How to Backup Ark Dedicated Server
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: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_v6yFtNg6yA
# 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
Other Videos By Geekhead
Other Statistics
Ark: Survival Evolved Statistics For Geekhead
Currently, Geekhead has 55,405 views for Ark: Survival Evolved across 8 videos. Ark: Survival Evolved has approximately 2 hours of watchable video on his channel, or 6.09% of the total watchable video on Geekhead's YouTube channel.