command Prompt or Terminal window that came up and type stop.

▫ Find out the brand and model number of your router.
▫ [Windows] Open Command Prompt and type in ipconfig /all
▫ [Windows] Look at the IPV4 address on the list, write down the numbers on that address.
▫ [Mac] Open Terminal and type ifconfig, then look at inet under en1
▫ [Mac] Copy down the four sets of numbers directly in front of inet
▫ Head over to Port Forward, scroll down, and select your router from the list at the bottom of the page.
▫ Skip the advertisement, and then click the Default Guide link.
▫ Follow the instructions there, setting the port to forward as 25565, and the local IP as the numbers that were copied in the above steps.
▫ Save your work and exit your router.

▫ Head over to WhatsMyIP and find out your external IP address.
▫ If all went well, people should be able to connect to this IP. Start your server and give this address to people to test it out.