Deployment Overview of ARK Survival Evolved Server on Server¶

Prerequisites and Basic Requirements¶

To ensure the successful deployment and operation of the ARK Survival Evolved Server, the following system requirements must be met:

• Operating System: Ubuntu (Debian-based)

• Privileges: Root or sudo access is required for package installation and service configuration.

• Dependencies: The following packages are installed during the setup process:

• curl

• lib32gcc1

• lib32stdc++6

• screen

• wget

• tar

FQDN of the final panel on the hostkey.in domain¶

The following table describes the template used for the server's web panel access:

File and Directory Structure¶

The application uses a dedicated user named steam to manage files and processes. The directory structure is organized as follows:

• SteamCMD Directory: /home/steam/steamcmd

• Application Data Directory: /home/steam/ARK

• Startup Script: /home/steam/ARK/ark_server_start.sh

• Systemd Service File: /etc/systemd/system/ark.service

Application installation process¶

The application is installed using the SteamCMD utility to ensure all game assets are correctly downloaded and validated. The process follows these steps:

1. User Creation: A dedicated system user named steam is created to run the server processes for enhanced security.

2. SteamCMD Setup:

3. A directory /home/steam/steamcmd is created.

4. SteamCMD is downloaded from official Steam servers and extracted into the directory.

5. Game Installation: An installation script install.sh is executed via SteamCMD to download and install the ARK server files (App ID: 376030) into /home/steam/ARK.

6. Service Configuration: A systemd service unit is created to manage the server lifecycle, ensuring it starts automatically upon system boot.

Access Rights and Security¶

Security is maintained through user isolation and firewall configuration:

• User Isolation: The server runs under the steam user account rather than a root account.

• Firewall Configuration: The following UDP ports are opened via ufw:

• 7777 (Game Port)

• 27015 (Query Port)

• 32330 (RCON Port)

Custom Scripts and Additional Setup¶

The deployment includes a custom startup script used to initialize the game environment:

Startup Script (ark_server_start.sh)

• Location: /home/steam/ARK/ark_server_start.sh

• Purpose: This script configures the LD_LIBRARY_PATH to include the necessary Linux 64-bit libraries and executes the ShooterGameServer binary with specific parameters including:

• Map Name: TheIsland

• Session Name: My ARK Server

• Connection Password: TestPass123!

• Admin Password: TestPass123!

Application Update Instructions¶

To update the ARK Survival Evolved Server, you must re-run the installation script to validate and download any new files via SteamCMD. The following command is used within the SteamCMD environment:

/home/steam/steamcmd/steamcmd.sh +force_install_dir /home/steam/ARK +login anonymous +app_update 376030 validate +quit

Location of configuration files and data¶

• Game Data: /home/steam/ARK

• SteamCMD Binaries: /home/steam/steamcmd

Available ports for connection¶

The following ports must be accessible to players:

Starting and Stopping the application¶

The server is managed as a system service. Use the following commands to control the application:

• Start the server:

  sudo systemctl start ark
  

• Stop the server:

  sudo systemctl stop ark
  

• Restart the server:

  sudo systemctl restart ark
  

• Check status:

  sudo systemctl status ark