Ports and network

The primary port

Every server is assigned a port when it is created. It belongs to that server alone and stays with it for as long as it exists. It is shown in the overview and is the port your players enter. In the Network tab it appears in the list under Ports as Primary port.

We open every port for TCP and UDP. That is not a detail: Bedrock speaks UDP only, and so does the query feature of Java servers.

Extra ports

Some plugins want a port of their own, for example a world map in the browser (Dynmap, BlueMap), a voice plugin (Simple Voice Chat) or Geyser for Bedrock players. In the Network tab, Add port assigns another one, as long as your plan includes extra ports; how many is shown above the list. A Note such as "Dynmap" helps you tell them apart later. The platform picks the number, so nothing collides with another server on the same node.

Only the owner of the server manages ports.

Release

A port that no plugin needs any more is released with Release; it can then be assigned to another server, and a new port may get a different number. The primary port cannot be released.

Proxy networks

A Velocity or BungeeCord proxy is a server of its own with its own port. Players connect to the proxy, and the proxy connects to the backend servers via their addresses and ports. On backend servers behind a proxy you set online-mode=false in server.properties and turn on the forwarding setting your proxy requires; otherwise the backend server will not accept the proxy.