Set Up A Minecraft Server In Azure VM

My son''s latest addiction is the game Minecraft, a single or multiplayer game that has a client-server architecture to it, millions of users, a newly released version (as of last week), and a vibrant community. I was initially put off by the crude graphics of the game (a cube-constructed environment with overlaid textures on blocks), but I quickly came to terms with how fun it was and how it encouraged creativity. I''m also impressed by the huge and vibrant community of people playing and extending the game with plug-ins (mods), custom maps, and public server worlds (sites you can go to play, such as http://planetminecraft.net).

Minecraft allows you to play single-player or connect to remote servers. If you are a power user or someone with some IT chops, you can easily set up a server of your own for which dozens of simple tutorials are available. You will need to download the server software, run it, disable any firewalls and enter a server IP on the client.

Of course what comes next is "Dad, can my friends connect to my Minecraft server?"

I decided to go that route and set our router up to do port forwarding. This allowed us open internet traffic to our Minecraft-active port. MINECRAFT VANILLA SERVERS It was easy, and there are dozens of tutorials to help you.

The scary part: Poking holes into the firewall. This, of course, allows the unknown (and sometimes malicious) parties onto your home network and onto a machine that may have other personal information on it. There''s also the issue with connection bandwidth. This is an essential aspect of smooth gaming when a host server is involved. If you don’t have a fast internet connection or bandwidth limitations, you could be setting up an inexplicable server.

Enter Windows Azure Virtual Machines

As a Microsoft Windows Azure Insider it was obvious to me that Windows Azure is an ideal infrastructure for this kind of shared accessibility. Windows Azure offers many features, including shared host roles as well as storage and access control. It is also known as PaaS – Platform as a Service. IaaS – Infrastructure as a Service – is a relatively new offering by Windows Azure. It includes virtual machine hosting.

Finally, a reason to get started with Azure VMs!

[Wait... That sounds a little snarky... It''s not meant that way. I was trying to be funny... I guess I should keep my day job...

The more I think about this, though, the more I like the idea. You can spin it down when you''re done and you don''t have to mess with your home firewalls. Yada, yada...