Close your Minecraft server for maintenance

Sometimes you need the server to yourself: updating plugins, restoring a backup, moving a build. Telling people is not enough, because someone always joins in the middle. A maintenance mode closes the doors properly.

What a good maintenance mode does

Warns players first, so nobody loses a build or a fight.
Removes the players who are still there, with a clear message.
Turns new players away with the same message, instead of letting them join a half-updated server.
Shows the message in the server list, so people know why it looks offline.
Lets staff in, so you can test your changes.

Do it on Saryno

Open Settings, Maintenance and bans and write the message players will see, like "Updating to 1.21.5, back at 18:00 UTC". Choose a countdown: players already online are told the server closes in 1, 5 or 15 minutes, and removed when it ends. Press Close the server.

From that moment, the server list shows your message in place of the usual one, and a player who tries to join sees the same text. It works at the front door, so it holds while the server sleeps and even if the game itself is stopped. Servers reached through the hub or a network are turned away the same way.

Your own address is allowed in automatically, and you can add more, one per line, for the people helping you. Everyone else waits. When you are done, press Open it again.

Choosing a good message

Say when it will be back, in a time zone people know, or say "back soon" if you do not know.
Say why, in a few words. People forgive planned work.
Keep it to one line. The server list cuts long text.

A checklist for the work itself

Close the server with a 5 minute countdown.
Take a backup.
Make your changes: update plugins, change the version, or edit files.
Join from an allowed address and test.
Open the server and say so in Discord.

Compared with a whitelist

Turning the whitelist on keeps people out too, but it needs the server awake and it shows players "You are not whitelisted", which looks like a ban. Maintenance mode is temporary, friendly and visible in the server list. Use the whitelist for who can play, and maintenance mode for when.