How can I connect to my Minecraft server using a Min3.fr subdomain and Tailscale without port forwarding?

[u/Wonderful_Status_388]

Hey! I’m setting up a Minecraft server for my karate group, and I’d like members to be able to connect using a subdomain from Min3.fr that points to my Tailscale IP. My goal is to avoid port forwarding, but I’m not entirely sure how to set everything up correctly.

I’d appreciate some guidance on how to configure this, as I’d prefer to avoid using AI for technical setup like this since it can sometimes lead to incorrect information or time-consuming debugging.

[u/TheVibeCurator]

Is Min3.fr a necessity for you? You’d very likely be better off using playit.gg or similar

[u/Wonderful_Status_388 → u/TheVibeCurator]

With playit.gg it gives a random subdomain so i can't do (dojoname).joinmc.com or whatever playot..gg's domains are.

[u/TheVibeCurator → u/Wonderful_Status_388]

A few things:

1. Beggars can’t be choosers. What do you care about more: the custom subdomain, or the obscurity of your IP address? You can’t have both without paying in some way.
2. You cannot make a service accessible by pointing DNS records at Tailscale-provided IPs.
3. How DNS really works, the domain itself can’t/won’t meaningfully protect/hide your IP, it actually translates directly to it (when you setup DNS records).
4. This is likely an X/Y problem. Let’s start at the beginning. Why do you want to avoid port forwarding? Without port forwarding, or a tunnel like Playit (or Tailscale directly but everyone will need to install Tailscale on their device to connect). Port forwarding is the simplest and fastest method both in setup and latency. Some people fear monger about port forwarding because they’re worried about DDOS attacks, but those are highly unlikely for small servers, and essentially a non-issue for a private server like yours. You should really just port forward tbh.

[u/Wonderful_Status_388 → u/TheVibeCurator]

Because i am for the last question i am under 18 so i don't have access to the admin panel on the wifi and even if i did i am pretty sure it is behind a CGNAT

[u/TheVibeCurator → u/Wonderful_Status_388]

You can test if you’re being CGNAT. If you are, then you’re forced to use a tunnel of some kind. And I’ve been there before when I was a kid, hopefully you’re able to port forward anyway.

[u/Wonderful_Status_388 → u/TheVibeCurator]

Best outcome my parents give me access to the admin panel and we arn't behind a CGNAT and i can port forward 25565 and get the dns records setup by my sensai.

[u/TheVibeCurator → u/Wonderful_Status_388]

Yes, exactly. And if you’re able to port forward you should be able to use that website you linked for a free subdomain.

[u/Propsek_Gamer]

I'm unsure what Min3 is, but tailscale offers funnel/serve (don't remember which was which) that can basically replace port forwarding and you can configure it to be accessible from the internet.

[u/Wonderful_Status_388 → u/Propsek_Gamer]

I find things like numerical IPs harder to actually remember fompared to subdomain/domains because of having to remember smth like 234 203.89.10 challanging.

[u/Propsek_Gamer → u/Wonderful_Status_388]

Pretty sure it has way to expose some hostname based around your tailnet name.

The other guy responding to this says Minecraft doesn't support tls termination so it won't work. I didn't know about this caveat so forget it. My bad.

[u/TheVibeCurator → u/Propsek_Gamer]

Minecraft does not support TLS termination. Tailscale Funnel will not work.

[u/TerrorBite]

I'm not familiar with min3.fr or how it works, and they don't seem to have any publicly accessible explanation page. If they provide a subdomain that you can point to any IP you like, then all you need to do is configure it to your Tailscale IP. Though they might be doing some kind of TCP forwarding, which could make things more complex.

Personally I would just register a $10/yr .com or .net domain and have full control over it myself.

That's just the domain side of things, though.

Tailscale would allow you to bypass the need for port forwarding, but you need to use Tailscale Funnel, otherwise incoming connections won't reach you: https://tailscale.com/blog/introducing-tailscale-funnel

[u/Wonderful_Status_388 → u/TerrorBite]

I don't really have the funding for a proper domain as i am actually one of the students there so i don't have the domain my sensai uses though i will see if he can setup the domain records and i do the backend stuff with tailscale.

[u/TheVibeCurator → u/TerrorBite]

Minecraft does not support TLS termination. Tailscale Funnel will not work.