Published Oct 31st, 2013, 10/31/13 9:41 am
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So you are setting up a new server?
As I am sure you arealready aware running a server takes a lot of time and effort so you need to be sure that you are spending that time creating a server which has the desired features to do everything that you want and more importantly the ability to expand in the future.
So what are your main choices ?
Vanilla
Vanilla minecraft is Mojang's official minecraft_server.jar. This will always be the first server type to update when new Minecraft versions come out. Despite this very few successful large servers use it, why? because the server runs however there is very little ability customise it. Unlike Bukkit and others where you can add plugins and make the server your own vanilla Minecraft is pretty much what it says on the tin; Plain. It is however the easiest to set up, and is where I learnt many of the important server concepts such as port forwarding, so if this is your first server and sometimes you find computers a little tricky then this is a good starting point!
Bukkit
If you use Bukkit on its own with no modifications then it will appear to the user that they are playing on a fully Vanilla Minecraft server. It is important to remember that as Bukkit is not produced by Mojang and is officially unsupported (although it has alarge support network of its own), and therefore updates come out a few hours /days after the official updates. The 'plugins' made for Bukkit are developed by third parties andtherefore can be prone to bugs and may cause server lag (This shouldn't be a problem if you choose them carefully).
Unlike Vanilla Minecraft Bukkit (craftbukkit.jar) gives you ability to highly customise your server and create your desired virtual world. If a plugin doesn't already exist and you are a Java developer you can also write plugins yourself using Bukkit's API (don't worry if you don't understand that, you can get on fine with Bukkit with practically no coding knowledge). So why doesn't everyone use Bukkit? A lot of people do use Bukkit but it is harder to set up than Vanilla Minecraft and very easy to brake if you get one line of configuration wrong etc.
One word of advice when using Bukkit, plugins are cool but at the same time they slow the server down, make sure that you get the right ratio of plugins vs speed to suit your server.
Spigot
Spigot is basically an enhanced version of Bukkit (its a fork of Bukkit and so therefore has the same core code), approximatley 99% of Bukkit plugins work with Spigot. It is the version of choice for many larger successful servers as helps to reduce server lag and add yet more server control. On top of this it allows the admins / owner to record timing data which shows you in TPS (Ticks per second, 20 ticks per second) what the root cause of your server lag is, e.g. what plugin is causing it or prehaps too many mobs etc.
Special features include the X-ray mod blocker to prevent all of your ores being stollen, and the ability to fine tune your mob spawning For many small server some of these features may just add a level of complexity that they are unable to deal with and maintain. However if you are technologically able and looking for a fully optimised high speed server then Spigot is for you.
Hamachi
Hamachi servers are often slower than most players are use to however if you router is not able to port forward and you want to run a public server from home they may be your only option.This can make them cheaper to set up as you can run them from home without paying for server hosting (You can run other server types from home, however they require port forwarding). They allow you to play Minecraft with LAN support by creating a virtual LAN through the internet. This can be argued to give the server extra security but personally I would only use Hamachi servers as a last resort if I was unable to port forward my router.
Tekkit
Tekkit servers are multiplayer versions of the technic pack with additional plugins etc. Tekkit addsdifferent features to Minecraft that are not in Mojangs versions, such as the ability to buildlarge machines etc. You can practically consider this a different game based on Minecraft and will therefore not speak to much about it apart from it exists and is an option.Note: Even experienced Minecraft player's may struggle with Tekkit at first!
Conclusion
I hope that this post has been of use to you, and helped you to make the right decision in starting your server!
To Summarise:
If you want plain and simple- Vanilla
If you want plugins and other fun- Bukkit
If you need speed and optimisation- Spigot
If you can't portforward- Hamachi
If you want complicated machines- Tekkit
As I am sure you arealready aware running a server takes a lot of time and effort so you need to be sure that you are spending that time creating a server which has the desired features to do everything that you want and more importantly the ability to expand in the future.
So what are your main choices ?
Vanilla
Vanilla minecraft is Mojang's official minecraft_server.jar. This will always be the first server type to update when new Minecraft versions come out. Despite this very few successful large servers use it, why? because the server runs however there is very little ability customise it. Unlike Bukkit and others where you can add plugins and make the server your own vanilla Minecraft is pretty much what it says on the tin; Plain. It is however the easiest to set up, and is where I learnt many of the important server concepts such as port forwarding, so if this is your first server and sometimes you find computers a little tricky then this is a good starting point!
Bukkit
If you use Bukkit on its own with no modifications then it will appear to the user that they are playing on a fully Vanilla Minecraft server. It is important to remember that as Bukkit is not produced by Mojang and is officially unsupported (although it has alarge support network of its own), and therefore updates come out a few hours /days after the official updates. The 'plugins' made for Bukkit are developed by third parties andtherefore can be prone to bugs and may cause server lag (This shouldn't be a problem if you choose them carefully).
Unlike Vanilla Minecraft Bukkit (craftbukkit.jar) gives you ability to highly customise your server and create your desired virtual world. If a plugin doesn't already exist and you are a Java developer you can also write plugins yourself using Bukkit's API (don't worry if you don't understand that, you can get on fine with Bukkit with practically no coding knowledge). So why doesn't everyone use Bukkit? A lot of people do use Bukkit but it is harder to set up than Vanilla Minecraft and very easy to brake if you get one line of configuration wrong etc.
One word of advice when using Bukkit, plugins are cool but at the same time they slow the server down, make sure that you get the right ratio of plugins vs speed to suit your server.
Spigot
Spigot is basically an enhanced version of Bukkit (its a fork of Bukkit and so therefore has the same core code), approximatley 99% of Bukkit plugins work with Spigot. It is the version of choice for many larger successful servers as helps to reduce server lag and add yet more server control. On top of this it allows the admins / owner to record timing data which shows you in TPS (Ticks per second, 20 ticks per second) what the root cause of your server lag is, e.g. what plugin is causing it or prehaps too many mobs etc.
Special features include the X-ray mod blocker to prevent all of your ores being stollen, and the ability to fine tune your mob spawning For many small server some of these features may just add a level of complexity that they are unable to deal with and maintain. However if you are technologically able and looking for a fully optimised high speed server then Spigot is for you.
Hamachi
Hamachi servers are often slower than most players are use to however if you router is not able to port forward and you want to run a public server from home they may be your only option.This can make them cheaper to set up as you can run them from home without paying for server hosting (You can run other server types from home, however they require port forwarding). They allow you to play Minecraft with LAN support by creating a virtual LAN through the internet. This can be argued to give the server extra security but personally I would only use Hamachi servers as a last resort if I was unable to port forward my router.
Tekkit
Tekkit servers are multiplayer versions of the technic pack with additional plugins etc. Tekkit addsdifferent features to Minecraft that are not in Mojangs versions, such as the ability to buildlarge machines etc. You can practically consider this a different game based on Minecraft and will therefore not speak to much about it apart from it exists and is an option.Note: Even experienced Minecraft player's may struggle with Tekkit at first!
Conclusion
I hope that this post has been of use to you, and helped you to make the right decision in starting your server!
To Summarise:
If you want plain and simple- Vanilla
If you want plugins and other fun- Bukkit
If you need speed and optimisation- Spigot
If you can't portforward- Hamachi
If you want complicated machines- Tekkit
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