minecraft server port forwarding

[Kieran4]

Hi, I want to host a minecraft server for me and my friends but how safe is it to use port forwarding and can I do it without port forwarding at all?

 

Is there an effective way to make it's done safely as I don't want to compromise the safety of my computer or other people on the network.

 

If I were to whitelist only my friends would that secure it?

 

Could I have it locked off in a virtual machine so if it were to get compromised I can just kill it and start fresh but I guess not because port forwarding is with the modem not specific computers?

 

Could running my own vpn secure my connection or can I make it password protected like they would have to log in to my internet/vpn before proceeding to join the server?

 

For being a random person running a minecraft server how realistic is it for a threat to arise and use the attack vector of me port forwarding?

 

 

I'm an enthusiast not an expert and new to stuff like this so if I've said something wrong that's obvious please correct me and sorry if this isn't the right place for this post.

 

If you have any more questions feel free to ask and thank you!!

[FuzzyLogic]

Back when I used to host Minecraft servers for my friends, we would use LogMeIn Hamachi https://vpn.net/ 

 

It lets you set up a password-protected VPN for your friends to connect to, and from there they can join the server as if they were on your LAN. No port forwarding necessary.

[manikyath]

port forwarding just the one port is safe enough, if you want to fend off potential automated scans for open minecraft servers, host on some alternative port (let's say 27000) instead and port forward that.

 

just dont let a douzen of unused forwarded ports hang around.

 

on that note.. set up a whitelist on your server anyways, there's no reason not to if you're only playing with a select group.

[GalaxyStudios]

I've never done this for a Minecraft server, but I have used Cloudflare tunneling when port forwarding my Jellyfin server. Unlike some vpns (idk if this is the case for all of them) Cloudflare tunneling is designed to handle server traffic.