Dedicated home minecraft server using MineOs

mindstorms

Not sure if this is widely known or not (I searched this forum with no hits).
There is a dedicated Minecraft server solution available. MineOS

This solution can be installed in a virtual machine running on an existing system or on a dedicated machine, replacing the underlying operating system. For example:

1 - If you have an old(er) PC that may not be used all the time, like an old Windows XP desktop server. If it has a dual-core CPU and 2-Gig of RAM, you can install MineOS and use it as a home server. Granted, most people are lucky if they have one machine in their home. But if you ever get the option to acquire an "older" computer, consider it's use as a dedicated server. Once it is setup, you don't need anything attached (like screen/keyboard/mouse) as it can all be controlled/configured remotely over your home network

2 - If you have a newer machine (laptop or desktop) you can install a free virtual machine application (like virtualbox) and install MineOS into a virtual machine. The main consideration here is that you have enough CPU but more importantly RAM to run both a server and your minecraft client. You would need quad-core CPU and at least 4GIG of RAM, more if you are running Windows 7 as the base OS.

Another option is to install the working components of MineOS onto an existing OS. Currently tested and working are Ubuntu, FreeBSD and Turnkey (debian)

The beauty of MineOS is that it comes with a PHP Web UI front end. This UI allows you to create a standard (vanilla) minecraft server world. It also supports bukkit, craftbukkit, etc. You can create your own server profiles, say for Feed The Beast, and then create a new FTB server from this profile.

The UI features backup/archive options, server.properties customisation, server console live viewing (and interaction) among other features.
The server solution also supports some mapping solutions, like pigmap, which you can run and then view your world like a google map (able to scroll in to 6 levels of zoom)
There is a dedicated google group set up to provide assistance.

Fragenstein

This is by far the best solution for anybody wanting to run a Minecraft server. It is lightweight, fast, secure, and under constant development. It is not quite PlugNPlay but it is very close. Minecraft is a hog on resources and 99% of Minecraft server providers offer hosting in a shared type environment which is why you see so many many people across 100s of different providers complaining about lag. Minecraft does not play well in a shared environment!

So if you want a real high performance Minecraft server grab Mineos and use that. The only downside is it designed optimally to be run on a VPS or a dedicated server but there is only one VPS host that I know of that supplies Mineos and that is ioFlare SSD Cloud Hosting

I have been hanging out on their IRC waiting for the Open beta and they have mentioned they will offer Mineos on their Cloud Servers. If you decide to get a Dedicated server instead make sure you get a SSD drive as Minecraft is extremely IO heavy and you need that disk performance once your server grows.

Hope This helps some people get kickass MC servers going!

SherRao

There is another type of server hosting tool; McMyAdmin,
So far its the best tool for Minecraft Server Hosting I've ever seen!
Its really lightweight and can be controlled remotely.
It also has a Web UI which means if you don't want to use the crappy CMD line console it comes with you can use the Web UI on your localhost.
It also supports:

The Official Minecraft Server (obviously)
CraftBukkit
Spigot
MCPC+
Tekkit
Tekkit Lite
ForgeMod
FTB

Where to get it : www.mcmyadmin.com

mindstorms

There is a difference between McMyAdmin and MineOS. MineOS is a dedicated operating system solution which installs directly on a computer, replacing the existing operating system. Once installed, MineOS runs using a very small foot print (very little CPU/RAM usage). It also has a Web UI to allow for the creation and administration of your MC server worlds. And it's free.

McMyAdmin on the other hand sits on top of an existing operating system, like Windows or Ubuntu. There is a limited free edition (max 10 players in-game) or a £10 per server charge for unlimited usage.

As McMyAdmin installs on an existing OS, it is probably easier to get up and running. MineOS requires the downloading and burning of an ISO to disk, installation of the OS (which is very straight forward), etc.

They are both great applications, they just provide different approaches.