Like most games, Minecraft provides a built in mechanism to set authorized players as administrators of the server. Mojang, the game developer, has chosen the term OP (operator).

An operator is one of the highest level of access any player can have on a Minecraft server

Managing OP Players

You can assign OP players by either use of NodePanel, Console Commands, or even ingame commands (by other already op-ed players)

Managing OP in NodePanel

Firstly, ensure you're on the control panel for your Minecraft server. Under the Players page, you will find an OPs tab. Any players added to this list will automatically be op-ed by our system. You may need to restart your server after changing players.

Assigning OP via Console or ingame commands

Using the command /op you can assign or remove ops.

/op <playername> - to add a player as OP status

/deop <playername> - to remove a player from OP status

When using the web-based console, be sure to drop the / from the start of the command

Permission Levels

Since the 1.7.10 snapshot release (13w19a), Operator Permission Levels were introduced into Minecraft, to give server administrators much more granular control over operator permissions. Each permission level is assigned various commands, and inherit all commands from the previous level. For example, a level 3 operator also has access to the commands from both level 2, and level 1. The highest possible operator permission level, is 4.