Running ARK: Survival Ascended? This guide is for Survival Evolved, the original ARK. Ascended only needs 7777 on UDP (plus 27020 on TCP if you use RCON from outside): see how to set up an ASA server.
ARK: Survival Evolved needs several ports and nearly all of them on UDP. The important part is not stopping at the game port: without the query port, the server does not appear in the Steam list and nobody finds you.
The ports
| Port | Protocol | What for | Open it? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7777 | UDP | The game | Yes |
| 7778 | UDP | Peer port (always game port + 1) | Yes |
| 27015 | UDP | Steam query: puts you in the list | Yes |
| 27020 | TCP | RCON | Only if you use it from outside |
7778 is not configured anywhere: ARK always uses the game port plus one. Change the game port to 7780 and the peer port becomes 7781.
Survival Ascended is different: it uses neither the peer port nor the Steam query port, because its server list goes through Epic's services. 7777 on UDP is all it needs.
Windows (PowerShell as administrator)
# Game, peer and query in one go
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "ARK UDP 7777-7778 (in)" -Direction Inbound -Protocol UDP -LocalPort 7777-7778 -Action Allow -Profile Any
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "ARK query UDP 27015 (in)" -Direction Inbound -Protocol UDP -LocalPort 27015 -Action Allow -Profile Any
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "ARK UDP 7777-7778 (out)" -Direction Outbound -Protocol UDP -LocalPort 7777-7778 -Action Allow -Profile Any
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "ARK query UDP 27015 (out)" -Direction Outbound -Protocol UDP -LocalPort 27015 -Action Allow -Profile AnyRCON, only if you need it from outside:
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "ARK RCON TCP 27020 (in)" -Direction Inbound -Protocol TCP -LocalPort 27020 -Action Allow -Profile AnyLinux
# Ubuntu / Debian
ufw allow 7777:7778/udp
ufw allow 27015/udp
ufw allow 27020/tcp # only if you use RCON from outside
# AlmaLinux / Rocky
firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=7777-7778/udp
firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=27015/udp
firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=27020/tcp
firewall-cmd --reload# Listening?
ss -lntup | grep -E '7777|7778|27015'Running several servers on one machine
Ports step up by two for the game and by one for the rest. A second server would use 7779/7780, query on 27016 and RCON on 27021; a third, 7781/7782, 27017 and 27022. Open the whole range at once:
# Three servers, on Windows
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "ARK UDP 7777-7782 (in)" -Direction Inbound -Protocol UDP -LocalPort 7777-7782 -Action Allow -Profile Any
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "ARK query UDP 27015-27017 (in)" -Direction Inbound -Protocol UDP -LocalPort 27015-27017 -Action Allow -Profile AnyBear in mind each ARK instance takes its own full share of RAM: three maps on one machine need a lot of memory, not just ports.
It does not show in the list
- UDP 27015 is missing (on Survival Evolved). The most repeated mistake. Without it people can join by IP, but Steam will not list you.
- 7778 is missing. With the peer port shut, some players connect and some do not, depending on how Steam routes them.
- Everything is UDP except RCON. If you created the rules on TCP, they do nothing.
- ARK is slow to start. A large map can take several minutes to load before it starts listening. Check the console before blaming the firewall.
- Look under "Unofficial". Your own server will not appear on the official tab, and the session filters have to be set correctly.
- AntiDDoS filtering: the Security tab of your service in the panel.
- On Survival Ascended with Windows Server, it is almost always a certificate the system is missing: how to install it.