Power Up Your Server Game with Intel NUC: The Energy-Efficient and Quiet Solution for Hosting Multiple Virtual Machines

If you're in the market for an energy-efficient and quiet server to host your virtual machines, consider using an Intel NUC. In this blog post, we'll explore the benefits of using an Intel NUC, like the NUC11, as a virtual machine server, and how it can be used to host a variety of different servers.

The Intel NUC is a small form factor computer that packs a punch, despite its size. Its powerful processor, ample RAM, and storage space make it a viable option for hosting multiple virtual machines.

One of the most notable benefits of using an Intel NUC as a virtual machine server is its energy efficiency. Compared to traditional servers, the NUC requires much less power and generates less heat. As a result, it can help keep your energy bills down and create a more comfortable work environment.

Another benefit of using an Intel NUC as a virtual machine server is its quiet operation. The NUC is designed to be as quiet as possible, unlike traditional servers which can be disruptive and noisy. This means that it can be placed in your home office or living room without causing any disturbance.

Spinning up Minecraft Server

With my kids home for the holiday break, I decided to spin up a Minecraft server for us to play on.  In the past, I used a Raspberry Pi for hosting Minecraft servers.  (For running a Minecraft server on a Raspberry Pi, these instructions are great)  One of the reasons that I am not using a raspberry pi for this new server is that it can get overwhelmed when there is a lot of activity on the server at once. (e.g. when the kids spawn a lot of chickens at once)

I currently have an Intel NUC, that I use to run several servers in our house, including  Plex and Home Assistant servers, running in separate VirtualBox VMs. I figured that I could use another virtual machine for the Minecraft server.

MineOS Turnkey is a Linux distribution that has everything that you need for running a Minecraft server.  In addition to the OS itself, it also includes the MineOS webapp, which enables various Minecraft server jars to be downloaded, and the various instances to be started & stopped.

It is fairly easy to create a virtual machine for the Minecraft server.  First, download the ISO image from the mineos-node site.  Then create a new virtual machine in VirtualBox.  I specify that this will be a 64-bit debian based OS, and allocate 2 Gb of RAM for it.

100 Gb should be enough for the server, so I create a dynamically allocated disk image for it.

That is pretty much all that is needed for creating the virtual machine, but there are a few settings that I like to tweak.  Since I don't have any audio connected to the computer that I run VirtualBox on, I disable audio for this virtual machine.  To make it easier to connect to the server, I switch the to bridged network mode.

At this point, select the mineos-node ISO image for the optical drive of the virtual machine, boot the machine, and run through the setup.

After the installation, the virtual machine should be accessible on the subnet that the host is running.  Once you log into the web interface, you can select which Minecraft server you want to run, and configure it to automatically startup, when the virtual machine starts.

Have fun playing!