Add and manage extra ports for your server

Some features need a port of their own, and you can add, label, repoint and remove your server's ports yourself from the Ports and network page.

6 min read · Updated Oct 21, 2026 · By GuavaHost Team

Every server starts with one port, the one in the address your players type. A port is just a numbered door on the machine, and your game listens behind one of them. Plenty of useful extras want a door of their own, and you do not need to ask anyone to open one.

Why you would want a second port

The usual reasons:

• Geyser. Letting Bedrock players onto a Java server means running a second listener on a separate UDP port, because Bedrock does not speak the Java protocol. See Geyser explained, setting up Geyser and Floodgate and which port Bedrock players use.
• Proximity voice chat. Simple Voice Chat and friends carry audio on their own UDP port. Setting up Simple Voice Chat has the specifics.
• A live web map. Dynmap and similar plugins serve a web page, so they need a port your browser can reach. Running a Dynmap live map covers it.
• RCON. A remote console lets an outside tool, such as a Discord bot or a restart script, send commands to your server. What RCON is explains when you need it.
• A Steam query port. Several games answer the server browser on a port separate from gameplay. ARK: Survival Evolved, Valheim and Enshrouded all work this way, and the query port is what gets your server listed.

If a mod, plugin or tool asks you to "open a port", this page is the answer. You do not also need to forward anything on your home router: that is only for servers running on your own machine, as port forwarding explained sets out.

Where the page is

1. Sign in at customer.guavahost.com, open My servers and click Manage on your server.
2. On the Overview tab, find the Ports & network card. It lists your Server address first and any Other ports under it, each with a copy button.
3. Click Manage on that card to open the Ports & network page.

That page is where you make changes. The card on the Overview is the quick read-only view, and finding your server IP and port covers reading it.

Add a port

Click Add a port. You can let us pick the next free one for you, or choose a number yourself from the list of free ports on your machine.

Letting us pick is the right default. The list only ever offers ports that are genuinely free on that machine, so you cannot collide with another server, and some numbers are held back for the system and for games that insist on specific values.

A few things to know:

• Each server can have up to six ports. That is plenty for a game port, a query port, RCON, Geyser, voice chat and a web map.
• You cannot pick any number you like. It has to be free and in the pool for your machine. If a tool's documentation names a default port, you will usually get a different number, and that is fine: what matters is that your config and your players use the number you actually have.
• Use the note field. Click Add a note on a port and write what it is for. In three months, "Geyser (Bedrock)" will save you a lot of guessing.
• Port changes apply the next time the server starts. Restart after adding one.

If the list of free ports comes up empty, the machine is simply busy. Ask us in Discord and we will sort it out.

Point a feature at a port

Adding a port only opens the door. Something still has to listen behind it, and that happens in one of two places.

For features the panel knows about, the Game ports section of the Ports & network page lists settings such as RCON or Query. Click Choose a port to point one at a port you already have, or to add a new port for it in the same step. That is the clean route, because the panel then writes the value into the server's configuration for you.

For a plugin or mod, you set the port in the plugin's own config file. Geyser, Simple Voice Chat and Dynmap all have a port line in their config. Add the port in the panel, copy the number, then put that exact number in the plugin's config and restart. Editing config files in the panel file manager walks through the editing side.

The mistake to avoid is pointing a plugin at a port you have not added. It will either fail to start or listen where nobody can reach it.

Change which port is the main one

Make main next to another port promotes it to your server's connect address. Your game port changes, so the address you have been sharing stops working and you need to hand out the new one from the top of your server page.

That is occasionally useful but disruptive for players. If you are changing a Minecraft port specifically, changing your Minecraft server port covers what else has to match.

Remove a port

1. Stop the server. A running server holds its ports open until it stops, so a removal needs the server down.
2. On the Ports & network page, remove the port you no longer want.
3. Clear the port out of any config that still points at it, or the plugin will try to bind to a port you no longer have and may refuse to start.
4. Start the server again.

Your main port cannot be removed, which is deliberate: a server with no game port has no address.

Does TCP or UDP matter?

Not for anything you do on this page. Your port is open for the traffic your game needs, and GuavaHost handles the protocol side. It is worth knowing the difference anyway, because it explains why a port test tool can say "closed" on a perfectly working game port: UDP does not answer the way TCP does. TCP versus UDP for game server ports is the short version.

If something still cannot connect on a new port

Work through it in this order:

1. Confirm the port is listed on the Ports & network page and the server has been restarted since you added it.
2. Confirm the number in the plugin or tool's config matches the port exactly. One digit out is the usual answer.
3. Check the Console tab after a start for the plugin's own startup line. Most of them print which port they bound to, and that line is the proof.
4. Give players the full address, with the port on the end, not just the IP.
5. If it works for you and not for a friend, check their end: firewalls and blocked game ports covers networks that block unusual ports, as school and office connections often do.

Common questions

How many extra ports can I add?

Each server can have up to six ports in total, including your main game port. That covers the usual combination of game, query, RCON, Geyser, voice chat and a web map with room to spare.

Can I choose a specific port number like 25565?

Only if that number happens to be free on your machine, and popular defaults rarely are. The panel shows you which numbers are available, and any free one works just as well as long as your config and your players use it.

Do I need to restart after adding a port?

Yes. Port changes apply the next time the server starts, and anything listening on the new port needs a boot to pick it up. Add the port, set the number in the relevant config, then restart once.

Why can I not remove a port?

Either the server is still running, in which case stop it and try again, or it is your main port, which cannot be removed because it is your connect address. To retire a main port, promote another one with Make main first.

Still stuck? Jump into our Discord at discord.gg/GuavaHost and the team will help you out.

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