How to set up an ARK: Survival Evolved dedicated server

Windows or Linux

• Windows, on the PC you play on or a spare one. HaruHost installs what the server needs and can open its ports on your router. See ARK on Windows.
• Linux, on an Ubuntu VPS or home server, installed with one command. HaruHost runs as a service there, and the Tunnel lets friends join from home without port forwarding, even behind CGNAT. See ARK on Linux.

Either way you run the server from the desktop app or the web panel, on your phone too, with the same Auto Config cards.

What HaruHost does for you

• Downloading the server: no SteamCMD and no Steam account. HaruHost downloads the ARK: Survival Evolved dedicated server and updates it with one button.
• The game version: pick Latest or Preaquatica; see Preaquatica.
• The map: The Island, The Center, Scorched Earth, Ragnarok, Aberration, Extinction, Valguero, Genesis: Part 1, Genesis: Part 2, Crystal Isles, Lost Island or Fjordur from a list, or a mod map.
• Settings: 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.
• 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 Evolved, and give it a name.
3. Pick the version, Latest or Preaquatica.
4. On Windows, choose Create New Server, or Import Existing Server to bring a server you already run.
5. On the Auto Config cards, set the Server Name and the map on Base Config, and the passwords on Passwords.
6. On the Connection step, choose Tunnel on a Linux server running HaruHost as a service, or Ports to use your own address.
7. Create the server, wait for the download and start it. The first start creates the world.
8. Friends find the server by its name in the game's server list; see how friends join.

Questions