Operations¶

This section covers day-to-day operations for running Minecraft servers with the operator.

Overview¶

The Minecraft Operator automates most operational tasks:

Version updates during maintenance windows
Plugin compatibility resolution
Graceful server shutdown

However, some situations require manual intervention.

Sections¶

Troubleshooting

Common issues and how to resolve them

Troubleshoot

Common Operations¶

Check Server Status¶

kubectl get papermcserver --namespace minecraft

NAME        VERSION   BUILD   STATUS   AGE
survival    1.21.4    125     Ready    7d
creative    1.20.6    89      Ready    14d

Check Plugin Status¶

kubectl get plugin --namespace minecraft

NAME          SOURCE   VERSION   MATCHED   STATUS
essentialsx   hangar   2.21.0    2         Ready
bluemap       hangar   5.4.0     1         Ready

View Server Logs¶

kubectl logs statefulset/survival --namespace minecraft --follow

Force Update Check¶

Delete the server pod to trigger immediate reconciliation:

kubectl delete pod survival-0 --namespace minecraft

World Data

Deleting the pod is safe - world data is stored on PVC. The server will restart with the same data.

Manual RCON Access¶

Port-forward to RCON port:

kubectl port-forward statefulset/survival 25575:25575 --namespace minecraft

Connect with an RCON client:

# Using mcrcon
mcrcon -H localhost -P 25575 -p your-password "list"

Access Web UI¶

kubectl port-forward svc/minecraft-operator-webui 8082:8082 \
  --namespace minecraft-operator-system

Open http://localhost:8082/ui

Maintenance Tasks¶

Backup World Data¶

World data is stored on PVCs. Back up using your preferred method:

# Example: Copy to local machine
kubectl cp minecraft/survival-0:/data/world ./backup/world

Scheduled Backups

Consider using Velero or similar tools for scheduled PVC backups.

Scale Down for Maintenance¶

# Scale down (stops the server)
kubectl scale statefulset survival --replicas=0 --namespace minecraft

# Scale back up
kubectl scale statefulset survival --replicas=1 --namespace minecraft

View Operator Logs¶

kubectl logs deployment/minecraft-operator \
  --namespace minecraft-operator-system \
  --follow

Filter by log level:

# Errors only
kubectl logs deployment/minecraft-operator \
  --namespace minecraft-operator-system | grep '"level":"error"'

Monitoring¶

Resource Status¶

Check conditions on resources:

kubectl get papermcserver survival --namespace minecraft \
  --output jsonpath='{.status.conditions}'

Update Status¶

Check for pending updates:

kubectl get papermcserver survival --namespace minecraft \
  --output jsonpath='{.status.availableUpdate}'

Plugin Compatibility¶

Check if updates are blocked:

kubectl get papermcserver survival --namespace minecraft \
  --output jsonpath='{.status.updateBlocked}'