How To Admin
Files and Commands - Vanilla
Do note that the information here is based on the default files and folders provided by Mojang
Files
In this section you'll learn what a folder or a file is for.
Importance is divided in the following way: Low, Medium, High, Essential
Low: Not something you'll be using at all or doesn't cause issues at all
Medium: Something you may use/the server uses it or may cause a few issues
High: Important information stored within it, deleting may lead to server corruption or other issues
Essential: needed for the server to run, the server won't run without it
| File/Folder name |
Description |
Importance |
| libraries | A folder. It store libraries for your server, it's preferred to not delete these as they are needed for the server, nothing will happen if you delete them as they'll regenerate themselves. Don't delete while server's running | Low |
| .cache | A folder. Cache, stores data temporarily, preferrably keep it. Don't delete while server's running | Medium |
| logs | A folder. Stores your server's logs, by deleting it once in a while you can save up some storage. | Low |
| versions | A folder. As long as the server.jar is in the main directory, it won't cause issues deleting it. It'll autoregenerate. Don't delete while server's running | Medium |
| world | A folder. Don't delete it, it contains some player data, datapack if added and your worlds' data. | High |
|
banned-ips.json banned-players.json |
Both are files. You usually don't delete these unless you want to unban every person who has been banned in the past | Medium |
| server,jar | A file. Don't delete, it's your server's core | Essential |
Commands
The following table contains "essential" or useful commands which a server administrator should be aware of.
| Command | Description | Usage |
|
/op /deop |
Allows you to execute any command available within the server (if |
/op <username> /deop <username> /op MelonOof /deop MelonOof |
| /gamemode | Change yout gamemode to one of the following: survival, creative, spectator and adventure. |
/gamemode <gamemode> /gamemode survival /gamemode creative /gamemode adventure |
| /stop | This command will stop your server (works the same way as the stop button in the panel's console) | /stop |
| /restart | This command will restart your server (works the same way as the restart button in the panel's console) | /restart |
| /whitelist | The command itself doesn't do anything, you need additional arguments for it to work, you can toggle on/off whitelist, add and remove players from whitelist |
/whitelist on || /whitelist off /whitelist add <username> /whitelist add MelonOof /whitelist remove <username> /whitelist remove MelonOof /whitelist list |
| /worldborder |
Manage the world border. With this command you can: |
/worldborder add <diameter> /worldborder set <diameter> /worldborder get |
| /ban | Ban players permanently from your server |
/ban <username> [<reason>] /ban MelonOof Too Juicy |
| /pardon | Unban players from your server |
/pardon <username> /pardon MelonOof |
| /setworldspawn | Set the server's default (re)spawn point the the location you are at | /setworldspawn |
|
/tp /teleport |
Teleport to a location, teleport a player to a location or teleport to a player |
/tp <x> <y> <z> /tp <username> <x> <y> <z> /tp <username> <username> |
| /weather | Sets the weather to one of the following clear|rain|thunder with an optional duration in ticks (1 second = 20 ticks) |
/weather <weather> [<duration>] /weather clear 200 |
| /give | Give yourself or someone else one or multiple items | /give <username> <item> [<amount>] |
| /help | Get to know about any other command you may need, the ones listed here are the essential ones for a server administrator | /help |
Essential plugins for your server - Paper
Server Core
EssentialsX: EssentialsX is a free and open-source plugin, it's been in the community since 2015, it's well known for being feature rich and constantly updated
zEssentials: A paid and open-source alternative, it's been developed in 2024, by Maxlego08. It supports both Paper and Folia, it provides similiar features to EssentialsX's and a modular structure (you enable and disable what you need)
Ban System
AdvancedBan: AdvancedBan is a free and open-source plugin developed since 2015, its last update was on October 2020. It offers database support and discord hooks through addons. It is still compatible with Paper 1.21+
AdvancedBanX: A fork of AdvancedBan, which is also free and open source, as of 2024, it's being actively developed on to provide more features, it works with AdvancedBan's addons.
BanManager: An AdvancedBan(X) free and open-source alternative offering a web interface for both admins and players.
LiteBans; A paid close-source plugin offering a web interface. As of 2024 it is being actively developed on.
Economy
Vault: Vault in itself is not an Economy plugin, rather it allows the usage of various economy plugins by hooking them into it. This plugin is quite essential for today's servers, most economy related plugins use its API as a standard, for actual economy, the Server Core plugins support it.
PlayerPoints: Ever tought to have a second economy? PlayerPoints allows you to do so, offering great management over the economy. The configuration is simple and user friendly.
Permissions
LuckPerms: LuckPerms is a community standard as of 2024, providing seamless permission management through both in-game commands and a web interface.
Tab and Scoreboard
TAB: TAB is a free and open-source plugin developed by Neznamy, it offers various features and supports servers as old as Minecraft Java 1.5.X, it's configuration is easy to understand and with great customizability.
AntiCheat:
Grim: Grim is one of the best free and open-source anticheats available within the community, offering various checks with the least false positive possible.
NoCheatPlus: NoCheatPlus is a great free and open-source plugin, it offers great customizability and various checks with partial support for Geyser (bedrock players).
Vulcan: Vulcan is a paid anticheat sold for about $20, it's said to be one of the best anticheats available on the market
Polar: Polar anticheat is a subscription based anticheat offering great combat checks for 1.8.X
Combat Logging
CombatLogX: CombatLogX is a plugin developed by SirBlobman (affiliated with the AlienUniverse brand). The plugin offers various hooks for plugins such as PlaceholderAPI and WorldGuard.
NPCs
Citizens: Citizens is a feature rich open source plugin, supporting various entities and paths, it hooks into Dnizen for npc scripting and much more.
ZNPCsPlus: ZNPCsPlus is a fork a ZNPCs, ZNPCsPlus is a minimalistic, performance focused plugin, in comparison to Citizens it's much more lightweight, but offers less features. Great for lobbies
Placeholders
PlaceholderAPI: PlaceholderAPI is a community standard plugin, providing support for placeholders hence allowing dynamic values. Most plugins support it, it offers various expansions and is actively developed.