ARK: Survival Evolved Linux Server Tools

This tool allows you to manage any ARK: Survival Evolved linux server without having to remember long commands. It provides a lot of features, to get the full list check the Usage section.

Known issue with updating

If updating from 1.6.53 or earlier, you will likely get the following message:

Unable to get latest release

If updating from 1.6.53 or earlier, and arkstUnstable is set, then it is likely to say that a hotfix is available, but fail to install it.

Please either:

• edit arkmanager wherever it is installed, and replace

  arkstGithubRepo="FezVrasta/ark-server-tools"

  with

  arkstGithubRepo="arkmanager/ark-server-tools"

  or

• re-install using the netinstall script below.

Installation

Prerequisites

ARK Server Tools requires certain packages be installed in order to function correctly.

If running under CentOS or RHEL, you will need the following packages installed:

perl-Compress-Zlib
curl
lsof
glibc.i686
libstdc++.i686
bzip2

If running under Debian or Ubuntu, you will need the following packages installed:

perl-modules
curl
lsof
libc6-i386
lib32gcc-s1 (or lib32gcc1 if on Debian Buster or Ubuntu 20.04 or older)
bzip2

Common prerequisites which should normally already be installed are:

>=bash-4.0
>=coreutils-7.6
findutils
perl
rsync
sed
tar

If using CentOS 6 or earlier, or Debian 7 or earlier, you will need to compile a newer version of glibc. See https://github.com/arkmanager/ark-server-tools/wiki/Install-of-required-versions-of-glibc-and-gcc-on-RHEL-CentOS

To use ARK Server Tools, you will need to install SteamCMD following this guide:

https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/SteamCMD#Linux

We assume you have created the steam user to store steamcmd and your ARK server.

Requirements

To allow your ARK server to communicate with the outside you have to open some ports in your firewall:

iptables -I INPUT -p udp --dport 27016 -j ACCEPT
iptables -I INPUT -p tcp --dport 27016 -j ACCEPT
iptables -I INPUT -p udp --dport 7777 -j ACCEPT
iptables -I INPUT -p tcp --dport 7777 -j ACCEPT
iptables -I INPUT -p udp --dport 7778 -j ACCEPT
iptables -I INPUT -p tcp --dport 7778 -j ACCEPT
iptables -I INPUT -p tcp --dport 32330 -j ACCEPT

NB: Change the ports according to the ones set in your arkmanager.cfg file.

Install ARK Server Tools

To install ARK Server Tools run this command:

curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/arkmanager/ark-server-tools/master/netinstall.sh | sudo bash -s steam

NB: You may want to change the bash -s parameter to fit your steam user if different from steam.

If you want to install the arkmanager service, append the --install-service option to the install command.

This will copy the arkmanager script and its daemon to the proper directories and will create an empty log directory in /var/log for ARK Server Tools.

To instead perform a user-install of ARK Server Tools as an unprivileged user, run this command:

curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/arkmanager/ark-server-tools/master/netinstall.sh | bash -s -- --me

Configuration

Stored in /etc/arkmanager/arkmanager.cfg and /etc/arkmanager/instances/<instancename>.cfg you can find the variables needed to start the server, like the port numbers, the system environment variables and so on.

You will need to modify these files with any options you wish to give to the server, and any paths that are non-standard in your environment (e.g. one common one is the path to the appinfo cache).

See Configuration files for options.

Also, in these files, you can specify any parameter you want to add to the startup command of ARK server. These parameters must be prefixed by the ark_ string, some example could be:

ark_SessionName="My ARK server"
ark_MaxPlayers=50
ark_ServerPVE=False
ark_DifficultyOffset=1

Your session name may not contain special characters (eg. !![EU]!! Aw&some ARK) as it could break the startup command. In this case you may want to comment out the ark_SessionName variable and define it inside your GameUserSettings.ini file instead.

To specify an option without an argument (e.g. bRawSockets), specify an empty argument (e.g. ark_bRawSockets="").

To specify a dash-option without an argument (e.g. -log), add the option="" prefixed with arkflag_ (e.g. arkflag_log="").

To specify a dash-option with an argument (e.g. -StructureDestructionTag=DestroySwampSnowStructures), add the option=value prefixed with arkopt_ (e.g. arkopt_StructureDestructionTag=DestroySwampSnowStructures).

