How to Backup Ark Dedicated Server

Channel:

Geekhead

Subscribers:

2,750

Published on June 18, 2020 12:00:00 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEeTBQne27Y

Game:

Ark: Survival Evolved (2017)

Duration: 10:18

4,621 views

56

In this video I share my method for backup and restore of my Dedicated Ark Server worlds. I only back up the SavedArks directory, so the scope of the backup is strictly the world itself and not the Ark Server binaries.


Follow my instructions on how to install Ark Server first:    • Installing Dedicated ARK Server on Ub...  


vi backup_ark.sh
#!/bin/bash
####################################
# Backup Ark server to a
specified folder.
#
####################################

What to backup.
backup_files="/home/steam/arkserver/ShooterGame/Saved/SavedArks"
backup_file_name="arkserver"

Specify which directory to backup to.
Make sure you have enough space to hold 30 days of backups. This
can be on the server itself, to an external hard drive or mounted network share.
Warning: Ark worlds can get fairly large so choose your backup destination accordingly.
dest="/home/steam/backups"

Create backup archive filename.
day=$(date +"%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S")
archive_file="$day-$backup_file_name.tar.gz"

Stop ARK Server
systemctl stop ark

Backup the files using tar.
tar zcvf $dest/$archive_file $backup_files

Clear backups
/home/steam/clear_backups.sh

Start ARK Server
systemctl start ark




chmod +x backup_ark.sh




vi clear_backups.sh
#!/bin/bash
####################################
# Clean up ARK saved game to a
specified folder.
#
####################################

-mtime +30 means any file older than 30 days
find /home/steam/backups -type f -mtime +30 -exec rm -f {} \;




chmod +x clear_backups.sh




crontab -l

crontab -e
m h dom mon dow command

0 3 * * * /home/steam/backup_ark.sh




############## Restoring a backup:

E.g.

Stop ARK Server
systemctl stop ark

Remove existing data
rm -rf /home/steam/arkserver/ShooterGame/Saved/SavedArks/*

Restore a saved file.
tar -xvf /home/steam/backups/FILENAME.tar.gz -C /

Restore permissions on files
chown steam:steam -R /home/steam/arkserver/ShooterGame/Saved/SavedArks/

Start ARK Server
systemctl start ark

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