How do I keep my server running without having SSH open on my computer?

I have a VPS to host my new server and I start it by connecting to the VPS via SSH with Putty. I noticed last night though that if I close out of SSH on my laptop, the server goes down no matter what. I'm sure there's a way to keep the server running without SSH open on my laptop, otherwise people wouldn't buy a VPS since they would have to keep their computers on 24/7 anyway. My question is, how do I do this? I did some research and found a couple of articles saying something about screen, but it confused me.

Can anyone help?

 

Run the server in a screen session (assuming u are using linux):

Code:

screen -AmdS screenname java -jar craftbukkit.jar

Of course you can put any extra arguments behind the java and name the screen as you like.
To detach the screen so that you can execute normal linux commands in your base shell again. Press:

Code:

CTRL+a and then d

To resume the screen type:

Code:

screen -r screenname

Remember that linux is case sensetive.

 

So I do that before or after I start the server? Because after I start the server the terminal is stuck like

>

And only accepts bukkit commands I think.

 

You do that before you start the server.

 

Oh and I forgot. After you started the server like this press

CTRL+A then D

This will detach the window and you are back in your normal Shell.

 

You could also start the screen session with a name:

Code:

$ screen -S minECraft

Then run your startup (this is just a little shell script that I wrote):

Code:

$ ./run_minecraft.sh

Then feel free to close putty whenever. When you want to resume, if you don't remember the name, you can do:

Code:

$ screen -ls
There is a screen on:
	97768.minECraft	(Detached)
1 Socket in /var/folders/_w/63586kts5kzdbb0xtq0r7r3r0000gn/T/.screen.

Then, as @silthus said, resume with

Code:

$ screen -r minECraft

or

Code:

$ screen -r 97768

NOTES: I used "minECraft" as the name to show how it carries through the steps.
NOTES: For completeness, here is that shell script if anyone's interested, but they're seriously all over:

Code:

 #!/bin/bash

java -Xincgc -Xmx2G -jar craftbukkit.jar

NOTES: For super-completeness, here is the script that lets you update to the latest CB (you can run "./update.sh" to go to a stable build, or "./update.sh dev" to go to a dev build)

Code:

#!/bin/bash

ver="stable"
if [ -z $1 ] ; then
    echo "Updating to latest STABLE build."
else
    ver="dev"
    echo "Updating to latest DEV build."
fi


if [ ! -d incoming ] ; then
    mkdir incoming
else
    rm -rf incoming
    mkdir incoming
fi
cd incoming
if [[ $ver == "dev" ]] ; then
    wget -N http://ci.bukkit.org/job/dev-CraftBukkit/lastSuccessfulBuild/artifact/*zip*/archive.zip
else
    wget -N http://ci.bukkit.org/job/dev-CraftBukkit/Recommended/artifact/*zip*/archive.zip
fi
unzip archive.zip
cd archive/target/
mv *.jar ../../../craftbukkit.jar

Wow... this post got a lot longer than I'd originally set it out to be...