You can override or add variables for a specific system user creating a file called .arkmanager.cfg in the home directory of the system user.

Each server instance must have its own set of ports. These ports are specified using the ark_Port, ark_QueryPort and ark_RCONPort settings in the instance configuration. If the QueryPort or Port settings are shared between multiple instances, then the server will often either crash or hang without being able to be queried. If the RCONPort setting is shared between multiple instances, the server will hang at 0/0 players.

See Configuration files for more options.

Install ARK Server

To install ARK Server just run this command as normal user:

arkmanager install

Usage

arkmanager [Global Options] <command> [Command Options] [Command Args] [Instances]

Global Options

--help	Prints some help on using the command
--version	Prints the arkmanager version

Common Options

--verbose	Exposes the output of SteamCMD
--dots	Prints dots for progress
--spinner	Uses a spinner for progress
--arkopt,{option}	Adds the specified option to the server command line; used with run, start, and restart. Options can be of the form: -<option> Equivalent to adding arkflag_<option>=true for this run -<option>=<value> Equivalent to adding arkopt_<option>=<value> for this run <option> Equivalent to adding ark_<option>="" for this run <option>=<value> Equivalent to adding ark_<option>=<value> for this run

Instanceless commands

upgrade-tools	Upgrades the ARK server tools to the latest version
uninstall-tools	Uninstalls the ARK server tools
list-instances	Lists the available instances --brief prints a single line with just the instance names
useconfig	Legacy command for specifying an instance for the following command(s)
remove-mods	Remove the specified mods from the steamcmd workshop directory

Commands acting on instances

All of the following commands take @instancename arguments to specify one or more instances, with the special @all instance selecting all instances.

run	Runs the server without putting it into the background
start	Runs the server and puts it into the background --noautoupdate Disables automatic updating on startup if it is enabled --alwaysrestart Enable automatically restarting the server even if it crashes without becoming ready for player connections.
stop	Stops the server if it is running --warn Warns any connected players that the server is going down --warnreason Gives a reason for the shutdown. Defaults to maintenance --saveworld Saves the world using saveworld - usually not necessary, as server usually saves the world on a graceful shutdown
restart	Runs the stop command followed by the restart command. Accepts and passes the options for those commands --warnreason Gives a reason for the restart. Defaults to a restart
install	Downloads and installs (or validates an existing install) of the ARK server
update	Updates an install of the ARK server (or installs it if it’s not already installed) --force Bypasses the check for if an update is available --safe Only shuts down the server when the server has saved in the past minute --warn Warns any connected players that the server is going down for an update --ifempty Only updates the server when nobody is connected --validate Re-validates the ARK server install --saveworld Saves the world using saveworld - usually not necessary, as server usually saves the world on a graceful shutdown --update-mods Updates any installed mods --backup Backs up the saved world and game config before updating --stagingdir=<dir> Sets the staging directory in order to download the update before shutting down the server --downloadonly Downloads the update but does not apply it. Only has effect if a staging directory is set. --beta=<betaname> Select the beta to install (use --beta=public to reset to the public branch. Note that --validate is required when switching branches. --betapassword=<password> Use password to unlock beta (for password-locked betas).
cancelshutdown	Cancels a pending update / shutdown / restart that was run with the --warn option
checkupdate	Checks if an ARK server update is available Exit status 0: No update is available 1: An update is available
checkmodupdate	Checks if any mods need updating on the server --revstatus Reverses the exit code, and adds extra codes for failures Exit status 0: An update is available, or workshop files are missing 1: No update is available 2: One or more mods is missing from the workshop Reversed status codes (--revstatus) 0: No update is available 1: An update is available 2: One or more mods is missing from the workshop 3: appworkshop_346110.acf is missing 4: SteamCMD workshop dir does not exist
installmods	Installs all mods specified in the instance config into the ShooterGame/Content/Mods directory
uninstallmods	Deletes all mods from the ShooterGame/Content/Mods directory
installmod <modnum>[,<modnum>[,…​]]	Installs the specified mods into the ShooterGame/Content/Mods directory
uninstallmod <modnum>[,<modnum>[,…​]]	Deletes the specified mods from the ShooterGame/Content/Mods directory
removemod <modnum>[,<modnum>[,…​]]	Deletes the specified mods from the SteamCMD workshop directory
reinstallmod <modnum>[,<modnum>[,…​]]	Runs the uninstallmod command followed by the installmod command
list-mods	Lists the mods in the config and/or installed in the server directory
enablemod <modnum> enablemod <modnum>=<modtype>	Enables the arkmod_<modnum> setting in the instance config. modtype defaults to game. Mod types: game A mod in GameModIds map The MapModId mod tc totalconversion The TotalConversionMod mod
disablemod <modnum>	Disables the arkmod_<modnum> setting in the instance config.
backup	Backs up the saved world and game config files to a compressed tar file in the backups directory specified in the config
restore "<filepath>"	Restore a Backup If no file is specified, the latest backup is used (helpful for a new server)
broadcast "message"	Broadcasts a message to players connected to the server using the RCON broadcast command
saveworld	Saves the world using the RCON saveworld command
rconcmd "command"	Sends the specified RCON command to the server and prints its response
notify "message"	Sends the specified message using the configured Discord webhook
status	Prints the status of the ARK server
printconfig	Prints the config option names and which file they were found in
getpid	Prints the server PID
install-cronjob <command>	Installs a cron job that executes the specified command. This accepts any of the options the specified command accepts, as well as the following options. In order to specify an argument to the command (e.g. to the broadcast command), use the --arg=<arg> option. Please read your man 5 crontab manpage to determine what minute and hour values are valid, as some implementations may not accept e.g. the */n minute / hour specification. --daily The command should be executed daily --hourly The command should be executed hourly --hour=<hour> Specifies one or more hours when the command should execute. This is the hour field of the cron job. If you want to have the command execute every n hours, then use --hour='*/n' Default: * (i.e. all hours) --minute=<minute> Specifies one or more minutes of the hour when the command should execute. This is the minute field of the cron job. If you want to have the command execute every n minutes, then use --minute='*/n' Default: 0 (i.e. the first minute of the hour) --enable-output Enables the output from the command - the cron daemon usually emails this to the user specified in the cron configuration --arg=<arg> Specifies an argument to pass to the command
remove-cronjob <command>	Removes a cron job previously installed by install-cronjob
wait	Waits until any or all instances are stopped or online Defaults to any stopped --any Waits until any specified instance is in specified state --all Waits until all specified instances are in specified state --stopped Waits until instances are stopped --online Waits until instances are online

