How to monitor a Minecraft server
A Minecraft Java server that has crashed looks, to the outside world, like a closed door on port 25565. A monitor that knocks on that door every minute tells you the moment it closes.
What a port check tells you
The check opens a connection to your server's address and port, the same first step a player's game does. If the connection is accepted, the server process is running and reachable. If it is refused or times out, the process has stopped, the machine is off, or something in between is blocking the way.
It does not log in, so it cannot see the player count or whether the world is lagging. For Java Edition that is still the check that catches the outages that empty a server.
What you need
- The public address of the server, either an IP address or a hostname, and the port. The default for Java Edition is 25565.
- A server that is reachable from the internet. A server on a home connection needs port forwarding, and a private address such as one starting with 192.168 cannot be monitored from outside.
Setting it up in KeenCrow
- Create an account at keencrow.com and start the free trial.
- Choose "TCP port" as the type and enter the address and port, for example play.yourserver.com:25565.
- Add the email addresses that should be told, or on any paid plan a Discord webhook, so the alert lands in your community's channel.
- Switch on the public status page if you want players to see for themselves whether the server is up.
Pause the check while you restart or update the server on purpose, so planned downtime does not count as an outage.
Not supported yet
Minecraft Bedrock uses a different protocol and is not supported at the moment. Steam games such as Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike 2, Rust and Garry's Mod are checked with the Steam server query instead, which also shows the map and player count.