Initial tech review of Minecraft on OCI

Author: jasonrandrews

content/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/minecraft-on-oci/_index.md

@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 ---
 title: Run a Minecraft server on OCI A1 Arm64 instances
 
+description: Provision an Arm64 instance on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, install the Java runtime, and deploy a persistent Minecraft server for multiplayer gameplay.
+
 draft: true
 cascade:
     draft: true

content/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/minecraft-on-oci/minecraft-client-connect.md

@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 ---
-title: Connecting the Minecraft client to the server
+title: Connect the Minecraft client
+description: Configure security lists and OS-level firewalls to open port 25565, and connect to the Minecraft server.
 weight: 4
 
 ### FIXED, DO NOT MODIFY
@@ -10,22 +11,22 @@ layout: learningpathall
 
 ### Opening the port for the Minecraft server
 
-Before we connect to the Minecraft server, we will change the network policy to allow clients to
-connect to the Minecraft server over TCP port number 25565. To do this, we need to modify the
-networking settings for our instance in the OCI dashboard.
+Before you connect to the Minecraft server, you will change the network policy to allow clients to
+connect to the Minecraft server over TCP port number 25565. To do this, you need to modify the
+networking settings for your instance in the OCI dashboard.
 
 1. On the OCI Instances page, choose your Minecraft server instance.
-2. In the Networking tab, click on the subnet name:
-   ![OCI instance networking](OCI_instance_networking.png)
-3. On the Security tab of the subnet page, choose the security list which is active for the instance
+2. In the **Networking** tab, click on the subnet name:
+   ![OCI Networking panel displaying instance subnet configurations#center](oci_instance_networking.png "Open the networking panel in OCI")
+3. On the **Security** tab of the subnet page, choose the security list which is active for the instance
    (by default, this is called "Default Security List for vcn-xxxxxxxx")
-   ![Default Security List for subnet](subnet_security_list.png)
-4. Under "Security rules", add a new Ingress rule (this means the rule applies to incoming traffic
-   from outside the instance). Set "Source CIDR" to "0.0.0.0/0" (this means all IP addresses can
-   connect), and set the "Destination Port Range" field to 25565.
-   ![Open port 25565 for Minecraft server](open_minecraft_port.png)
+   ![OCI Subnet Details page highlighting the Default Security List#center](subnet_security_list.png "Select the Default Security List on the Subnet Details page")
+4. Under **Security rules**, add a new Ingress rule (this means the rule applies to incoming traffic
+   from outside the instance). Set **Source CIDR** to "0.0.0.0/0" (this means all IP addresses can
+   connect), and set the **Destination Port Range** field to 25565.
+   ![OCI Ingress Rules dialog with source CIDR 0.0.0.0/0 and destination port 25565#center](open_minecraft_port.png "Configure an Ingress rule to open port 25565")
 
