Getting started with the Linux “screen” command:
This tip follows on from the the earlier post Minecraft and Minecraft Pocket Edition Servers on Ubuntu Linux
The Linux “screen” command is a very useful tool for managing one or many Minecraft and Minecraft Android/Pocket Edition processes.
First off, check you have screen installed on your Linux server by doing;
don@ubuntuserver:~$ which screen
that should return something like:
/usr/bin/screen
if it doesn’t, you may need to install it like so:
sudo apt-get install screen
(or whatever works for your platform)
then you can start kicking off your Minecraft processes like this
screen ./start.sh
when that’s up and running you can disconnect from the screen by doing
Ctrl-a d
This will detach you from the screen/console but leave the server running – meaning you can log off or go and do something else.
To reattach to the running screen (assuming there’s only one) and get back to the console at a later time, you just do this:
screen –r
If there is more than one screen sessions available you’ll be given a list of them, something like this:
There are several suitable screens on:
15772.pts-1.ubuntuserver(06/01/14 22:05:25) (Detached) 2088.pts-4.ubuntuserver (06/01/14 15:20:59) (Attached) 2013.pts-3.ubuntuserver (06/01/14 15:20:13) (Detached)
from which you can then do:
screen -r [pid.]tty.host
using the pid and tty host values from that list, e.g. “screen –r 2013.pts-3.ubuntuserver” or “screen –r 15772.pts-1.ubuntuserver” in my example.
There are loads of other useful screen commands – check out the man page for further info – but the above allows me to manage multiple Minecraft servers easily.