To host a game server for players in Japan, Korea and East Asia, order a JUSTG cloud VPS in Tokyo or Seoul, open the game's ports in the firewall, and run the server as a systemd service so it starts on boot and restarts after a crash. This guide walks through each step on Linux, plus updates, backups and the Windows Server option.

Step 1: Choose the location and plan

Pick the city closest to most of your players: Tokyo or Seoul. Both come with a native Japanese or Korean IPv4, free IPv6, Asia-optimized routes and a 500 Mbps port. If you are unsure, open a ticket to request a test server and let your players try it first.

Check your game server's documentation for its CPU and RAM requirements and pick a plan with some headroom. The plans are identical in both cities:

You can upgrade later from the service page if your community grows.

Step 2: Open the firewall ports

Each game uses its own ports and protocols (UDP, TCP or both); check its documentation. The example below uses port 7777 as a placeholder. On Debian or Ubuntu with ufw, always allow SSH before you enable the firewall:

apt update && apt install -y ufw
ufw allow OpenSSH
ufw allow 7777/udp
ufw allow 7777/tcp
ufw enable
ufw status verbose

For example, Minecraft Java Edition runs on Linux and listens on TCP port 25565 by default, so you would allow 25565/tcp instead.

Step 3: Create a user and install the server

Run the game server under its own user, not as root. This example installs it in /opt/game, with the server binary at /opt/game/server:

useradd -r -m -d /opt/game -s /usr/sbin/nologin game
chown -R game:game /opt/game

Copy or download your game server files into /opt/game following the game's own instructions, then run chown -R game:game /opt/game again.

Step 4: Run it as a systemd service

Create /etc/systemd/system/game.service:

[Unit]
Description=Game server
After=network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target

[Service]
User=game
WorkingDirectory=/opt/game
ExecStart=/opt/game/server --port 7777
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=10
LimitNOFILE=65535

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Change ExecStart to your game's real start command. Then start the service and enable it on boot:

systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable --now game
systemctl status game
journalctl -u game -f

Restart=on-failure brings the server back automatically after a crash, and journalctl -u game -f shows the live log.

Step 5: Keep the server and the system updated

To update the game server, stop it, take a quick backup, replace the files and start it again:

systemctl stop game
tar -czf /root/game-$(date +%F).tar.gz -C /opt game
# replace the files in /opt/game with the new version
chown -R game:game /opt/game
systemctl start game

To install security updates for the operating system automatically on Debian or Ubuntu:

apt install -y unattended-upgrades
dpkg-reconfigure -plow unattended-upgrades

Step 6: Back up the world and settings

A simple daily backup that keeps 7 days of archives:

mkdir -p /root/backups
tar -czf /root/backups/game-$(date +%F).tar.gz -C /opt game
find /root/backups -name 'game-*.tar.gz' -mtime +7 -delete

Add these commands to a script and run it daily from cron, for example at a time when few players are online. Then copy the backups off the server regularly, for example from your own computer:

rsync -avz [email protected]:/root/backups/ ./game-backups/

Windows Server option

Some dedicated game servers only run on Windows. JUSTG cloud VPS can run Windows Server instead of Linux. Connect over RDP, install the server, and open its ports in Windows Defender Firewall from an administrator PowerShell:

New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "Game 7777 UDP" -Direction Inbound -Protocol UDP -LocalPort 7777 -Action Allow
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "Game 7777 TCP" -Direction Inbound -Protocol TCP -LocalPort 7777 -Action Allow

To keep it running after a reboot, use the game's own service option or a task in Task Scheduler that starts at system startup.

FAQ

Which plan do I need for my game server?

It depends on the game, mods and player count, so start from the game's official requirements and add headroom. You can upgrade from the service page later, and you can request a test server by ticket before buying.

Can I move my game server from Tokyo to Seoul later?

Yes, a cloud VPS can change location between Tokyo, Seoul and Moscow from the client area once every 30 days. You get a fresh VPS with a new IP, nothing is copied, and the old VPS is deleted, so back up first and tell your players the new IP.

Players cannot connect. What should I check?

Check that the service is running (systemctl status game), that it listens on the expected port (ss -tulpn), and that the firewall allows that port and protocol. If it still fails, open a ticket with your server IP, the port, the time with time zone and any error messages.