Configuration files

Global configuration

Global configuration is stored in /etc/arkmanager/arkmanager.cfg and/or ~/.arkmanager.cfg.

The following options cannot be overridden in the instance config files:

arkstChannel	Specifies the release channel (git branch) to use when upgrading the ARK server tools
install_bindir install_libexecdir install_datadir	Set by the installer to specify where to install the executable and data files
configfile_<name>	Paths to the specified instance config files
defaultinstance	The default instance to use if no instance is specified
steamcmd_user	The user under which the tools should be run. Set to --me in ~/.arkmanager.cfg in the case of a user-install

The following options can be overridden on a per-instance basis:

steamcmdroot	The directory in which SteamCMD is installed. Change this to /usr/games if you have the steamcmd package installed on Debian, Ubuntu, or CentOS
steamcmdexec	The steamcmd.sh executable. Change this to steamcmd if you have the steamcmd package installed on Debian, Ubuntu, or CentOS
steamcmd_appinfocache	The path to the Steam appinfo cache file. Most systems will have this in $HOME/Steam/appcache/appinfo.vdf, but some systems (especially with the steamcmd package installed) have this instead in $HOME/.steam/appcache/appinfo.vdf. You will need to modify this setting if this is the case.
steamcmd_workshoplog	The path to the Steam workshop log file. Most systems will have this in $HOME/Steam/logs/workshop_log.txt, but some systems (especially with the steamcmd package installed) have this instead in $HOME/.steam/logs/workshop_log.txt. You will need to modify this setting if this is the case.
steamdataroot	The path to the SteamCMD data. Defaults to $steamcmdroot Some SteamCMD installations (especially with the steamcmd package installed) store downloaded files (workshop files, etc.) in /home/.steam instead of in the steamcmd directory.
steamworkshopdir	The path to the SteamCMD workshop directory. Defaults to $steamdataroot/steamapps/workshop Some SteamCMD installations (especially with the steamcmd package installed) use SteamApps as the steamapps directory instead of steamapps
arkserverexec	The relative path within an ARK server install where the ARK server executable can be found. For the standard ARK server, this should be ShooterGame/Binaries/Linux/ShooterGameServer
arkbackupdir	The directory in which to store backups. Can be overridden in the instance config.
arkbackupcompress	Enable/Disable backup compression. Default true. Helps to remove the load on the CPU, but increases the size of backups, see arkMaxBackupSizeMB
arkBackupPostCommand	Command to be run using eval after backup completes. $backupfile will be set to the full path of the backup tar.bz2 file. e.g. arkBackupPostCommand='aws s3 cp "$backupfile" "s3://bucket_name/backups"'
arkwarnminutes	The number of minutes over which the shutdown and update warnings should be run
arkautorestartfile	The relative path within an ARK server install to place the autorestart lock file
arkAlwaysRestartOnCrash	Set to true to enable automatically restarting even when the server has not become ready for player connections. Be aware that this may cause the server to enter an endless crash-restart loop if the cause of the crash is not resolved.
arkAutoUpdateOnStart	Set to true to enable updating before server startup
arkBackupPreUpdate	Set to true to enable automatic backups before updating
arkPreStart	Set to the path to a script to execute on startup if it exists default: /path/to/instance/config.start where /path/to/instance/config is the path to the instance config file with the .cfg extension removed - e.g. /etc/arkmanager/instances/main.start
