How to Ban and Unban Players on Your Minecraft Server

Moderation is a key part of running any successful Minecraft server. Whether you are dealing with griefers, spammers, or rule breakers, knowing how to ban and unban players is essential to keeping your community safe.

This guide covers all vanilla banning commands, IP banning, and file-based moderation on your Cubes Hosting Minecraft server.

Method 1: Banning a Player by Username

Banning by username prevents a specific Minecraft account from connecting to your server.

In-Game (OP Status Required)

Open chat and type:

/ban <username> [reason]

Example: /ban Steve Griefing spawn area

Via the Game Panel Console

If you aren't currently playing in-game, you can execute the ban command directly from your browser:

Go to your Cubes Hosting Game Panel and click on the Console tab.
In the command box, type:
```
ban <username> [reason]
```
(Do not include the / slash when typing in the console).
Press Enter. The player will be kicked immediately with your specified reason displayed on their screen.

Method 2: Unbanning a Player (Pardon)

If you made a mistake or a player's appeal was accepted, you can unban them using the pardon command.

In-Game: /pardon <username>
Console: pardon <username>

Method 3: IP Banning & Unbanning

If a player is creating alternate accounts (alts) to bypass a username ban, you can ban their IP address instead. This blocks any account trying to connect from that specific internet connection.

Banning an IP Address

In-Game: /ban-ip <usernameOrIP> [reason]
Console: ban-ip <usernameOrIP> [reason]

Example: ban-ip Steve Using alt accounts to spam

Unbanning an IP Address

To unban an IP address, use the pardon-ip command:

Console / In-Game: /pardon-ip <IPAddress>
Example: /pardon-ip 192.168.1.1

Viewing and Editing Ban Lists

Minecraft stores all ban data inside simple JSON files in your server's root directory.

1. In-Game & Console Commands

To view lists of banned players or IPs without opening files:

View banned usernames: /banlist players
View banned IP addresses: /banlist ips

2. File Manager Editing

You can also view or manually remove bans through configuration files:

Open the File Manager in your Game Panel.
Locate banned-players.json or banned-ips.json in the root directory.
You can inspect active ban records, timestamps, and reasons, or manually remove entries.

Advanced Moderation: Banning Plugins

Vanilla Minecraft only supports permanent bans. If you want advanced features like temporary bans, mute commands, or ban synchronization across a proxy network (BungeeCord/Velocity), we recommend using moderation plugins:

LiteBans: The industry standard plugin for advanced bans, mutes, warnings, and web-based ban appeals.
AdvancedBan: A popular free plugin offering temporary bans (/tempban) and timed mutes.

Conclusion

Keeping your server safe takes just a few basic commands. Whether you use standard /ban and /pardon commands or upgrade to plugins like LiteBans, you have full control over who is allowed on your Cubes Hosting server!