How to Run an ARK: Survival Ascended Dedicated Server on Linux

Linux is the natural home for always-on dedicated game servers. Lower memory overhead, cheaper VPS pricing at the same hardware tier, mature process supervision through systemd, and the ability to run headless once the baseline is stable all add up. AASM v0.9.0 brings that operator experience to ARK: Survival Ascended — without forcing you to hand-assemble SteamCMD scripts, Proton prefixes, or backup cron jobs.

What AASM actually does on Linux:

• Native Linux desktop application — no Wine shim for the AASM UI itself, no .NET runtime dependency, no separate management daemon.
• SteamCMD orchestration — install, validate, update and branch-pin the ASA server files without leaving the AASM dashboard.
• Proton/Wine isolation per server — each ASA server gets its own prefix so mod conflicts and configuration drift between maps cannot bleed across servers.
• Cross-platform data layout — the same backup, snapshot, mod and profile formats as the Windows build, so a migration either direction is a file copy.
• One licence per machine — trial, monthly, 6-month and lifetime tiers are all valid on Linux; there is no Linux-specific SKU.

If you have already read the quickstart Linux installation guide, the first three steps below are a refresher; jump ahead to step 4 for configuration, step 6 for scheduling, step 7 for clustering, and step 8 for remote management.

Download AASM v0.9.0 for Linux from the official download page. The file is a .tgz archive.

Verify the SHA-256 fingerprint before extracting. From a terminal in the download folder:

The fingerprint must match:

Extract the archive into a writable user folder (not /usr or /opt):

Mark the application executable, then double-click ARK Server Manager to launch. On first launch, AASM registers itself in your applications menu with its icon and stores its data under ~/.local/share/aasm.

From the AASM dashboard, select Add New Server → Install New Server. Give it a clear name (you will see this in every backup file, log line and Discord alert), choose a writable install directory on SSD storage, and continue through the wizard.

A SteamCMD console window opens while AASM downloads or updates the server. Let that finish; the console closes automatically when the operation completes. AASM manages SteamCMD for you — you do not need to install or configure SteamCMD separately.

AASM will install the ASA Windows dedicated server binary and create a Proton prefix automatically the first time the server is started. You do not need to pre-install Proton or Wine; AASM bundles a tested, isolated runtime for each server.

Before the first start, review every field on the server configuration screen. The defaults are sensible for a single test server, but you should explicitly confirm:

• Server name — the name players see in the in-game browser.
• Map — The Island, Scorched Earth, Aberration, Extinction, Genesis, Center, Ragnarok or Valguero. You can change this later without reinstalling.
• Game port, query port, RCON port — defaults are fine for a single server; for a cluster, plan the port allocation across all maps up front.
• Server and admin passwords — set both. Treat the admin password as a real secret; rotate it if it leaks.
• Backup location — put it on the same SSD as the server, not on a network mount. AASM rotates backups automatically once configured.
• Restart schedule — the default daily restart is fine; step 6 covers the full schedule options.

Permit the required UDP/TCP ports in the Linux firewall:

Open the same ports on your upstream router or cloud provider security group if players connect from outside the local network.

Start the server. AASM will show a traffic-light status indicator: amber while booting, green when ready, red if it crashes. Wait for green, then connect with one test client from another machine to confirm the public path works end-to-end before adding more maps.

AASM’s scheduling panel drives four independent cycles that you should configure on day one:

For a Linux host that is on 24/7, the auto-update cycle is the highest-value setting. Configure it to check every 4 hours and install during your low-traffic window. AASM will run a backup before applying the update so you can roll back if a patch breaks something.

Once your first map is stable, add the other maps as additional servers in AASM. Each new map is a separate server entry with its own install directory, ports and configuration, but they all share one cluster identifier so characters, items and tames can travel between them.

