How to Enable Player IP Forwarding in BungeeCord and Velocity

When running a BungeeCord or Velocity proxy network, player connections pass through the proxy server before reaching your backend sub-servers (Lobby, Survival, Factions). Without Player IP Forwarding, all players will appear to the backend sub-servers as if they are connecting from 127.0.0.1 or the proxy's IP address.

This breaks IP banning (/ban-ip), anti-bot protection, vote checking, and player security logging.

This guide will show you how to enable BungeeCord IP forwarding and Velocity modern secret forwarding on your Cubes Hosting server network.

Why IP Forwarding is Crucial

Enabling IP forwarding ensures that the proxy passes each player's real public IP address and UUID directly to backend Paper or Spigot sub-servers.

Fixes IP Bans: Prevents /ban-ip from banning 127.0.0.1 and locking all players out of your network simultaneously.
Fixes Anti-Alt & Security Plugins: Allows plugins like LuckPerms, AuthMe, and LiteBans to track individual player IP addresses accurately.
Fixes Skins: Passes Mojang skin textures and UUID profiles through to sub-servers.

Method 1: Enabling IP Forwarding in BungeeCord

To set up IP forwarding on a standard BungeeCord network:

1. Configure BungeeCord (`config.yml`)

Open your BungeeCord server File Manager.
Open config.yml and find the ip_forward: setting.
Change ip_forward: from false to true:
```
ip_forward: true
```
Save the file and restart your BungeeCord proxy.

2. Configure Backend Sub-Servers (`spigot.yml`)

Perform these steps on every backend sub-server (Lobby, Survival, etc.):

Open the sub-server File Manager.
Open spigot.yml and find the bungeecord: setting under settings:.
Change bungeecord: to true:
```
settings:
  bungeecord: true
```
Ensure online-mode=false in server.properties.
Save and restart all backend sub-servers.

Method 2: Enabling Modern Forwarding in Velocity (Recommended)

Velocity uses a highly secure, encrypted forwarding protocol called Modern Velocity Secret Forwarding to prevent IP spoofing:

1. Configure Velocity (`velocity.toml`)

Open your Velocity server File Manager.

Open velocity.toml and locate player-info-forwarding-mode:

player-info-forwarding-mode = "modern"
forwarding-secret-file = "forwarding.secret"

Open the generated forwarding.secret file and copy the secret key.

2. Configure Backend Paper Sub-Servers (`paper-global.yml`)

On modern PaperMC 1.19–1.21+ sub-servers:

Open /config/paper-global.yml (or paper.yml).

Enable Velocity proxy forwarding and paste your secret key:

proxies:
  velocity:
    enabled: true
    online-mode: true
    secret: "PASTE_YOUR_FORWARDING_SECRET_HERE"

Save and restart all Paper sub-servers.

Step 3: Verifying IP Forwarding Works

To verify that player IP forwarding is working cleanly:

Join your server through the proxy.
In your backend sub-server console or in-game as an OP, run:
```
/ip <your_username>
```
(Or check /whois <username> in EssentialsX).
If the command returns your actual public IP address (instead of 127.0.0.1), IP forwarding is configured correctly!

Conclusion

Enabling IP Forwarding is a mandatory step when building any BungeeCord or Velocity proxy network. Enable ip_forward: true or Velocity modern forwarding, restart your servers, and keep your network logs, bans, and security plugins working flawlessly!