arkGameUserSettingsIniFile	Set to the path to an ini file that, if it exists, will overwrite ${arkserverroot}/ShooterGame/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/GameUserSettings.ini on startup default: /path/to/instance/config.GameUserSettings.ini where /path/to/instance/config is the path to the instance config file with the .cfg extension removed - e.g. /etc/arkmanager/instances/main.GameUserSettings.ini
arkGameIniFile	Set to the path to an ini file that, if it exists, will overwrite ${arkserverroot}/ShooterGame/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/Game.ini on startup default: /path/to/instance/config.Game.ini where /path/to/instance/config is the path to the instance config file with the .cfg extension removed - e.g. /etc/arkmanager/instances/main.Game.ini
arkStagingDir	Sets the staging directory in order to download updates before shutting down the server
arkMaxBackupSizeMB	Limits the size of the stored backups
arkPriorityBoost	Attempts to boost the priority of the ARK server. Negative values give a higher priority, and positive values give a lower priority. Requires sudo and renice
arkCpuAffinity	Attempts to set the CPU affinity of the ARK server. Setting is a comma-delimited list of processor indices on which the server should run. Requires sudo and taskset
msgWarnUpdateMinutes msgWarnUpdateSeconds msgWarnRestartMinutes msgWarnRestartSeconds msgWarnShutdownMinutes msgWarnShutdownSeconds	Templated messages for warnings, where %d is replaced with the number of minutes / seconds before the update / restart / shutdown
msgWarnReason msgTimeMinutes msgTimeSeconds msgReasonUpdateApp msgReasonUpdateMod msgReasonUpdateAppMod msgReasonRestart msgReasonShutdown	Alternative templated messages for warnings with the following replacement parameters: {reason} Valid in msgWarnReason, replaced at runtime with the appropriate msgReason* template {time} Valid in msgWarnReason and msgReason*, replaced at runtime with the appropriate msgTime* template {modnamesupdated} Valid in msgReason*Mod, replaced at runtime with a comma-delimited list of updated mod names {minutes} Valid in msgTimeMinutes, replaced at runtime with minutes remaining until shutdown {seconds} Valid in msgTimeSeconds, replaced at runtime with seconds remaining until shutdown
broadcastcmd	Used to override which rcon command to use for server broadcasts - e.g. serverchat default: broadcast
discordWebhookURL	Discord Webhook URL - server status messages and update warning messages will be sent through this if specified
notifyTemplate	Template to use for sending messages through Discord webhook, with the following replacement parameters: {instance} Instance name {server} Server hostname {msg} Message
notifyMsgShuttingDown	Message to be sent when shutting down. Use - to disable.
notifyMsgStarting	Message to be sent when starting. Use - to disable.
notifyMsgServerUp	Message to be sent when server starts listening. Use - to disable.
notifyMsgStoppedListening	Message to be sent when server has stopped listening for more than 1 minute. Use - to disable.
notifyMsgServerTerminated	Message to be sent when server has crashed and is being restarted. Use - to disable.
notifyvar_<varname>	Extra variables to be used to replace {<varname>} replacement parameters in notify message. e.g. notifyvar_instancename="My Instance" will replace {instancename} with My Instance in the notify message.
noNotifyWarn	Disable notification at start of shutdown warning period
notifyCommand	Notify command to run. Notify message will be in ${notifymsg}, and templated message will be in ${msg} e.g. notifyCommand='echo "$msg" | mailx -s "Message from instance ${instance} on server ${HOSTNAME}" "email@domain.com"'
logdir	Specifies where to store log files
appid	The Steam AppID of the ARK server
mod_appid	The Steam AppID of the ARK client (used for downloading mods)
mod_branch	The Mod branch (Windows or Linux) to use. Virtually all mods use the Windows branch for the ARK server, and the Linux branch almost always crashes the server