To wire up a cluster:

1. Add each new map via Add New Server → Install New Server. Choose the next map in your rotation (Scorched Earth, Aberration, Extinction, etc.).
2. Assign unique ports to each map — AASM will warn you if two servers collide on a port.
3. Set the same Cluster ID on every server in the cluster. The cluster ID is a short string you choose; every map must use exactly the same one.
4. Enable Cluster Cross-Chat on each server so players in one map can see chat from players in another. AASM ships a native cross-chat relay, no third-party plugin required.
5. Enable cluster rate sync if you want tame, maturation, breeding and egg rates to apply uniformly across maps. AASM’s cluster rate sync pushes the configured multipliers to every map on the cluster, so players cannot exploit map-to-map rate drift.

AASM’s cluster-aware backups take a coordinated snapshot across all maps in the cluster, so a restore never leaves you with a partial cluster state. Configure the cluster-aware backup job in the cluster panel, not per-server.

Once the baseline is stable, you do not need to keep a desktop session logged in. AASM ships two complementary remote-management surfaces:

• AASM Web UI — a browser-based control panel with full feature parity to the desktop app. Reach it from your phone, tablet, or any browser. Configure RBAC roles so a moderator can run RCON commands without touching server settings. Install an HTTPS certificate (Let’s Encrypt or Amazon cert installer) so login traffic is encrypted.
• ASA RCON Manager — the standalone RCON desktop and mobile app for in-game commands, scheduled broadcasts, priority command queue, and the cross-server chat relay. Use this when the operator on call only needs RCON, not the full server-management surface.

To enable the Web UI on Linux:

1. Open Settings → Web UI in the AASM desktop app.
2. Choose the listen port (default 8443) and bind it to 0.0.0.0 for external access, or to 127.0.0.1 if you will reverse-proxy through nginx/Apache.
3. Set up the first admin user and a strong password. AASM will generate a JWT with a 24-hour TTL by default.
4. Install an HTTPS certificate — either a Let’s Encrypt cert via the built-in integration or an Amazon cert via the Amazon cert installer. AASM also supports a self-signed cert for local-only testing.
5. Open the Web UI port in the Linux firewall and upstream router.

The Discord bot can also be enabled from the Web UI, with slash-command setup pre-wired. Operators on call receive status pings and can run approved RCON commands from Discord without opening the Web UI.

If you already run an ASA server on Windows, migrating to Linux is a file copy, not a re-install. AASM’s data formats are cross-platform.

1. On the Windows host, open AASM and run a clean manual backup of every server in the cluster. Note the install path of each server.
2. Stop the Windows AASM instance and the ASA servers. This is the only safe time to copy the data.
3. Copy the server data directories to the Linux host — either via scp, rsync, or a tarball. Include the server install directories, the AASM data directory (%APPDATA%\aasm on Windows, target ~/.local/share/aasm on Linux), and the backup directory.
4. Install AASM natively on Linux (step 2 above) and place the copied ~/.local/share/aasm directory so the Linux AASM sees the same server registry.
5. Re-base each server’s install directory in AASM’s server settings to the new Linux path. AASM will re-validate game files on next start.
6. Test one map first before starting the whole cluster. Confirm characters and tames travel correctly between two maps.

See the dedicated Windows-to-Linux migration guide for the full step-by-step with screenshots, including how to handle save corruption on the cut-over window.

The most common Linux issues all have a fast path in AASM:

For the full Linux troubleshooting matrix, see the AASM Linux troubleshooting guide.

With a stable Linux baseline, the next moves are:

1. Enable the Discord bot so on-call operators get status pings and can run approved RCON commands without opening the Web UI.
2. Add status voice channels so your Discord community can see at a glance which maps are online.
3. Set up SFTP off-site backups so a Linux host failure cannot take your saves with it. AASM supports SFTP, SMB, and Amazon S3 destinations.
4. Wire up Battlemetrics if you want a public status page and cross-region player tracking.
5. Use Settings Snapshots to capture the entire server configuration before a major change. A snapshot is a one-click rollback point.

When the next AASM release ships, the in-app updater will fetch and apply it without losing your server data, your backups, or your scheduling configuration. Read the changelog to see what is new in the current build.