Setting Up a Minecraft Proxy Network with Velocity or BungeeCord

A proxy server sits in front of multiple backend Minecraft servers, letting players connect to one address and seamlessly move between a lobby, survival world, minigames server, and more — without needing separate IPs for each.

What a Proxy Actually Does

Players connect to the proxy's address; the proxy forwards their connection to whichever backend server they should join (a lobby by default, then wherever they teleport/select). This is how large networks run multiple distinct "servers" under one player-facing address.

Velocity vs BungeeCord

• BungeeCord — the original, long-established proxy software, still widely supported by plugins, but development has slowed considerably
• Velocity — a modern, actively developed proxy built for better performance and security, now the generally recommended choice for new networks — most current plugins that supported BungeeCord now support Velocity too

For a new setup today, Velocity is the better default choice unless a specific plugin you need only supports BungeeCord.

Basic Setup Overview

1. Deploy the proxy software (Velocity or BungeeCord) on its own server instance, separate from your backend game servers
2. Deploy your backend servers (lobby, survival, minigames, etc.) as normal Paper/Purpur servers, each on a different local port
3. Configure the proxy's velocity.toml (or BungeeCord's config.yml) to register each backend server's address and port
4. Point your public domain/IP at the proxy — players never connect to backend servers directly

Important Backend Server Setting

Each backend server needs online-mode disabled (online-mode=false in server.properties) since the proxy handles authentication — backend servers trusting connections only from the proxy (via velocity's modern forwarding or BungeeCord's IP forwarding) is essential for security here; skipping this step is a common and serious misconfiguration that allows connection spoofing.

Is a Proxy Network Right for You?

If you're running a single survival world, you don't need one — a proxy adds real complexity that only pays off once you're actually running multiple distinct servers players move between. Start simple, add a proxy when you have a genuine multi-server network to connect.

RepublicNodes' Game Server Hosting supports Velocity, BungeeCord, and Waterfall alongside standard Minecraft server software for exactly this kind of network setup.