Practical guides for customers running Minecraft servers. The examples below use standard DNS and Minecraft concepts; exact controls can vary by DNS provider and server software.
Option A — default Minecraft port 25565: Create an A record such as play.example.com pointing to your server's public IPv4 address. Players can then connect using play.example.com.
Option B — custom port: Use an SRV record. Example: _minecraft._tcp.play.example.com with the appropriate priority/weight, the target hostname (for example node.example.com), and your Minecraft port. An SRV record does not replace the A/AAAA record for the target hostname.
A: maps a hostname to an IPv4 address. AAAA: maps a hostname to IPv6. CNAME: aliases one hostname to another hostname. SRV: publishes service/port information and is useful when a Minecraft server does not use 25565.
DNS changes can take time to propagate. Avoid creating a CNAME at the same hostname as an A/AAAA record. If your DNS provider offers proxying, make sure its proxy actually supports the traffic your Minecraft service requires; ordinary HTTP proxying is not the same as TCP/UDP game traffic protection.
Paper, Pufferfish, Spigot, Fabric, Forge and other server software have different features and plugin/mod compatibility. Always verify that your plugins or mods support the Minecraft version you are running before upgrading.
Start with reasonable view distance and simulation distance. Remove unnecessary plugins, investigate plugins that cause frequent main-thread work, keep backups, pre-generate worlds when appropriate, and monitor timings/profiling data before making major changes. More RAM does not automatically fix a CPU-bound Minecraft server.
Minecraft Java gameplay is commonly designed around 20 ticks per second. If the server cannot process its tick workload in time, TPS can fall and players may experience lag. CPU single-thread performance, entity counts, redstone, plugins, world generation and chunk loading can all affect tick time.
StrataHosts uses Reviactyl as its game management panel. Reviactyl is a modern game server management panel built with Laravel, React, FilamentPHP, Vite and Go, and its documentation lists Minecraft support including Spigot, PaperMC, Sponge, Bungeecord and Velocity.
Before major version changes, plugin changes or world edits, make a current backup. Keep at least one backup separate from the live server where practical.
Join the StrataHosts Discord or use the support channels provided with your service.