^TUTORIAL
How to Identify Performance Issues on Your Minecraft Server Using Spark

Running a Minecraft Server is fun, but it can become a bit hectic when your server's performance keeps getting downgraded, causing lag and bad gameplay experiences for the players that are playing on your server. This can happen due to multiple reasons, like — high CPU usage, low RAM availability, network issues, and many others. This is where Spark comes into action.

Spark is a lightweight performance profiling tool available on both modded and plugin-based servers, making it a reliable tool for server owners to identify the problem causing issues on their servers and take appropriate actions in order to fix them. It works by collecting real-time data of your server’s CPU usage, memory allocation, ticks per second (TPS), and many others before providing you with a detailed report.

Continuing that, in this tutorial we will guide you on how to install, configure, and use Spark on your Minecraft Server in order to identify the problems causing performance issues on your server.

Installing Spark

The Spark plugin usually comes preinstalled on most of the Minecraft Servers since it is a pretty popular plugin for checking your server insights. Still, if you want to install or reinstall it yourself, you can follow the steps below. Also, before starting with the steps, we advise you to download the correct version of Spark for your server from SpigotMC or Modrinth marketplace.

1. Log in to your MCServerHost dashboard and stop your server in order to avoid any type of error while installing the plugin into your server.

2. Head towards the file manager, install the Spark plugin/mod into your ‘plugins’ or 'mods' folder, and restart your server in order to let Spark to create its configuration files on the server.

3. That’s it. Spark will now start working on your server without causing any problems or load.

Using Spark

After Spark is installed on your server, you can start using it in order to identify the problems that are causing the issues in your server's performance. Below you will find a list of commands that you can use on your server console in order to inspect various aspects of your server like its performance, CPU usage, lag spikes, and many others.

1. spark health - This displays CPU usage, memory usage, and active threads.
2. spark profiler start - To start profiling the CPU.
3. spark profiler stop - To stop profiling the CPU and generating a link with a detailed report on CPU usage. Make sure to use the 'spark profiler start' command for at least 10 minutes before stopping it and generating a report on the CPU usage.
4. spark tickmonitor - This helps identify when the server is experiencing lag.

Above are some of the commands you can use to identify why your server is experiencing problems regarding performance. Similarly, if you are looking to explore more commands, we recommend you to visit Spark's documentation page at https://spark.lucko.me/docs/Command-Usage.

Conclusion

Spark is a great tool to identify and fix issues that are causing any type of problems on your Minecraft Server. It is easy to install and in most cases already comes preinstalled on the server. To top that off, it is very easy to use and doesn't require any type of experience to operate it.

Similarly, if you are having any type of issue or problem with your server at MCServerHost you can always get in touch with us by joining our Discord server or writing us at support@MCServerHost.com.