Server networks (Velocity proxy)

Configure → Network only shows up on a Velocity proxy server. If you don't see it, your server isn't a proxy — that's not a missing feature, it's the wrong server type for it. A backend server that's part of someone else's network doesn't get this tab either; it shows a small "In a network" badge near the top of its own page instead. For a private backend, that badge names the proxy you join it through; for a public one (also joinable directly), it just says "In a network · public" with no proxy name attached.

What's on the tab

No network yet: a Create network button. Once created, the tab shows:

Regions. One entry per proxy in the network — a network can have more than one, each on its own node (see Multi-region networks). Each region lists its attached backends (hostname, state, private/public, and the internal address the proxy dials to reach it), plus what the tab knows about that region's own wiring:

• when that proxy last started, or "Not started yet";
• whether that proxy has only ever started once — your wiring is spliced into the velocity.toml the image downloads on the first start, so on a proxy with a single start behind it the wiring has not been written yet, and the tab says so with a Restart this proxy button;
• whether the network's config has changed since that start — shown in plain words, with a Restart this proxy button right there if so;
• the reason its last start failed, if it did, with a Retry start button;
• the same staleness line per backend, on the backend's own row: PaperMC requires both sides of a pair to carry the same forwarding settings, and each side only picks them up when it next starts, so a backend that hasn't restarted since the change says so — with a Restart button while it's running, or the fact that its config is written on its next start while it's asleep.

If a region says it couldn't be loaded, that is the literal meaning: the panel couldn't read that proxy at that moment. Nothing on that card is a statement about the proxy or its backends — in particular it is not "never started" and not "no backends".

Authentication mode. Premium or Offline, one setting for the whole network — PaperMC requires the proxy and every backend to agree on this exact value, so it's a single switch here rather than a per-server one. Changing it on a network that's already been played on is disruptive (Premium and Offline give the same username a different player UUID, so existing inventories and homes stop matching), which is why switching asks you to type the proxy's hostname to confirm and states that consequence directly. The confirmation also names the restarts the switch forces — every proxy and every backend takes the new mode only on its own next start, and it counts the backends running at that moment.

Add a region. Turns one of your own Velocity servers into a new region's proxy. It only offers servers that are on the Flat plan (a Metered proxy could sleep and take that whole region down) and not already in a network; if none qualify, the tab says which of those two conditions is the blocker, or — if you have free flat proxies but none on a node this network doesn't already have a proxy on — that every eligible node already has one.

Attach a backend. Only offers servers that are yours, not a proxy themselves, not already networked, and on the same node as this proxy — the panel filters to the eligible set; the backend enforces same-node independently. Attaching defaults to private (reachable only through the proxy); leave it public to also allow direct joins.

Delete network. Detaches every region's proxy and every attached backend at once — the confirmation names the real counts before you commit.

Wiring is automatic, not something you configure here

Attaching a backend or a region writes the Velocity forwarding config and its secret for you — there's no file to open and no value to copy. What you're doing on this tab is telling the platform what the network should look like (which backends, which regions, which auth mode); the when does that reach a running process part is what the wiring-state lines above are for. The full flow, what triggers a restart, and the errors you might hit are in How to set up a Minecraft server network — this tab is where you act, that guide is where you troubleshoot.

Keep the proxy on Flat

Nothing exempts a proxy from hibernation — only the Flat plan is exempt from idle sleep. A metered proxy that goes empty sleeps like any other server, and it's the single entry point every backend routes through: asleep, nobody reaches the network at all, not just one backend. Wake-on-join still brings it back on the next join, but that's a worse tradeoff here than on a normal server — the setup guide recommends Flat for the proxy for this reason.

Troubleshooting

No Network tab. You're on a regular game server, not a proxy — Network only renders for Velocity.

"No eligible servers" under Attach a backend. Either none of your other servers share this proxy's node/region, or you have no other free servers at all — the tab tells you which.

Attached, but players can't hop between servers. Check the region's wiring-state line above: a backend that was already running when you attached it needs a restart to pick up its forwarding config, and a proxy needs a restart whenever this tab asks for one — either because it has only started once (the start that fetches its config file) or because the network changed after its last start. If a backend's own page shows a start error naming its server type, it isn't Paper or Purpur — that's the one core requirement wiring still depends on. See the setup guide's Troubleshooting section for the full list.