Your own ARK: Survival Ascended dedicated server, running around the clock

Will an ASA world fit on your machine?

Memory is what runs out first. The ARK wiki tested each map on a fresh save with default settings and nobody connected, and counted the server alone, not Windows underneath it:

Those numbers only go up. Every player, every base your tribe builds, every tame and every mod adds to them, and the wiki publishes no per-player number for ASA. Our suggestion, worked out from that table rather than taken from it: 16 GB for one of the lighter maps once Windows has its share, 24 GB or more for The Center or a modded world, and 32 GB for two maps side by side.

For the processor, the wiki recommends 4 logical cores for each running map and says single-core speed matters more than how many cores you have, because most of the game logic runs on one thread. Disk space is about 11 GiB for the install, plus room for saves, logs, updates and mods.

Windows is part of the deal

ASA's server only comes for Windows. The wiki is direct about it: Windows, or something that behaves like Windows, and no native Linux support. You will find guides that run it on Linux through Wine or Proton; those are community-made workarounds, and when a patch breaks one, nobody official is going to fix it. If your tribe depends on the world being there, run Windows.

• Which Windows: the wiki suggests Windows 10 22H2 or newer, or Windows Server 2016 or newer. Our widest lines install Windows Server up to 2025 and Windows 11 Pro.
• What it adds to the bill: Windows Server Standard is a paid licence counted per core, flat up to eight cores and per core beyond that, and it costs the same each month however far ahead you pay. Our reckoning, not a published figure: an eight-core machine stays at the flat licence rate and still has the 4 logical cores the wiki recommends for each of two maps.
• One extra step on Windows Server: the wiki says Server editions need the r2m02.crl file from Amazon, a certificate revocation list, imported to the Trusted Root Certification Authorities store, with TLS 1.2 turned on, or the server may never show up in the list.
• Before you install: add the Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 Redistributable (x64) and the June 2010 DirectX End-User Runtimes.

The ports your players connect through

The server does not open ports for itself, so you add them to Windows Defender Firewall. These are the defaults the wiki lists:

• UDP 7777, the game port your players join on. In ASA you change it with -port=, not ?Port=.
• UDP 7778, the peer port. It always sits one above the game port.
• UDP 27015, the query port, used only by Steam's server browser.
• TCP 27020, for RCON remote admin. Optional, and the one to keep shut to everyone but you.

Hosting a second map on the same server? Shift everything along: 7779 and 7780 for game and peer, 27016 for query, 27021 for RCON.

The server that fits your tribe

An ARK world lives for months, and it gets heavier as it ages. On a shared virtual machine you compete with strangers for exactly the memory and processor time your world needs most later on. Our game server machines are whole physical servers on enterprise hardware (HPE on most lines): every core and all of the memory are yours, and each sits on a network port no other customer shares at the access switch.

• Quick start: a machine already in the rack is ready in about 30 minutes once your order is approved; payment checks can add time. Browse what is racked on instant servers.
• Built to your size: if you want more memory than anything on the shelf, build to order and the page tells you which lead time applies.
• Never metered: the port is unmetered, so nothing counts the traffic your players make.
• A way back in: rack servers and blades have a remote console from the server's own management chip (HPE iLO, Dell iDRAC or Supermicro's BMC), switched on in the dashboard when you create a console login, so a Windows update that hangs on reboot is something you can fix yourself.
• No lock-in: monthly, no contract.

Pick the city closest to most of your players: Bucharest, Amsterdam, New York, Miami or San Francisco. The Windows server page covers running Windows on our machines; the operating systems offered vary by line, and the widest lines take Windows Server up to 2025 and Windows 11 Pro.

Up and running in an evening

1. Connect to your new machine over Remote Desktop and install the two Microsoft runtimes named above.
2. Download SteamCMD (Valve documents it on its developer wiki) and unpack it into C:\steamcmd.
3. Download the server into C:\ark with the first command below. You do not need a Steam account: since patch 25.18 the dedicated server downloads anonymously.
4. Open C:\ark\ShooterGame\Binaries\Win64 and create a file called start_server.bat holding the second command, with your own server name.
5. Allow UDP 7777-7778, 27015 in Windows Defender Firewall, then double-click the batch file. Give it several minutes on the first launch while the world populates.

