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Personal Dedicated server tips - Windows


LockeCPM4

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So I have been running Ark servers since March of 2016, but in May of this year I moved from a rented server host to a machine in my home (now that I have the internet to support it).

I have learned a lot in all that time, so I figured I would share my tips for hosting a non-rented dedicated server running on Windows. THIS IS NOT A HOW TO GUIDE, just tips:

Server System Requirements:

  • 6GB of RAM per server instance you wish to run
    • This changes based on how many players are connected, and sometimes varies for no reason at all
  • Good Single thread performing CPU
    • A core i5 or i7 going back to the 2000 series will do fine
    • Avoid older AMD FX processors (poor single thread performance)(if going AMD make it Ryzen or better)
  • Approximately 14GB of Hard Drive Space per server
    • SSD is HIGHLY recommended
      • When running on a regular HDD, it takes about 15-20 minutes for the server to start
      • When running on a SSD server start time only takes 3-5 minutes
  • Windows 7 or Later, or Windows Server 2008 or later (since this is a windows tips and tricks post
  • 1Gbps Ethernet port, and router with 1Gbps LAN ports
    • DO NOT RUN YOUR SERVER ON WIFI. Players will lag

Network and Internet:

  • Upload speed for your internet is the most important
    • A minimum of 10Mbps upload speed is required (trust me, mine started out a 5Mbps and it was not good)
    • 50Mbps and up will provide an optimal lag free environment for your players
  • Download Speed is still important as well
    • From much trial and error, I recommend a download speed of 100Mbps or higher
    • If you are sharing your network with others in your home, their usage (i.e. doing large file downloads and streaming video) can and will impact your player's connection quality a lot. Having a higher download speed can almost completely eliminate that
  • You Should have a good router
    • Budget routers do not always support port forwarding or DMZ
    • High end routers tend to maintain their connection quality better even if other devices on your network are using a decent amount of bandwidth
    • Once again, make sure you server is PLUGGED IN and not using WiFi
    • Ensure you open all the required ports, or set your server machine to be a DMZ on your router
    • Set up your server so that it has a static IP address to your router

Recommended Software

  • Ark Server Manager
    • http://arkservermanager.freeforums.net/thread/3/downloads
    • Very easy to use GUI for setting up your various server settings, mods and rates
    • Optional plugin for Discord so your community can always stay up-to-date on server reboots and updates etc...
    • You can literally do everything from downloading the server files, to setting up clusters, to updating the servers and downloading mods
  • Microsoft RDP or Other Remote Desktop software
    • You are not always going to physically be available to update or restart your server so having remote access is recommended

 

Important things you should do:

  • Set the "Affinitiy" of each one of your servers to only use 2 cores (Ark servers don't really use more than that)
  • Make sure each Ark server you are running is on different cores
  • Turn off "Quick Edit Mode" on the server command prompt window
    • This will prevent the server getting "stuck" as many server admins have reported
    • Prior to discovering the "Quick Edit" the only remedy for fixing said server hang was clicking on the server command prompt and pressing spacebar to get it unstuck
    • To do this, right click your mouse on the top of your server command prompt window, Press Properties, and uncheck "Quick Edit Mode"
  • Setup a third party backup for your saves (thank you to Thorium for the tip)
    • Sometimes server saves can get corrupted for no reason
    • Backup to an external hard drive, machine, or web service
    • Ensures a second layer of protection in the even that your saves get deleted or corrupted
    • https://www.duplicati.com/ is a good free backup utility

These are just a few of the tips that I mostly had to figure out on my own, or do a lot of searching to find. I hope this helps someone out.

Let me know if you have any questions, or you have tips to add

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Good tips.

I want to add that you absolutely need a backup solution. The save file backups the server does by itself do not cut it. It can happen that your save gets corrupted by an update. While this does not happen often, it does happen. If that happens, it's common that your tribe and character files also gets corrupted. So it's not enough to role back to the last save. Since the tribe and character files only have one backup and it's backed up every single time the game writes to the files, backups are most likely corrupted as well. If you have set up your own backup solution, you can just role back and your server is up and running again.

Also it's a good idea to backup to a second computer or web storage. In case of hardware failure.

If you run a cluster and you need to role back, always role back to whole cluster. So you don't get inconsistencies between the servers of the cluster. Like duplicated items and dinos or lost characters. If you role back one server and someone has recently traveled to it. His character may no longer be on the server after the rollback because it wasn't on that server during the time of the backup. But since you didn't role back the server he traveled from, the character isn't on that server as well. Your effectively deleted it from the cluster.

I can recommend Duplicati as a free backup software: https://www.duplicati.com/

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