-You will also need to update your local firewall to allow connections to port 25565 on your instance.
+You will also need to update the instance's local firewall to allow connections to port 25565 on your instance.
 Reconnect to your instance with SSH, and run the following commands on Oracle Linux:
 ```
 sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=25565/tcp
@@ -43,17 +44,28 @@ usual, and connect to your brand new server!
 ### Connecting to the server from the Minecraft client
 
 1. Start your Minecraft client and log in as usual.
-2. Choose "Multiplayer" mode - read and click through the warning that third party servers are not operated
+2. Choose **Multiplayer** mode - read and click through the warning that third party servers are not operated
 by Mojang.
-3. To add your server to the menu of available servers, choose "Add server", name your server
+3. To add your server to the menu of available servers, choose **Add server**, name your server
 something meaningful ("My OCI server" for example) and put the IP address of your instance into the
-"Server Address" field:
-   ![Configuring new server](configuring_new_minecraft_server.png)
+**Server Address** field:
+   ![Minecraft multiplayer server dialog showing Server Name and Server Address fields filled in#center](configuring_new_minecraft_server.png "Add your OCI instance public IP address to the Server Address field")
 
-You can now join the server and start building! 
-   ![Connecting to your new server running on OCI](connecting_to_server.png)
+You can now join the server and start building!
 
-You can also share the address with your friends to start building a shared world. Have fun!
+![Minecraft game client showing successful connection to the custom multiplayer server#center](connecting_to_server.png "Connect to the custom Minecraft server")
+
+### What you've accomplished
+
+In this guide, you successfully:
+- Provisioned an Arm-based VM instance on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.
+- Installed Java and deployed the Minecraft server software.
+- Configured OCI security ingress rules and server-side firewalls to expose the port.
+- Added and connected to the server using the Minecraft client application.
+
+### Next steps
+
+Now that your server is running, you can share the IP address with friends for multiplayer play. You can also explore automated startup scripts to ensure the server automatically recovers from reboots.
 
 
 

content/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/minecraft-on-oci/minecraft-server-install.md

@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 ---
-title: Installing the Minecraft server
+title: Install the Minecraft server
+description: Install the Java Runtime Environment, download the Minecraft server files, and launch the server application.
 weight: 3
 
 ### FIXED, DO NOT MODIFY
@@ -10,19 +11,23 @@ layout: learningpathall
 
 ### Installing the Java Runtime Environment
 
-Before we install the Minecraft server, we need to make sure that there are some prerequisites
-installed. For the Minecraft 26 server or earlier, we will need Java 25.
+Before you install the Minecraft server, you need to make sure that there are some prerequisites
+installed. For the Minecraft 26 server or earlier, you will need Java 25.
 
-Connect to your instance using SSH as described in the previous step. We can install Java 25 on
+Connect to your instance using SSH as described in the previous step. You can install Java 25 on
 Oracle Linux with:
+
+```console
+sudo dnf install java-25-openjdk -y
 ```
-sudo dnf install java-25-openjdk
-```
+
 and on Ubuntu or similar distributions, with
+
+```console
+sudo apt install openjdk-25-jre -y
 ```
-sudo apt install openjdk-25-jre
-```
-Since the Minecraft server starts on the command line, you may also want to install the `screen` or
+
+Since the Minecraft server starts on the command line, you might also want to install the `screen` or
 `tmux` utilities which allows commands to keep running after you disconnect from the server.
 These commands are not strictly necessary, but you will need them to be running if you want to keep
 the server running when you disconnect from your SSH session. 
@@ -35,16 +40,22 @@ not be covered in this learning path.
 You can find the link for the latest version of the Minecraft server
 [on the Minecraft website](https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/download/server). Copy the link to
 `server.jar` from this page, and run the following command on your OCI instance to download it:
-```
+
+```console
 wget <paste URL to server.jar here>
 ```
 
-This will download server.jar from the Mojang website, and we will have a server.jar file on our OCI
-instance. To make it easier to keep track of different server versions, rename the server.jar file
-with a more meaningful name: `mv server.jar minecraft_server.26.2.jar`
+This will download `server.jar` from the Mojang website, and you will have a `server.jar` file on your OCI
+instance. To make it easier to keep track of different server versions, rename the `server.jar` file
+with a more meaningful name: 
 
-To start the Minecraft server, run the command:
+```console
+mv server.jar minecraft_server.26.2.jar
 ```
+
+To start the Minecraft server, run the command:
+
+```console
 java -Xmx8G -Xms8G -jar minecraft_server.26.2.jar nogui
 ```
 