C:\steamcmd\steamcmd.exe +force_install_dir C:\ark +login anonymous +app_update 2430930 validate +quit

ArkAscendedServer.exe TheCenter_WP?SessionName=OurTribe -port=7777 -WinLiveMaxPlayers=10

TheCenter_WP picks the map; swap in TheIsland_WP or another level name. -WinLiveMaxPlayers is how ASA decides how many people fit; the older MaxPlayers setting gets overridden back to the default of 70.

Keeping the admin keys to yourself

Whoever knows the admin password can run every admin command on your server, and RCON answers to that same password. Treat it like the key to the house.

• Put it in the settings file instead of the batch file. A password on the command line can be seen by anything that lists running processes.
• Should the password ever go on the launch line as ?ServerAdminPassword=, keep it the final ? option; the wiki warns that anything after it gets read as part of the password.
• Leave RCON off unless you use a remote admin tool, and if you switch it on, allow TCP 27020 only from your own IP address.
• Never paste the password into Discord or a screenshot. To use it in game, enter enablecheats plus the password in the in-game console.

[ServerSettings]
ServerAdminPassword=PUT_A_LONG_RANDOM_PASSWORD_HERE

That goes in GameUserSettings.ini under ShooterGame\Saved\Config\WindowsServer, a folder the server creates the first time it runs. Lock the file down so only the Windows account running ARK can read it.

Mods, extra maps and safe saves

• Mods come from CurseForge in ASA, not the Steam Workshop. List the CurseForge project IDs with -mods= on the launch line, separated by commas, and the server fetches and updates them each time it starts.
• Linking maps: to let survivors carry their gear between two maps, start both with the same -clusterid= and point -ClusterDirOverride= at one shared folder. Choose an unusual cluster name so strangers' servers do not show up in your transfer list.
• Saves: the server autosaves every 15 minutes by default. Everything that matters, the world, tribes, characters and settings, lives in ShooterGame\Saved; copy that folder somewhere else on a schedule, and always before an update.
• Updates: stop the server, back up, run the same SteamCMD command again, then start it.

Before you charge anyone

According to the wiki's summary of the EULA, a self-hosted ASA server is limited to personal, non-commercial use unless you hold a commercial server licence from the partner named in the EULA. Donations are fine when donors get nothing in return or when they only cover what the server costs you. If you plan to sell perks or VIP slots, read the EULA first.

Just a few friends trying ASA for a weekend? You do not need a whole machine for that. It makes sense when the world has to stay up for months, when you want more than one map, or when mods push memory beyond what a game slot gives you.

Questions people ask

Is a Linux machine good enough for ASA?

Not without workarounds. The official ARK wiki says the ASA server needs Windows and has no native Linux support. People do run it through Wine or Proton, but those are community setups that a game update can break. For a world your tribe relies on, choose a Windows machine.

How much memory should I get?

Between 7 and 12 GiB per map with nobody online, by the wiki's own tests, The Center being the hungriest. Memory grows as players build and tame, and mods add more. Our suggestion: 16 GB for one of the lighter maps with Windows, 24 GB or more for The Center or a modded world, and 32 GB for two maps.

Do I have to own ARK on Steam to download the server?

No. Patch 25.18 switched off Steam DRM for the server tool and made an anonymous depot available. SteamCMD with an anonymous login fetches app 2430930 for free.

My friends cannot see the server. What should I check?

First confirm UDP 7777, 7778 and 27015 are allowed in Windows Defender Firewall. On Windows Server, follow the wiki's step for the r2m02 certificate file from Amazon (imported to the Trusted Root store) and turn on TLS 1.2. You can also try connecting through Steam's server browser on the query port.

Can one machine host a cluster of maps?

Yes. Run each map as its own instance with its own set of ports, give them the same cluster ID and a shared cluster folder. Plan roughly 4 cores and that map's memory figure for each one.

Is the RCON password the same as the admin password?

Yes. The wiki says RCON needs the server admin password to work, so whoever reaches the RCON port can try it. Keep TCP 27020 closed or limited to your own address.