Port forwarding for a ARK: Survival Evolved server
Three forwards, one machine: for Survival Evolved that means UDP on the game port, UDP on the port directly after it, and the Steam query port.
Your setup
Choose the firmware family rather than your exact model — every router in a family shares the same menus.
Out of the box it is 7777. If you changed that, use whatever you set in ?Port= in the launch line.
The local address of the computer that runs the server. Find it with ipconfig on Windows or ip addr on Linux; it will begin with 192.168, 10. or 172.
Open these
Your firmware takes ranges, so each line here is one rule.
- 7777-7778 UDP
- 27015 UDP
7777UDPGame trafficThe port in your connect string.7778UDPRaw socketSurvival Evolved silently claims game port + 1 as well. Miss it and the server is reachable but unstable.27015UDPSteam queryQueryPort. Required for the unofficial server list.
Do not open these
These are admin sockets. Many guides put them in the same list as the game ports, but forwarding them exposes a remote console for your server to the whole internet.
27020TCPRCONRCONPort. Never forward — ARK RCON authentication is a single plaintext password.
For remote administration, connect to the machine through SSH or a VPN and use the port locally from there. Nobody else can reach it that way.
Step by step: your router
- 1
Give the server a fixed local IP
A forwarding rule targets a single local address. If the server comes back from a reboot with a new one, the rule quietly points at an empty address — which is how forwards seem to "break by themselves".
On this router:look for DHCP Reservation, Address Reservation, Static Lease or Manually Assigned IP
- 2
Open the router admin page
From a device on the same network, open one of these in a browser:
- 192.168.0.1
- 192.168.1.1
- 192.168.2.1
- 10.0.0.1
Almost always printed on a sticker on the router itself.
- 3
Find the port forwarding page
Port Forwarding, Virtual Server, NAT, Applications & Gaming, or Port Mapping
Vendors use at least six names for the same feature. Whatever it is called, the page you want is the one asking for a port, a protocol and a device on your network. If the external and internal port fields both exist, set them to the same number.
- 4
Create one rule per line
a description field, if there is one External / WAN / Public / Service port Internal / LAN / Private port Protocol Internal IP / Device / Server IP ARK: Survival Evolved 7777-7778 7777-7778 UDP your server’s local IP ARK: Survival Evolved 27015 27015 UDP your server’s local IP Use the same number for the external and internal port. You can make the external one different, but then every player has to connect on that new number, so keep them identical unless you have a specific reason not to.
- 5
Let the server through its own firewall
The router is now sending traffic to the right computer, but that computer can still turn it away. Windows Defender Firewall is the usual offender: it blocks a newly installed dedicated server by default, and from outside that is indistinguishable from a broken forward.
Take it with you
ARK: Survival Evolved — port forwarding rules --------------------------------------------- 7777-7778 UDP -> <server local IP> 27015 UDP -> <server local IP>
Check whether it worked
Always test from outside your network. A connection from another device in the house proves nothing: that traffic stays on your LAN and never passes through the rule you just created.
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The usual mistake
People miss the port just above the game port because the configuration file never mentions it; the server takes it without saying so. Without it, things go odd rather than failing cleanly — players connect and then drop, or the world never streams in. A server that is reachable but unstable should have this checked first.
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Skipping port forwarding
Two ARK maps at once need two complete sets of ports, and a cluster needs a set per map. On a home connection that adds up fast, and it is usually the point where people move the whole thing elsewhere.