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Last modified on Jul 17, 2020 in general
By ApexHosting
A newly created Minecraft server starts off with a numerical IP address and port. These two values uniquely identify your server among thousands of others, so it’s important to note both when connecting to a server. The IP of a Minecraft server looks similar to 195.27.18.197:25749. Now as you can imagine, remembering this series of numbers can be quite the hassle. In response, users look to connect using a root domain or, more commonly, a sub-domain.
The difference between an IP and a domain is that an IP consists only of a series of numerical values like 195.27.18.197:25749 and a domain usually consists of a series of alphabetic values such as play.apexminecraft.com. When looking to connect using a domain you can use a sub-domain like play.apexminecrafthosting.com. Now in order to use either you must have rights to this domain by purchasing or being granted the privilege to use it by the owner. You can purchase your own unique domain from resellers online such as GoDaddy, Google, Namecheap, and many more. We will be walking you through the steps on how you can set up a sub-domain for your Minecraft server.
When setting up a domain for your Minecraft server, it is best that you use a dedicated IP. A dedicated IP is unique to your server and allows you to connect to your server without having to enter a port number. Apex Hosting offers dedicated IPs for select servers at a base rate of $4/mo in addition to your server plan.
Nearly all domain registrars have the same configurations when it comes to setting up your domain/subdomain. As they are all very similar, we will cover how you can set it with GoDaddy.
Host: Defines the subdomain, e.x “play” in play.mydomain.com
Points to: Defines the IP address the A record should resolve to. This will be your Minecraft Servers IP address.
TTL: Defines the average time it takes for the changes to propagate.
Here is an example of the end result:
After creating the A record, you will need to create an SRV (Service) record. This tells the A record what service port to resolve to when connecting with our sub-domain. While the A record points to the IP of the host the server is located on, the SRV record uniquely identifies to the intended service, in this case, the Minecraft server port.
Here is an example of the end result:
After all of these steps, simply wait for 30 minutes for everything to propagate and you should be set to join the Minecraft server with your new subdomain!
Not being able to join the server with the new subdomain
If you aren’t able to join the server after you configure everything above, there are a few things you need to check. The first is that you have waited the 30 minutes to allow the domain to propagate. If your server has a port, it is also good to make sure that you set the SRV record correctly as otherwise, you may have to connect with the domain and the port. For example, “play.mydomain.com:25575”. To avoid having to do that, you can use a dedicated IP address. And finally, make sure to double-check that everything has been entered correctly in the DNS records.
Connecting to your server
Creating a subdomain
What is a dedicated IP used for