ARK server options:

serverMap	The map the server should use
serverMapModId	Uses the -MapModID=<modid>?…​ option to specify the server map mod ID
ark_<optname>="<optval>"	Specifies the options to use in the Map?Option=Val?…​ option string passed to the server
ark_<optname>=""	Specifies an option without a value - Map?Option?…​
arkflag_<optname>=<anything>	Specifies a dash-option without a value (i.e. flag) - e.g. arkflag_DisableDeathSpectator=true adds the -DisableDeathSpectator flag
arkopt_<optname>="<optval>"	Specifies a dash-option with a value - e.g. arkopt_StructureDestructionTag=DestroySwampSnowStructures adds the -StructureDestructionTag=DestroySwampSnowStructures option.
arkNoPortDecrement="<bool>"	True if the Port option should be passed untouched. False for the old behaviour of decrementing the Port.

Instance config files

Instance config files are stored under /etc/arkmanager/instances/<instancename>.cfg, ~/.config/arkmanager/instances/<instancename>.cfg or as specified in the configfile_<instancename> options in the global config.

arkserverroot	The directory under which the ARK server is installed
serverMap	The map the server should use
serverMapModId	Uses the -MapModID=<modid>?…​ option to specify the server map mod ID
arkModCollections="<collection1>,<collection2>,…​"	Specifies collections to include in mod list
ark_<optname>="<optval>"	Specifies the options to use in the Map?Option=Val?…​ option string passed to the server
ark_<optname>=""	Specifies an option without a value - Map?Option?…​
arkflag_<optname>=<anything>	Specifies a dash-option without a value (i.e. flag) - e.g. arkflag_DisableDeathSpectator=true adds the -DisableDeathSpectator flag
arkopt_<optname>="<optval>"	Specifies a dash-option with a value - e.g. arkopt_StructureDestructionTag=DestroySwampSnowStructures adds the -StructureDestructionTag=DestroySwampSnowStructures option.
arkmod_<modnum>=<modtype>	Specifies a mod that can be enabled or disabled using enablemod and disablemod. Note that mod ids specified using these options are in addition to those specified directly in the ark_GameModIds option, and override those specified in the ark_MapModId, serverMapMod and ark_TotalConversionMod options. Options are processed in the order they are specified in the instance config file, and arkmod_* options in the common config file are not applied. Mod types: game A mod to be specified in GameModIds map The mod to be specified in MapModId tc totalconversion The mod to be specified in TotalConversionMod disabled A disabled mod

Common ARK options

ark_TotalConversionId=<modid>	Specifies the Total Conversion to use
ark_GameModIds=<modid>,<modid>,…​	Specifies the Mod IDs to use
ark_SessionName="<sessionname>"	The name under which the server should announce itself
ark_RCONEnabled="True"	Enabled RCON
ark_RCONPort=<portnum>	The TCP port on which the server listens for RCON commands. Must be unique on the host.
ark_Port=<portnum>	The UDP port on which the server listens for client connections. Must be unique on the host.
ark_QueryPort=<portnum>	The UDP port on which the server listens for queries. Must be unique on the host.
ark_ServerPassword="<password>"	Specifies the password needed to connect to the server
ark_ServerAdminPassword="<password>"	Specifies the server admin password, which is also the RCON password. Use of this option is discouraged - please store the password in the GameUserSettings.ini file instead.
ark_MaxPlayers=<numplayers>	The maximum number of players allowed to connect to the server
ark_AltSaveDirectoryName="<dirname>"	Alternative directory under ShooterGame/Saved under which to save the world files. If multiple instances run from the same directory, this must be unique between these instances.
arkflag_NoBattlEye=true	Disables BattlEye