// Hardware
Raspberry Pi 5 · 8 GB
Production host for Laugh School SMP. Paper 1.21.11 (Java 21) on aarch64 Linux.
Why Pi 5
- 8 GB is workable for a peaceful SMP with a moderate player count
- PCIe / NVMe options beat SD cards for world saves
- Idle power cost stays low for a community server that should stay online
Recommended layout
- Boot + OS on microSD or NVMe
- Put the Paper server directory on the fastest disk available
- Keep automatic backups on a second disk or off-box (USB / network share)
OS & runtime
- 64-bit Raspberry Pi OS (or similar Debian-based aarch64)
- Eclipse Temurin / Adoptium Java 21 (Paper 1.21.x requirement)
- Verify:
java -versionshows 21.x and aarch64
Memory budget (starting point)
# Example only — tune after watching spark / timings
# Leave headroom for OS + Geyser/Floodgate + BlueMap renders
-Xms2G -Xmx5G
Tip: BlueMap tile generation and heavy WorldEdit ops spike CPU/IO. Schedule heavy map renders when the server is quiet.
Networking
- Java default port
25565(tunneled publicly) - Bedrock via Geyser (often UDP
19132locally; public via tunnel host/port) - Do not publish RCON to the internet
Thermal & stability
- Use an active cooler / good case airflow
- Undervoltage warnings in
dmesg→ fix PSU before blaming plugins - Prefer wired Ethernet over Wi-Fi for the game host