@@ -79,6 +90,12 @@ that the process has completed successfully (timestamps will be different at the
 [00:41:04] [Server thread/INFO]: ThreadedAnvilChunkStorage: All dimensions are saved
 ```
 
-Your Minecraft server is now running - you can connect to it with the Minecraft client. Congratulations!
+### What you've accomplished
+
+You installed the open-source Java Runtime Environment on your instance, downloaded the Minecraft server files, accepted the End User License Agreement, and started the game server.
+
+### Next step
+
+With the server successfully running in the cloud, you will now open the necessary network ports to allow the Minecraft client to connect to your instance.
 
 

content/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/minecraft-on-oci/oci-instance-start.md

@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 ---
-title: Starting an OCI A1 or A4 instance on OCI
+title: Start an OCI VM instance
+description: Create and configure an Arm-based virtual machine instance on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.
 weight: 2
 
 ### FIXED, DO NOT MODIFY
@@ -9,18 +10,18 @@ layout: learningpathall
 ## Starting an OCI A4 or A1 instance
 
 Once you have [created an OCI account](../csp/oci) and verified that you can start an
-instance, we will create an AmpereOne powered A4 instance and connect to it with SSH to
+instance, you will create an AmpereOne powered A4 instance and connect to it with SSH to
 install the Minecraft Java server.
 
 1. Log on to [Oracle Cloud](https://cloud.oracle.com)
-2. On the$ OCI dashboard, navigate to Compute -> Instances to start a new instance: 
-   ![Instances on OCI Compute](OCI_compute_dashboard.png)
+2. On the OCI dashboard, navigate to Compute -> Instances to start a new instance: 
+   ![OCI Console Compute dashboard showing the Instances section#center](oci_compute_dashboard.png "Navigate to Compute -> Instances in the OCI dashboard")
 3. Click "Create instance", then: 
     * Choose one of the availability domains offered to you with A4 instances available
     * Select "Change shape", and set the instance type to Ampere VM.Standard.A4.Flex - if the
       A4.Flex instance type is not available in your preferred 
       AD, try another, or choose VM.Standard.A1.Flex:
-      ![Change shape](OCI_change_shape.png)
+      ![OCI instance creation shape settings panel with VM.Standard.A4.Flex selected#center](oci_change_shape.png "Configure the VM instance shape to VM.Standard.A4.Flex")
     * Beside the instance type, click the small black arrow to open options. Allocate 2 OCPUs
       and 12 GB of memory to your instance
     * Choose "Oracle Linux 9" or one of the other available images of your choice under "Change
@@ -37,21 +38,24 @@ install the Minecraft Java server.
 5. Use default Storage options
 6. After verifying that the instance is correctly configured, choose "Create" to provision a new 
    instance
-7. It can take up to 2 minutes for your instance to be created. Once created, we need to ensure
+7. It can take up to 2 minutes for your instance to be created. Once created, you need to ensure
    that there is a public IP address to connect to by going to the "Networking" tab for the instance:
-   ![Instance networking]{OCI_instance_networking.png)
+   ![Instance details page with the Networking tab selected to show public IP details#center](oci_instance_networking.png "Select the Networking tab on your VM details page")
 8. Scroll down and click on the VNIC name - `instance-yyyymmdd-HHmm` by default - then on the IP
    administration tab, and click on the three dots on the primary IP row to edit the IP address type
    associated with the instance to set its type to "Ephemeral public IP":
-   ![IP administration for instances](OCI_network_IP_management.png)
+   ![OCI IP management page showing primary private IP and ephemeral public IP configurations#center](oci_network_ip_management.png "Edit IP Address to set type to Ephemeral public IP")
 
 Take note of the IP address under "Public IP address". You should now be able to SSH into your
 instance with the command
 ```
 ssh -i <path to private key> opc@<public IP address>
 ```
 
-Congratulations - you are connected to your OCI instance. Next we will install some prerequisites and
-download and start the Minecraft server.
+### What you've accomplished
 
+You successfully provisioned an Ampere A1 or A4 virtual machine instance on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, configured its virtual network to assign a public IP address, and connected to the server securely over SSH.
 
+### Next step
+
+Now that your VM is running and accessible, you will proceed to install Java and download the Minecraft server software.