Still have questions?
Zach Lowery
Game Experience Engineer
How to Configure Your Minecraft Server (server.properties)
The server.properties file is where your server's configurations and settings are stored.
While the default configuration of a new Minecraft server works for most situations, you may wish to customize your server by tweaking a few of the configuration options, and this will require you to modify the server.properties file. Doing this is made easy with the Shockbyte Control Panel, so you won't have to manually edit the file directly from your server directory.
All Minecraft servers from Shockbyte come with access to our in-house control panel so that you can configure and set up your new Minecraft server easily.
#Accessing Your Server Settings
Please note that any changes made to your server settings while the server is online require the server to be restarted in order to take effect. We recommend editing your server settings while the server is offline and starting it when you are finished.
- Open up your Shockbyte Control Panel and navigate to the Config tab.
- Select your Server Properties.
#Configuring Your Server Settings
Now that you have accessed your server settings, you may modify them to your preference. The table below describes some of the more useful and frequently customized server settings options available in your server control panel.
| Name | Default Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Difficulty | Normal | Controls the difficulty level for the server. Acceptable values are Peaceful, Easy, Normal, or Hard. |
| Whitelist | Disabled | Controls whether or not whitelisting is enabled and used. |
| Message of the day | A Minecraft Server | Sets the message that is shown for your server in the server list. |
| Level name | world | Sets the world name to be used by the server. |
| Level seed | 0 | Sets a seed that will be used to generate the server's world. If zero, it will be randomized. |
| Enable command blocks | Disabled | Controls whether command blocks can be used on the server or not. |
| Enable RCON | Disabled | Enables RCON for your server, which allows you to access your server console remotely. |
| RCON Password | 0 | If RCON is enabled, this password will be used to access it. |
| Allow Nether | Enabled | Controls whether players have access to teleport into the Nether dimension. |
| Allow Flight | Disabled | Determines whether players have the ability to fly in survival mode. |
| Spawn Animals | Enabled | Controls whether animals should be spawned in the world or not. |
| Spawn Monsters | Enabled | Controls whether monsters should spawn in the world or not. |
| Spawn NPC | Enabled | Controls whether villagers can spawn in the world or not. |
| Generate Structures | Enabled | Controls whether structures will generate in the world, like villages, strongholds, or dungeons. |
| PVP | Enabled | Sets whether player versus player combat is enabled on the server. |
| Online Mode | Enabled | Configures whether the server will authenticate players with Mojang servers or not. |
| View Distance | 10 | Sets the maximum amount of chunks that will be viewable by players on the server. This setting can be very taxing on performance at high values. |
| Max Players | 20 | Dictates the maximum number of players that can join your server at one time. |
| Max Build Height | 0 | Determines the maximum height at which blocks can be placed within the world. |
Please note that the table above may not reflect the options available for your server, or the order in which they are listed. This is due to differences between versions of Minecraft.
Additionally, niche and technical options were not included in the table. If you’d like to learn more about the different server settings you can configure, check out this Minecraft Wiki page.