How to Prioritize Servers in a BungeeCord Network

BungeeCord is a popular proxy system used to link multiple Minecraft servers together, allowing players to seamlessly switch between different servers within a network. Prioritizing servers in your BungeeCord network ensures that players connect to the desired servers in a specific order, improving gameplay experience and server load distribution.

Understanding Server Priority

Server priority in a BungeeCord network determines the order in which players are directed to servers upon joining the network or when switching servers. Higher priority servers are selected first. This is useful for directing players to lobby servers, hubs, or specialized game modes before other servers.

Configuring Server Priority

To configure server priority in your BungeeCord setup, you need to adjust the configuration files where servers are listed. The order of servers in the configuration reflects their priority, with the first server having the highest priority. Ensure you list your primary lobby or hub server first, followed by secondary servers.

Example BungeeCord configuration snippet:

servers:
  lobby:
    motd: '&aWelcome to the Beacon Network Lobby!'
    address: 127.0.0.1:25566
    restricted: false
  survival:
    motd: '&bSurvival Server'
    address: 127.0.0.1:25567
    restricted: false
  minigames:
    motd: '&eMinigames Server'
    address: 127.0.0.1:25568
    restricted: false
 
listeners:
  - query_port: 25565
    motd: '&aBeacon Hosting Network'
    priorities:
      - lobby
      - survival
      - minigames

In this example, players will connect to the lobby server first. If the lobby is full or unreachable, BungeeCord will attempt to connect them to the survival server, followed by the minigames server.