This is a unit file to stop and start Minecraft server using systemd.
This file must be placed in /etc/systemd/system
Please modify the Description and WorkingDirectory to use this unit file.
For those who are not familiar with unit file, here are some of the additional information
Description=xxxxx is a description that shown when running
sudo systemctl status minecraft.serviceWorkingDirectory=xxxx is the folder that the server is located, recommanded to put it inside /opt/ or /srv/ (eg /opt/minecraft_server)
Whenever you modified the file, please run
sudo systemctl daemon-reloadto update the systemd
To use this script, user named minecraft must present in the server. To create it please run sudo useradd -s /bin/bash -m minecraft, then sudo passwd minecraft to assign a password to the user.
Screen command must also need to be installed. To install it on Ubuntu, please run sudo apt install screen
A start.sh bash script is recommended, you can generate it in here: Start Script Generator | PaperMC Docs
In this unit file, it will automatically execute the ./start.sh file located in the in the root directory of the Minecraft server using a screen instance as the user minecraft.
To enable the auto-start of the server during the boot process, please run
sudo systemctl enable minecraft.service
To disable the auto-start of the server during the boot process, please run
sudo systemctl disable minecraft.service
To start the server manually, please run
sudo systemctl start minecraft.service
To stop the server manually, please run
sudo systemctl stop minecraft.service
For more information regarding systemd and unit file, please refer to this article systemd - ArchWiki (archlinux.org)