Minecraft Server - Upgrading a Server

When Mojang automatically upgrades your Minecraft client, it will no longer connect to an older server. When that happens, you have you upgrade the server; fortunately, this is a pretty simple process.

WARNING: In my case, upgrading from 1.7.5 to 1.7.6 required cleaning out the player inventories. I got a message indicating the upgrade process had difficulties connecting to the Mojang authentication server - that may have been why the player upgrade process did not complete successfully. I will repeat the upgrade a few times over the next few days to see if the problem persists. Be aware that any items you are carrying on your player may (or may not) come through. My only world is in creative mode, so it isn't an issue, but...

Step 1. Take a Backup of Your Old Installation

Make sure you take a backup of your old installation. This will allow you to rerun the upgrade if a problem occurs.

For example, the installation if in the myWorld folder, of the minecraft user on the mineServer box:

  ssh minecraft@mineServer
  <password if needed>
  tar cvf myWorld.1.7.5.tar myWorld

Step 2. Download the New Jar file

Download the new minecraft jar file from the minecraft website (https://minecraft.net/download). For this example, the new file was minecraft_server.1.7.6.jar

Step 3. Copy the New Jar File into the Installation

Now copy the jar file just downloaded into the runtime installation directory.

  <move to where the file was downloaded>
  sftp minecraft@mineServer
  <password>
  cd myWorld
  put minecraft_server.1.7.6.jar
  quit

Ensure that the file permissions match that of the previous version.

  ls -l *.jar

Step 4. Update Startup Script

Update the jarfile name in the startup script (if you have one) to match the name of the newly installed jarfile.

Step 5. Cleanup ops.txt

This may not be required, but i was having some issues...

It might be a good idea to clean out the ops.txt file, or at least ensure that the names contained in it are valid. This may also apply to the whitelist and other 'list' files.

I found that i had player names without the correct capitalization. I found it easier to clear out te files, and ten reload the information later. Your choice.

Step 6. Start the Server

Start the server. The first time through it will attempt to upgrade the world and all the player information.

Step 7. Clean Out Players Folder if Requested

If the upgrade process encountered difficulties, it may ask you to clean out the players information. It will tell you where the folder is. Stop the server, remove the specified directory, and then restart the server.

Online Resources

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