Recently, the revelation (no pun intended) of a Vatican Minecraft server popped up on the Internet after some initial media coverage. Now, it seems that the server had been hit with a sustained DDOS attack which has since been successfully fought off.
A bit of background: Father Robert R. Ballecer, SJ had run a poll to determine what sort of multiplayer game server he should create. The poll ultimately landed on Minecraft — so that's what he went and did, ultimately aiming to create a less "toxic" community where people could express their creativity. Regrettably, a measure of media attention also caught the attention of some ne'er-do-wells who decided to hit it with a DDOS.
Hey Gamer Tweeps... sorry about the Minecraft server getting completely bogged.
— Fr. Robert R. Ballecer, SJ (@padresj) December 2, 2019
This was a test instance and I didn't expect it to ramp up like this over just a few hours.
I'm working on migrating everything to a bigger VM.
:)
I'm looking at the logs of the Minecraft test server and it looks like there is a handful of people who are constantly connecting and disconnecting to fill the player slots and kill the server.
— Fr. Robert R. Ballecer, SJ (@padresj) December 2, 2019
Interesting...
At the time, I had thought that the server is maxed out was simply a consequence of its recent popularity. Instead, it turns out that people were repeatedly connecting and disconnecting in order to keep the player slots filled up and prevent anyone from actually accessing the server. That issue has since been resolved, although more trouble may lie ahead.
Vatican Minecraft Server Launches Production Build Today
Fortunately, Father Ballecer, SJ is a man who knows his tech and how to deploy it. The server that suffered a DDOS attack was a test server that was put in place to figure out the proper setup and see if any problems arose.
Obviously, at least one bit of trouble did pop up, namely a DDOS attack. The padre appears untroubled by the whole issue, confidently stating that he's going to be launching the actual server setup today.
Truth-time:
— Fr. Robert R. Ballecer, SJ (@padresj) December 4, 2019
The MC server we've been running was the test server. It allowed us to build up a ban-list of 100 or so User IDs and IPs and see where we would be attacked.
Tomorrow we launch the production server. 😄
It will still get attacked, but now we've got a head start. pic.twitter.com/XvuLkvB0MA
It's likely that there will still be problems in the future for this community, but it seems like it's in good hands nonetheless. If you'd like to check it out for yourself, you can connect at the address minecraft.digitaljesuit.com.
What do you think of the Vatican Minecraft server facing a DDOS attack? Do you think this community will have stability in the long term? Let us know in the comments below!
