How to set up an ARK: Survival Ascended dedicated server

Windows or Linux

• Windows, on the PC you play on or a spare one. New Windows servers get Server Config, a cluster with transfers and the ARK Server API. See ARK on Windows.
• Linux, on an Ubuntu VPS or home server. ARK's dedicated server is made for Windows, and HaruHost runs it on Linux with no Wine or Proton to set up. See ARK on Linux.

Either way you run the server from the desktop app or the web panel, on your phone too.

What HaruHost does for you

• Downloading the server: no SteamCMD and no Steam account. HaruHost downloads the ARK: Survival Ascended dedicated server and updates it with one button.
• The map: pick The Island, Scorched Earth, The Center, Aberration, Extinction, Ragnarok, Valguero, Astraeos, Lost Colony, Genesis or Club ARK from a list, or a mod map.
• Settings: rates, taming, breeding, harvesting, levels, stacks and spawns are cards with sliders and switches, not lines you add to GameUserSettings.ini and Game.ini by hand.
• Getting friends in: with the Tunnel, friends join without port forwarding, even behind CGNAT or on Starlink.
• Running it: restarts with in-game warnings, updates, backups, kicks and bans from the app, the web panel or Discord.

Step by step

1. Install HaruHost on Windows (download) or on Ubuntu (one command).
2. Choose Add → New game server, pick the PC or server, then ARK: Survival Ascended.
3. Choose Create New Server, or Import Existing Server to bring a server you already run, with its world and settings.
4. Set the server name, the map and the passwords, and any other settings you want before the first start.
5. On the Connection step, choose Tunnel to skip router setup, or Ports to use your own address.
6. Create the server, wait for the download and start it. The first start creates the world.
7. Friends find the server by its name under Join Game → Unofficial; see how friends join.

Questions