Assign a Minecraft server to a domain

The first thing you need to do is find out the information of your Minecraft server. You will need the IP address and the shared port. If you host your Minecraft server via IONOS, you can find the corresponding data in the customer account under “Server & Cloud”. There you select your server contract and then get a list with all servers that have been set under this instance. Here you can also see the IP address of the Minecraft server. In turn, you can find the shared port by going to “Network” > “Firewall Policies” in the navigation list. Make a note of both pieces of information.

Now, in your customer account, access the menu for domains. At IONOS you will see a list of all your domains. Select the domain you have designated for your Minecraft server and access the DNS options. You can find these from the context menu by clicking the gear. Each domain has different DNS records. These are - roughly speaking - responsible for clarifying the affiliation of the domain to one or more servers. For example, if you are already using the domain for a website, you already have an A record.

You now need to create two new records. First, you need an A record. This links the domain name to the IP address of the Minecraft server. In IONOS, click on the “Add Record” button. Then from the list of different options, select “A”. You now have three fields to customize:

• Hostname: By assigning a hostname, you create a specific subdomain meant for the Minecraft server. For example, you can enter “minecraft” to then create minecraft.example.org. If you are using the domain exclusively for Minecraft, you can also use a wildcard (@). This way, the Minecraft server can also be reached at “example.org”.
• Directs to: Now enter the IP address of the Minecraft server in this field.
• TTL: The specification in this field determines how often the Domain Name System (DNS) checks the entry and applies changes. So, to ensure that your new entry is applied as quickly as possible, you should enter the shortest amount of time available here.

Next, create an SRV record. To do this, click the button to create a DNS record again and then select “SRV” from the list. You will need to fill in the following fields:

• Service: It is mandatory to name the service “minecraft”.
• Protocol: Make sure that TCP is selected here.
• Hostname: Enter the name here that you also assigned in the A record (e.g., “minecraft”).
• Directs to: In this field, enter the domain that the A record also links to, for example, minecraft.example.org.
• Priority: If you create multiple SRV records for a domain, you can use this value to specify which record is queried first. If you are using the domain only for Minecraft, you do not need to change the default value.
• Weighting: If multiple SRV entries have the same value, the weighting decides which entry is looked at first. Usually, you can keep the default value here as well.
• Port: Here you now enter the port that you have enabled for Minecraft on your server. Normally, this should be 25565.
• TTL: In this field, select the smallest value again.

Now you have your domain name associated with the Minecraft server. Give the Domain Name System some more time to take on the new information. Even if you have entered a small value in the TTL field of the two DNS records, the conversion may be delayed a bit.

Now you and your fellow players can log in to the Minecraft server via the domain. To do this, select multiplayer mode in the game’s start menu and then add a new server. Under “Server address” you now specify the domain. You can freely choose the name of the server. By clicking on “Done” the software adds the server. Now you only need to log in.