How to Set Up a BungeeCord Network for Your Minecraft Servers

Build a BungeeCord proxy network linking lobby, survival, and minigame Minecraft servers — with secure IP forwarding and BungeeGuard.

BungeeCord is a proxy that sits in front of multiple Minecraft servers, letting players move between them without disconnecting. A typical network has a Lobby, a Survival server, and a few minigame backends — all reachable from a single address. This guide walks through the full setup, from creating the proxy to securing it.

Modern alternative: Velocity is the actively-developed successor to BungeeCord. It's faster, more secure, and has better plugin support. Use it for new networks unless you specifically need BungeeCord's plugin ecosystem.

How a BungeeCord Network Works

                    ┌──────────────────────────┐
Players ──── 25565 ─►  BungeeCord Proxy        │
                    │  (online-mode: true)     │
                    └─┬──────────┬──────────┬──┘
                      │          │          │
                      ▼          ▼          ▼
                 ┌────────┐ ┌────────┐ ┌────────┐
                 │ Lobby  │ │Survival│ │Minigame│
                 │  25566 │ │  25567 │ │  25568 │
                 └────────┘ └────────┘ └────────┘
                 (online-mode: false on all backends)

Players connect to the proxy — they never see the backend servers directly
Proxy authenticates with Mojang — backends trust the proxy via IP forwarding
Players use /server <name> to switch between backends without reconnecting

What You Need

Component	Purpose
1 BungeeCord proxy server	Routes players to backends
2+ backend Minecraft servers	Lobby, survival, minigames, etc.
BungeeGuard plugin	Critical security — installed on proxy AND all backends
All servers on the same network/region	Minimize cross-server latency

Step 1: Create the BungeeCord Proxy

Create a new server with BungeeCord type

In the XGamingServer Panel, create a new Minecraft server. In Startup, set the server type to BungeeCord (or select a BungeeCord-compatible Docker image).

Start the proxy once to generate config files

Start the proxy from Console. After it boots, stop it. This creates config.yml in the server root.

Edit config.yml

Click Files in the sidebar and open config.yml. Replace the listeners and servers sections:

listeners:
  - host: 0.0.0.0:25565
    motd: "&aMy Minecraft Network"
    max_players: 100
    priorities:
      - lobby
    force_default_server: false
    bind_local_address: true
    proxy_protocol: false
    tab_list: GLOBAL_PING
    query_enabled: false
    query_port: 25577
    ping_passthrough: false

servers:
  lobby:
    address: lobby-ip:25566
    motd: "&aLobby"
    restricted: false
  survival:
    address: survival-ip:25567
    motd: "&2Survival"
    restricted: false
  minigames:
    address: minigames-ip:25568
    motd: "&dMinigames"
    restricted: false

ip_forward: true
online_mode: true

Replace lobby-ip, survival-ip, minigames-ip, and ports with your actual backend addresses from each backend's Network tab.

Start the proxy

Start the proxy from Console. Watch for:

[INFO] Listening on /0.0.0.0:25565

Step 2: Configure Each Backend Server

Repeat these steps on every backend (lobby, survival, minigames).

Stop the backend

Edit `server.properties`

Open server.properties and set:

online-mode=false

Critical: Without online-mode=false, the backend will try to authenticate every connection — and reject the proxy. The proxy handles authentication centrally, so backends must trust it.

Edit `spigot.yml`

Open spigot.yml and set:

settings:
  bungeecord: true

This tells Spigot/Paper to expect BungeeCord forwarding headers.

(Paper only) Edit `paper-global.yml`

If running Paper, also set in config/paper-global.yml:

proxies:
  bungee-cord:
    online-mode: true

allowed-tokens:
  - "your-proxy-token-here"

Restart each backend.

Now backends will reject any connection that doesn't carry the BungeeGuard token — even if someone knows the backend IP.

Step 4: Test the Network

Connect to the proxy address in Minecraft (the address players will use)
You should land on the lobby (the first server in priorities)
Run /server survival in chat — you should switch to the survival server without disconnecting
Run /server lobby to switch back

Cross-Server Features

Feature	Plugin
Cross-server chat	BungeeChat, LunaChat
Cross-server economy	LuckPerms + Vault + MySQL backend
Cross-server permissions	LuckPerms with shared database
Friends and parties	PartyAndFriends
Cross-server teleport	BungeeTeleport, RedisBungee
Lobby selector GUI	BungeePortals, ServerSelector

Plugin types: BungeeCord plugins go in the proxy's plugins/ folder. Bukkit/Spigot plugins go in each backend's plugins/ folder. They are not interchangeable.

Common Issues

Problem	Fix
"Could not connect to a default or fallback server"	Backend address wrong in `config.yml`, or backend offline
"If you wish to use IP forwarding..."	`ip_forward: true` missing on proxy
"Failed to verify username"	Backend has `online-mode=true` — set to `false`
Players can't switch servers	Server names are case-sensitive — match exactly
Players see backend IP in client	Use the proxy address, not backend IPs
Backend rejects proxy connections	BungeeGuard token mismatch — re-copy from proxy config

See BungeeCord Troubleshooting for more.

Security Checklist

online_mode: true on proxy
online-mode=false on all backends
ip_forward: true on proxy
bungeecord: true in all backend spigot.yml
BungeeGuard installed on proxy AND all backends
BungeeGuard token matches across all servers
Backend ports firewalled so they're not directly reachable from the internet