Getting started

Your server is ready

Your Bedrock server runs from the first moment and needs no setup to work. All you need is the address and the port:

your server address appears here

The server is still being set up. Your address will appear here as soon as it's done.

Joining from your device

It's almost the same everywhere: open the game, choose Play, open the Servers tab, and scroll down to Add Server.

Server Name: anything you like. It's only for you.
Server Address: the address above, without the port.
Port: the number above.

Hit Save and your server appears in the list.

Joining from Xbox, PlayStation or Switch

Phones, tablets and Windows add a server with the steps above. Xbox, PlayStation and Switch give you no field to add one. That's Microsoft's decision, not Serverk's. Console players join through BedrockConnect, a free open-source project: a DNS setting on the console sends the game's featured servers to a BedrockConnect server, which shows a server list where the player types your address and port.

The DNS addresses the project lists for its main server:

Xbox and Switch: primary DNS 104.238.130.180, secondary DNS 8.8.8.8.
PlayStation: primary DNS 45.55.68.52, secondary DNS 8.8.8.8.

Open the console's internet settings and enter the two DNS addresses by hand.
Open Minecraft, go to the Servers tab, and join one of the featured servers that support the redirect: Mineville, Lifeboat, Enchanted, Galaxite or The Hive.
The BedrockConnect server list opens. Enter your server's address and port there, and join.

On PS5, the DNS is under Settings → Network → Settings → Set Up Internet Connection → Advanced Settings, where you set DNS Settings to Manual. On PS4, open Settings → Network → Set Up Internet Connection, pick your connection type, then Custom, set DNS Settings to Manual, and leave the other screens on Automatic, Do Not Specify or Do Not Use.

Serverk doesn't run BedrockConnect and hasn't tested it with our servers. The steps and addresses above come from the project's page, so check there if they change. The project says it has no app on the App Store or Google Play, and any app with its name isn't theirs.

BedrockConnect hasn't announced NetherNet support. Minecraft 26.60 removes RakNet, the old connection method, so this way in may stop working with 26.60 until the project adds NetherNet.

How players connect

Bedrock connects to your server over NetherNet, Mojang's new connection method. The address and port a player types reach your server first, and the game data then runs over a range of ports we reserve for your server. We set those ports on every start, so a change you make to server-port or server-udp-ports in server.properties is replaced on the next start.

The first time you join, Bedrock asks whether you trust the server. Accept it and continue. It won't ask again.

iPhone and iPad players

If iPhone and iPad players get InitialConnection-13 while Windows and Android players join, it's a Mojang bug in NetherNet signaling, not a problem with your server. Until Minecraft 26.60, switch Connection transport to RakNet in Settings and restart. Players keep the same address and port.

Minecraft 26.60 removes RakNet from both the game and the server, so no player on 26.60 can join over it. When you update your server to 26.60, we switch Connection transport back to NetherNet as it starts, and Settings no longer accepts RakNet.

The first thing to do

Open Settings and change the server name, the player slots and the difficulty. Anything you change here needs a restart to take effect.

To control who gets in, open the Players tab and read the allowlist guide.

Updates

While Build under Version is set to Follow the latest build, we update your server to each new Mojang build on its channel. We take a backup first and wait until no one is playing, or update right away if the server is stopped. A restart never changes the build on its own. The Game version card shows the installed and the latest build, and there you can pick Ask me to update only when you say so.

To keep your server on one build, pick its number under Build. Your server stays on it until you pick another number or go back to Follow the latest build.

Minecraft on your players' devices, from phones to consoles and Windows, usually updates on its own. So after each new Mojang release, players see Outdated Server until your server updates. A player who sees Outdated Client has an older game than your server and needs to update it.

An update can break add-ons that use Beta APIs. Those APIs change with almost every major Minecraft release, so such an add-on may stop loading until its author updates it. If your add-ons use Beta APIs, pick a build number to keep your server on it, and move to a new build after their authors update them. Open the Add-on check on the Add-ons tab to see which add-ons need Beta APIs.

The console

The console gives you the same server commands you have in game. Try:

list

The stop command stops the server. Use the stop button in the panel instead, because it takes its time and saves your world properly.

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Players: the allowlist and operators