In this short article, we will be looking at what is the domain name of a Minecraft server, why is it needed, and are benefits of having it. We will be also looking at how to get a domain name for your Minecraft server, which is so important. We will be also looking at what are the side effects of not having it.
What Is the Domain Name Of A Minecraft Server
In Minecraft, the domain name is also known as the IP Address of a server. Ip address or a domain name is the name that a player uses to join any Minecraft server. It is also known as the identity of a Minecraft server.
When you buy any hosting for your Minecraft server, the Ip address to join the server looks like 123.111.22.1 or some other numbers. Such Ip Address doesn’t look professional for any Minecraft server and is not easy to remember if you want to join a Minecraft server or want to share it with your friends.
These custom domain names can be any name of your choice like big Minecraft servers have, such as Hypixel.net.
What Are The Benefits Of Having A Domain Name?
When buying a host for your server, the IP of the server looks like numbers that do not look good for any professional Minecraft server. Such numbers aren’t easy to remember as well which might also affect the server growth and reach.
So replacing these numbers with these custom Ip Address or Domain names make it look professional for Minecraft servers and are easy to remember and hence helps in growing servers.
One of the main benefits of having a domain name for your server is with locally hosted servers. In local-hosted or self-hosted Minecraft servers, the person or the owner has to share their IP Address with other players so they can access the server. Others having your IP Address can mis abuse it and can do anything illegal with it.
With Having the custom IP or domain name for the server, you do not need to share your IP Address with others keeping it safe.
How Does Domain Name Work In Minecraft Servers
Having a Domain name is a good thing, but you might wonder how this works. This is not a very complex thing. The phenomenon on which it works is known as port forwarding. When the player writes or tries to log in to the Domain, it forwards the player to the IP it is linked with.
This means that the player is logging into the IP the server is made on, but the Domain Name is acting as a median between them, not making the IP public.
To know more about port forwarding you can read more here: Port Forwarding
How To Get A Domain Name For Minecraft Server
After knowing how a domain name works and the advantages of having these domain names, let’s have a look at how do we get these domain names for our Minecraft servers.
Most of the Online Hosts available for Minecraft server hosting provide you with the option to buy the domain name for your Minecraft server hosting with their packages. Buying the domain name with these packages is a lot cheaper than buying it separately. Most of them have the free domain name with them.
Some of the Online Hosts That Provide Minecraft Server Hosting Are:
For the Hosts That Doesn’t come with the option for a custom domain name, doesn’t mean they can’t be moved to a Domain name. For that, you need to buy the Domain from any online domain seller.
After buying the domain, you now need to open the panel of the domain and go to DNS Manager. After going there, you might see something like this.
Local Hosted Server
From here click on add new and for the local-hosted servers, Enter your IP Address in its column and the prefix for the domain name in its slot. E.g. play.Einstiney.com, here play is the prefix for Einstiney.com. To leave the prefix empty write @ in the place of the prefix, and you will be able to join simply by the domain name. Now save the changes and restart your server. Now you will be able to join the server by entering both the domain name and IP address.
Online Hosted Server
For the Online hosted server, the procedure is halfway the same. Firstly, log in to your Server Host and copy the IP of your server. After that login to the control panel of your domain, paste the IP and prefix if any. Once it’s done again click on add and now select SRV in place of A. This might be different for different domain panels. For this, these are the following fill-ups.
In Services write _minecraft
In Protocol write _tcp
In Name write the Prefix/sub-domain e.g. play
In Target Write the full IP address of the server e.g. play.Einstiney.com
Then put priority and weight according to other hosted things on the domain.
In Port write the IP port of the server. E.g. 25565
Now click on save and in the max of 24 hours your IP will be linked with the domain and you will be able to log in to your server with that domain.
This is how you can get a domain name for your Minecraft server and link it with your server IP address.
CONCLUSION
Knwoing How To Get A Domain Name For Your Minecraft Server or the custom IP Address for your Minecraft server is a must as it makes the server look more professional and is easy to remember. Custom Domain Named Minecraft servers are easy to recognize and increase the reach of the server as compared to the server with the Number Ip.
It also helps to connect to the Locally hosted Minecraft servers without sharing the IP Address. This can be done easily by buying the domain at the time of buying the server host in many of the sites. While the hosts that don’t provide you the custom domain name can also be linked with the custom name after buying the domain.
