How To Link A Custom Minecraft Domain Name To A Private Minecraft Server With Cpanel

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Unless you have been hiding under a rock, then you will have heard all about Minecraft and its wonderful ability for its players to build custom worlds, but more specifically the ability for more advanced players to host their own Minecraft servers offering them the flexibility of inviting their friends to engage in a customised, private but shared multiplayer experience.



To take it one step further, you can use easy to remember, custom domains to give out to your friends.



This means you can send your friends your custom Minecraft server address like below.



BEFORE: 7abe6d65e50e.eu.minecraft.net AFTER: joes-custom-minecraft-server.com



Much cooler right! ?



Getting Started with a custom Minecraft domain name



Before you start, you need three things.



1. The IP address of your Minecraft server. 2. A custom domain name. 3. Ability to edit your dns zone file for your custom domain. In this tutorial, the dns zone file will be edited with the Cpanel zone file editor.



Once you have your custom Minecraft domain registered and you have a Cpanel hosted account which allows you to edit the dns settings for the custom domain, you are ready to start configuring the zone file.



NOTE: The default port for Minecraft servers is: 25565 but if you have a different port, then obviously in the steps below insert your custom Minecraft port.



Configuring the Minecraft custom domain in Cpanel



In the example below, Joe wants to give his friend the following domain name so they can connect to his custom Minecraft server.



Joes custom minecraft domain: joes-custom-minecraft-server.com



Login to Cpanel



In the search bar type: zone editor and you will see the Zone Editor icon appear.



After you have clicked on the Zone Editor icon, you will see your custom Minecraft domain name in the list like below. Click on the Manage button to start editing the domain.



Now you will see a list of zone file settings for your custom Minecraft domain. For the purpose of this tutorial we have removed all unnecessary entries like MX and SPF etc.



Now we will do two things.



A. Edit the A Name record (easy) B. Add an SRV record (little more advanced)



So click on the Edit button next to the A Record entry. Enter the IP of your Minecraft server into the Record field as shown below. Now you need to add an SRV record for your custom Minecraft domain. Click on the Add Record button. blog



Now you will see the options to configure your new record, so first step is to select the SRV record type from the type dropdown.



When you select the SRV record from the type menu, some new fields will appear.



Now you need to enter the values for the SRV settings.



These are the values for these fields.



Name: _minecraft._tcp Priority: 0 Weight: 5 Port: 25565 Target: joes-custom-minecraft-server.com



When you are ready, click on the Add Record button apply the settings for the custom domain. Now you should see the screen like this showing your custom Minecraft domain configured and ready to go.



ALL DONE! !



Your domain name should be ready to go and you can distribute your custom Minecraft domain name to your friends.



How to check if the A Record and SRV records are working?



If you are using a MAC, then just open terminal and type the following command in the terminal command line.



nslookup -q=SRV _minecraft._tcp.joes-custom-minecraft-server.com



As long as you did everything correctly on the cpanel side, this "should" produce the following results.



Post Written by Craig Edmonds



Craig is one of the owners of JUCRA Digital and reigns from a hospitality and finance background, however, fell into web design and development in 2000 after leaving the world of finance to go on a sabbatical in Marbella, Spain where he has been ever since. minecraft Craig really loves the challenge of the internet, digs WordPress and loves Cpanel.