Using port forwarding to create a Minecraft Server on my raspberry pi

Question

I want to preface by saying I am not really a coder, and have only made it this far through a lot of googling and tutorials. Please be kind when answering and try to explain in layman's terms. Thank you!

I am using my Raspberry Pi 3 to create a minecraft server following this tutorial, and figured out port forwarding using this one (both from pimylifeup). I wanted friends to be able to access it whenever and from outside my local network, so I used no-ip.com to make a static IP address. I'm using Netgear Genie and I followed this to set it up so that my router should communicate with no-ip to auto-update the IP address.

I've gotten to the point where I can use Putty to SSH into my pi, either through the local address (192.168.1.217) or through no-ip hostname (also using port 217). This makes me think that I'm successfully port forwarding my pi. My issue comes up when I try to access it specifically in Minecraft. If I type in 192.168.1.217 then the server loads and runs perfectly, but I can't access it through the hostname. In Minecraft when trying to access the server through the host name I've been using "example.ddns.net:217" ("example" isn't the actual hostname for security reasons, but the rest is exact), but that isn't working.

I'm having trouble figuring out where the disconnect is? Why can I access the server via the hostname on Putty but not Minecraft, and how do I fix it? I can't seem to find anything online to solve this specific problem, and would greatly appreciate your help! Thanks!

Answer 1

In Minecraft, when trying to access the server through the host name, I've been using "example.ddns.net:217" ("example" isn't the actual hostname for security reasons, but the rest is exact), but that isn't working.

As indicated near the end of your first link, Minecraft typically operates on port 25565. So that is the port you likely want to forward (not ex. 217):

Easy Raspberry Pi Minecraft Server Tutorial:

Assuming you want to learn how to do this, then head over to my guide on setting up Raspberry Pi port forwarding. You will need to port forward the port 25565 (unless you change it in the server properties) to the IP of your Pi.

If the local IP of your Minecraft server is ex. 192.168.1.217, the entry for this port forwarding rule under e.g. Port Forwarding/Port Triggering in the Netgear interface might look like the following:

If that rule is in place, then under most circumstances, the Minecraft server should be available via example.com:25565 or perhaps simply just example.com if you are in a Minecraft client.