Installing Multicraft on Ubuntu

Multicraft is a control panel for single or multiple Minecraft servers, with free and paid versions available. This guide provides information to install Multicraft on a Linode running Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.

Note

The steps required in this guide require root privileges. Be sure to run the steps as root or with the sudo prefix. For more information on privileges see our Users and Groups guide.

Prerequisites

Multicraft for Linux depends on several software packages in order to run.

1. Update your system:

   sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
   

2. Install LAMP server:

   sudo apt install tasksel
   sudo tasksel install lamp-server
   

3. Install PHP, SQLite, Java, and related packages:

   sudo apt install -y zip php-zip php php-sqlite3 php-gd default-jre
   

4. In configuration file of Apache, under the <Directory /var/www/> section, change the AllowOverride value to all.

   File: /etc/apache2/apache2.conf

   1 2 3 4 5

   <Directory /var/www/> Options Indexes FollowSymLinks AllowOverride All Require all granted </Directory>

5. Reload the Apache configuration:

   sudo service apache2 reload
   

Installing Multicraft

1. Download the Multicraft installer:

   wget http://www.multicraft.org/download/linux64 -O multicraft.tar.gz
   

2. Expand the installer:

   tar -xzf multicraft*.tar.gz
   

3. Move to the multicraft directory:

   cd multicraft/
   

4. Execute the setup.sh script:

   ./setup.sh
   

5. An interactive script that prompts you to configure several options runs. If you’ve purchased a license for Multicraft, enter it when prompted. If you’re unsure of which options to choose, you can press return to select the default option, with a couple of exceptions:

   • Unless you’re configuring a custom Apache virtual host for Multicraft, specify the location for the PHP frontend to /var/www/html/multicraft:

     Location of the PHP frontend: [/var/www/multicraft] /var/www/html/multicraft
     

   • Because of the insecure nature of FTP, Linode recommends that you not enable the builtin FTP server when prompted:

     Enable builtin FTP server? [y]/n n
     

   After the script finishes, you can begin configuring the Multicraft install.

6. Make a copy the file configuration file and access to the www-data user.

   cp /var/www/html/multicraft/protected/config/config.php.dist /var/www/html/multicraft/protected/config/config.php then
   chown www-data:www-data /var/www/html/multicraft/protected/config/config.php
   

7. Enable the ports to access the server:

   sudo apt install ufw
   ufw allow 80
   ufw allow 443
   ufw allow 22
   ufw enable
   

   After the ports are enabled, restart the server.

Configuring the Control Panel

1. In your local web browser, navigate to http://192.0.2.0/multicraft, replacing 192.0.2.0 with your Linode’s IP address or domain name. Click Start Installation:

   

2. Multicraft checks the requirements. If you completed the steps above without issue, the following page appears:

   Click Continue.

3. Multicraft checks for the config.php file and if it is writeable. If successful, click Continue:

4. On the next page, click Initialize Database.

   

5. Afterward the database is initialized, click Continue:

   

6. The next page attempts to connect to the panel database. You should see the message Connection successful. You can now click on the Login button and sign in with the default username and password as admin.

   

7. After logging in you are directed back to the previous page, where you can now click Continue. The next page allows you to configure the basic settings. When done, click Save.

8. On the daemon configuration page, a start command to initiate the Multicraft Daemon appears. Copy the command into your terminal:

   /home/minecraft/multicraft/bin/multicraft -v start
   Multicraft 2.4.1 - Minecraft Server Manager Daemon
   Loading configuration from /home/minecraft/multicraft/multicraft.conf
   Starting daemon
   !! You are using the default daemon password.
   !! Please change the "password" setting in the "multicraft.conf" as well as the "daemon_password" setting in the "protected/config/config.php" of the panel
   

9. Back in the browser, click Refresh. You should see the daemon in the detected daemons list. Click Continue:

   

10. Your configuration of the Multicraft control panel is now complete. As per the instructions on the page, delete the install.php file from your terminal:

    rm /var/www/html/multicraft/install.php
    

Install Minecraft

1. Navigate to the directory where Multicraft stores jar files. If you used the default options, it is /home/minecraft/multicraft/jar/:

   cd /home/minecraft/multicraft/jar/
   

2. Download the latest version of the Minecraft server from the Minecraft Download page:

   wget  https://launcher.mojang.com/v1/objects/0a269b5f2c5b93b1712d0f5dc43b6182b9ab254e/server.jar
   

Version 1.17 (minecraft_server.1.17.jar) is downloaded.

1. In your local web browser, navigate to http://192.0.2.0/multicraft/, replacing 192.0.2.0 with your Linode’s IP address or domain name. Click Servers.

2. At this time you must accept the Multicraft EULA. A pop-up window appears. By clicking Close you are indicating your agreement to the EULA here: http://www.multicraft.org/eula.txt. Click Close.

   

3. Click Create Server. Fill in the options as you see fit, but be sure to add server.jar (or the version that you downloaded) in the JAR File field:

   

   You can now successfully start and manage your Minecraft server through Multicraft! For more information, see the Connect to your Minecraft Server section on the How to Set Up a Minecraft Server on Ubuntu or Debian guide.

More Information

You may wish to consult the following resources for additional information on this topic. While these are provided in the hope that they will be useful, please note that we cannot vouch for the accuracy or timeliness of externally hosted materials.

• Multicraft Documentation
• Minecraft.net