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Whitelist, Ranks and Permissions

Control who can join your server and what they can do with permissions and ranks.

By Lodgichost Team · Last updated: August 19, 2026

A whitelist decides who may enter your server; permissions and ranks decide what they can do once they are inside. Set up correctly, these two tools turn a chaotic public server into a safe, organised community. Set up incorrectly, they cause the three most common support requests we see: players who cannot join, staff who cannot moderate, and builds that get griefed because someone had more power than intended.

Whitelist, Bans or Permissions: Which Do You Need?

These three tools overlap, so knowing the difference stops a lot of confusion. A whitelist is a gate: only the players on the list can connect at all, and everyone else is rejected during login. A ban is a door-lock against a specific person, applied after some trust was violated. Permissions are a key system: even with the whitelist open, permissions decide whether a player can build, teleport, execute commands, or manage the server.

A useful rule of thumb: keep the whitelist for private and invite-only servers, keep bans for dealing with troublemakers, and use permissions on every server regardless of how open it is — because permissions are the difference between 'anyone can do anything' and 'everyone plays by the rules you set'.

Enabling the Whitelist

Whitelist mode restricts server access to only players you explicitly approve. To enable it, set white-list=true in server.properties and restart the server. Use the following commands to manage your whitelist:

/whitelist add Notch          # Add a player
/whitelist remove Notch       # Remove a player
/whitelist list               # List all whitelisted players
/whitelist on                 # Enable whitelist
/whitelist off                # Disable whitelist

You can also manage the whitelist through the portal's player management interface for a more visual experience.

Setting Up Ranks with LuckPerms

LuckPerms is the most popular permission management plugin for Minecraft servers. It supports group-based permissions, inheritance, and a built-in web editor. Install LuckPerms from the portal's plugin installer or upload it manually, then use these commands to set up ranks:

# Create a group
/lp creategroup builder

# Set a permission
/lp group builder permission set worldedit.* true

# Add a player to the group
/lp user Notch parent set builder

# Open the web editor
/lp editor

Recommended Permission Structure

Default group — Basic permissions like /help, /list, and chat access for all players.
Member group — Additional permissions unlocked after playtime or verification.
Moderator group — Kick, ban, mute, and teleport permissions for staff members.
Admin group — Full server management including console access and plugin configuration.
Owner group — Complete control including permission management and server settings.

Troubleshooting

Permission not applying: Run /lp sync to apply changes, or restart the server.
Player cannot join: Verify they are on the whitelist and not banned.
Too many permissions: Use group inheritance to avoid assigning permissions individually.
LuckPerms web editor not loading: Ensure the server has outbound internet access on port 8080.

Best Practices

Use group inheritance to keep your permission structure clean and maintainable.
Avoid assigning permissions directly to individual players — use groups instead.
Regularly audit permissions to remove unused or outdated entries.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why can't a player join even though the whitelist is off?

Check three things in order: the player's username is spelled exactly as their Minecraft account name (case matters in commands), they are not banned, and online-mode matches your setup. Cracked setups have no reliable username verification, which is another reason to keep the whitelist tight there.

What is the difference between a group and a rank?

Nothing structural — most servers call bandwidth groups 'ranks'. In LuckPerms they are parent groups of a player, and inheritance means a Moderator group can automatically include everything the Member group grants.

I gave a player a permission but it does not work.

Run /lp sync or restart the server so LuckPerms reloads its data. Then check for a permission conflict — a negative (denied) entry always overrides a positive one, so look for any denied node that matches what you just granted.

Should I turn on the whitelist for my public server?

For a truly public server, usually no — the whitelist's job is to exclude, and you want new players. Instead keep the whitelist off, but use moderation tools (bans, permissions, anti-grief protections) and consider a whitelist for events like closed betas.

How do I back up my permission configuration?

LuckPerms stores data in its data folder. Either enable SQL storage for automatic resilience, or include that folder in your regular Lodgichost backup — see the backups guide for how to automate this.

Related Guides

Installing and Managing Plugins — install LuckPerms
Understanding DDoS Protection — secure your whitelisted server
Automated Backups and Restores — back up permission configs