Deploy an Ark server through traefik

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Published on Monday, August 15th, 2022 by Orlando

Assuming you already know how traefik works, we will see through this tutorial how to deploy an Ark server through this reverse proxy.

Requirements

First of all, install docker through this tutorial.

You also need to download docker-compose :

sudo curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/v2.9.0/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose

Make the file executable :

sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose

Download the git repository :

git clone https://github.com/Ph4ntom01/traefik-docker-ark.git ~/traefik-docker-ark

File structure

You must configure the same file structure as below :

    .
    ├── sherlock
    |   ├── resources                       # The bot configuration file
    |   └── sherlock.jar                    # The bot application
    ├── traefik
    |   └── configuration
    |   |   ├── dynamic                     # The fully dynamic routing configuration
    |   |   └── static                      # The startup configuration
    |   └── containers
    |   |   └── ark-server
    |   |       ├── data                    # The Ark installation files
    |   |       └── sherlock.sh             # The Ark management script
    |   └── docker-compose.yml
    ├── LICENSE
    └── README.md

Traefik

Configuration in Traefik can refer to two different things:

The fully dynamic routing configuration (referred to as the dynamic configuration)
The startup configuration (referred to as the static configuration)

Dynamic configuration

Traefik gets its dynamic configuration from providers: whether an orchestrator, a service registry, or a plain old configuration file.

We are using a configuration file as provider called udp_router.yml:

################################################################
# UDP configuration
################################################################

udp:
  # Routers ######################################################

  routers:
    ark-server:
      entryPoints: ark-server
      service: ark-server

    steam-list:
      entryPoints: steam-list
      service: steam-list

  # Services #####################################################

  services:
    ark-server:
      loadBalancer:
        servers:
          - address: "192.168.26.7:7777"

    steam-list:
      loadBalancer:
        servers:
          - address: "192.168.26.7:27015"

Static configuration

There are three different, mutually exclusive (i.e. you can use only one at the same time) ways to define static configuration options in Traefik:

In a configuration file
In the command-line arguments
As environment variables

We are using a configuration file called traefik.yml :

################################################################
# Global configuration
################################################################

global:
  checkNewVersion: true
  sendAnonymousUsage: false

################################################################
# EntryPoints configuration
################################################################

# EntryPoints definition
#
# Optional
#
entryPoints:
  ark-server:
    address: :7777/udp

  steam-list:
    address: :27015/udp

providers:
  # Enable Docker configuration backend
  docker:
    #
    # Required
    # Default: "unix:///var/run/docker.sock"
    #
    endpoint: "unix:///var/run/docker.sock"

    # Expose containers by default in traefik
    #
    # Optional
    # Default: true
    #
    exposedByDefault: false

  file:
    directory: /etc/traefik/dynamic
    watch: true

Bot setup

Define Sherlock as a system service, but first of all, make sherlock.jar executable :

sudo chmod +x ~/traefik-docker-ark/sherlock/sherlock.jar

Sherlock service script (sherlock-service.sh)

Create a script in /usr/local/bin/ that will be able to start and stop the service :

#!/bin/sh
SERVICE_NAME=sherlock
PATH_TO_JAR=/home/[username]/traefik-docker-ark/sherlock/sherlock.jar
PATH_TO_CONFIG=/home/[username]/traefik-docker-ark/sherlock/resources/sherlock.toml
PID_PATH_NAME=/tmp/sherlock-pid

start() {
    echo "Starting $SERVICE_NAME ..."
    if [ ! -f "$PID_PATH_NAME" ]; then
        sleep 3
        # nohup : keeps the process to remain running after the session is closed.
        # & : runs the command in the background.
        # $! : contains the process ID of the most recently executed background pipeline.
        nohup java -jar "$PATH_TO_JAR" "$PATH_TO_CONFIG" /tmp 2> /dev/null & echo "$!" > "$PID_PATH_NAME"
        echo "$SERVICE_NAME started ..."
    else
        echo "$SERVICE_NAME is already running ..."
    fi
}

stop() {
    if [ -f "$PID_PATH_NAME" ]; then
        PID=$(cat "$PID_PATH_NAME");
        echo "$SERVICE_NAME stoping ..."
        kill "$PID";
        echo "$SERVICE_NAME stopped ..."
        rm "$PID_PATH_NAME"
    else
        echo "$SERVICE_NAME is not running ..."
    fi
}

case "$1" in
    start)
        start
    ;;
    stop)
        stop
    ;;
    restart)
        stop
        start
    ;;
esac

Note :

Use the correct sherlock.jar path in the PATH_TO_JAR above variable.
Use the correct sherlock.toml path in the PATH_TO_CONFIG above variable.

Make the script executable :

sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/sherlock-service.sh

Sherlock system service (sherlock.service)

Create a service file in /etc/systemd/system/ :

[Unit]
Description=Sherlock (Ark server management discord bot)
After=network-online.target

[Service]
Type=forking
Restart=always
RestartSec=3
SuccessExitStatus=143
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/sherlock-service.sh start
ExecStop=/usr/local/bin/sherlock-service.sh stop
ExecReload=/usr/local/bin/sherlock-service.sh restart

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Configuration file (sherlock.toml)

The bot has some parameters to setup.

Your discord profile ID :

[owner]
id = "your_discord_id"

The location of the sherlock.sh script (by default: traefik/containers/ark-server/sherlock.sh) :

[directory]
sherlock_script = "path/to/script"

Use an absolute path.

Note : the bot token value is set below.

Service activation

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable proxy
sudo systemctl start proxy

Docker

Once the bot is setup, go to the traefik directory :

cd ~/traefik-docker-ark/traefik

Launch the docker-compose file :

docker-compose up -d

Check if the container is running :

docker ps

The sherlock.sh script needs aliases to work properly :

alias arkbackup='docker exec ark-server arkmanager backup'
alias arklistplayers='docker exec ark-server arkmanager rconcmd "listPlayers"'
alias arkmgr='docker exec ark-server arkmanager'
alias arksave='docker exec ark-server arkmanager saveworld'
alias arkstart='docker exec ark-server arkmanager start'
alias arkstats='docker exec ark-server arkmanager status'
alias arkstop='docker exec ark-server arkmanager stop'

Put these in your ~/.bashrc file.

Reload .bashrc settings without logging out and back in again :

source ~/.bashrc

Discord

Token

In order to use the bot, you need to create a token through the Discord Developer Portal.

This token must be placed in the sherlock/resources/sherlock.toml configuration file :

[bot]
token = "your_bot_token"

Restart the bot :

sudo systemctl restart sherlock

Add the bot in a discord server

In the Discord Developer Portal, go to OAuth2 -> URL Generator and check the bot box. Then, check the desired permissions and an URL must appear.

Commands

By using the ?help command, the bot sends a private message containing all the commands.

Orlando

Application Support Engineer