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Pointing your own domain at your server

Use a domain instead of an address and port, with the SRV record that lets players type just the name, and how to tell whether it has worked.

Verified 2026-09-15 against How the Minecraft Java client resolves server addresses, and the DNS record types every registrar offers. Registrar interfaces differ.. About 6 minutes.

What you are trying to fix

Your server has an address and a port, shown on your account page, and players have to type both. A domain lets them type mc.yourdomain.com instead. Two records get you there, and the second one is the one people miss.

You need a domain you control. Any registrar is fine. We do not sell domains and we do not need access to yours.

1. An A record for the address

In your registrar’s DNS settings, add:

  • Type: A
  • Name: mc
  • Value: the IP address from your account page
  • TTL: 300

That makes mc.yourdomain.com resolve to the machine. If your account page shows a name rather than an IP address, use a CNAME pointing at that name instead of an A record.

At this point players can connect with mc.yourdomain.com:25567, using whichever port your server has. The port is still there.

2. An SRV record to hide the port

The Minecraft Java client looks for a service record before it tries a plain connection. Add:

  • Type: SRV
  • Name: @, or leave it blank
  • Service: _minecraft
  • Protocol: _tcp
  • Priority: 0
  • Weight: 5
  • Port: your server’s port
  • Target: mc.yourdomain.com
  • TTL: 300

Registrars disagree about how to present this. Some give you separate fields exactly as above. Others want the whole name in one box, written as:

_minecraft._tcp.mc

with the value as:

0 5 25567 mc.yourdomain.com.

Note the trailing dot on the target. Several registrars require it and silently misbehave without it.

If you want players to type the bare domain with no subdomain, set the record name to _minecraft._tcp and keep the target pointing at the subdomain that has the A record. The target of an SRV record must be a name, never an IP address.

3. Wait, then check

DNS changes take as long as the old record’s TTL. If the name is new, it is usually live in a few minutes. If you are changing an existing record that had a day-long TTL, it can take that long for everyone.

Check it rather than guessing. On Windows:

nslookup -type=SRV _minecraft._tcp.yourdomain.com

On macOS or Linux:

dig +short SRV _minecraft._tcp.yourdomain.com

You want to see your priority, weight, port and target come back. If you get nothing, the record has not propagated or the name is wrong.

Common mistakes

  • Only the A record. The domain works with the port typed, not without. Add the SRV record.
  • An IP address in the SRV target. Not allowed. Point it at a name that has an A record.
  • Proxying turned on. If your DNS provider offers a proxy or CDN feature, the orange cloud in Cloudflare being the usual one, turn it off for these records. It proxies web traffic and will break a game connection.
  • The wrong port. The port in the SRV record is your server’s game port, not 25565, unless your server happens to be on 25565.
  • Changing the port later. If your server’s port ever changes, the SRV record has to change with it. Your account page always shows the current address.

Does this change anything on our side?

No. The domain is resolved by the player’s computer before it ever reaches us, so nothing needs configuring here and you do not need to tell us. If you move to a different plan, the address stays the same, so your records keep working.