Tips for Running a Vanilla Survival Server with Friends

Running a fun and stable Vanilla survival server takes a little more than just hitting "create". Here's what we've learned from thousands of FreeMCServers.org Vanilla survival servers.

1. Set spawn protection

Use spawn-protection=16 in server.properties to prevent random players from breaking blocks at spawn. Op accounts (server admins) can still build there.

2. Make rules clear from day one

The most common cause of friend-group server drama is unclear rules around griefing and stealing. Decide upfront:

• Is PvP allowed? (Set pvp=false in server.properties to disable.)
• Are players allowed to break each other's builds?
• Is stealing from chests allowed?
• Where can people build? (Designate a spawn area as "no-build")

3. Use the whitelist for closed groups

If your server is just for friends, enable the whitelist:

1. Set white-list=true in server.properties
2. Restart the server
3. Use /whitelist add <username> in the console to add each friend

This stops randoms from joining even if they discover your IP.

4. Make ops sparingly

Only give /op to people you fully trust. Ops can do anything — kick players, set time, give items, ban people. Use /op <username> from the console to grant.

5. Pick a difficulty that matches your group

For new players, easy is a good middle ground. For experienced players, hard makes survival challenging. normal is the default and works for most groups.

6. Restart the server periodically

Long-running Vanilla servers (multiple days uptime) can develop minor memory issues. From your dashboard, restart the server every few days to keep performance fresh.

Want more features?

If you want player homes, teleport requests, or world protection, you'll need plugin support — see Paper for an upgrade path that's still vanilla-compatible.