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Creating Your First Cluster
A cluster is your gaming community's control center in Arcadium. Everything you manage - servers, players, members, settings - belongs to a cluster.
What is a Cluster?
Think of a cluster as your organization or workspace. If you're running multiple game servers for a community, they all live in one cluster. If you manage multiple communities, you can create multiple clusters.
Cluster Features
- Isolated Environment: Each cluster is completely separate with its own servers, players, and members
- Team Management: Invite members with specific roles (Owner, Admin, Moderator, Member)
- Shared Resources: All servers in a cluster can share player data, bans, and whitelist
- Unified Billing: Shop purchases and subscriptions are scoped to the cluster
Creating a Cluster
From the Dashboard
- Click the cluster dropdown in the top navigation
- Click Create New Cluster
- Fill in the form:
Cluster Name
- The display name for your community
- Can include spaces and special characters
- Example: "Epic Gaming Community" or "Bob's Minecraft Network"
Slug
- URL-friendly identifier (lowercase, no spaces)
- Used in URLs:
arcadiumpanel.com/cluster/your-slug - Must be unique across all of Arcadium
- Example: "epic-gaming" or "bobs-minecraft"
- Click Create Cluster
You'll be redirected to your new cluster's dashboard.
Cluster Dashboard
Your cluster dashboard shows:
Overview
- Active Servers: How many servers are currently running
- Total Players: Players across all your servers
- Online Players: Currently connected players
- Active Machines: Connected agent machines
Quick Actions
- Create a new server
- Add a machine
- Invite members
- View recent activity
Activity Feed
Recent events across your cluster:
- Server starts/stops
- Player joins/leaves
- Task executions
- Member actions
Cluster Settings
Access settings by clicking Settings in the cluster sidebar.
General Settings
Cluster Name - Update your cluster's display name
Slug - Change the URL slug (must still be unique)
Description - Optional description shown to members
Icon - Upload a custom icon for your cluster
Limits & Quotas
View your current plan limits:
- Maximum servers
- Maximum machines
- Maximum members
- Storage quota
- Bandwidth quota
Upgrading
Need more resources? Click Upgrade Plan to view available options.
Danger Zone
Delete Cluster - Permanently delete the cluster and all its data
DANGER
This action is irreversible. All servers, players, tasks, and settings will be permanently deleted.
Multiple Clusters
You can create multiple clusters for different purposes:
Use Cases for Multiple Clusters
Separate Communities
- One cluster for your ARK community
- Another for your Minecraft network
- Keep player bases and settings isolated
Development & Production
- Test cluster for trying new mods/plugins
- Production cluster for your players
- Prevent disruptions to live servers
Client Separation (for hosting providers)
- Give each customer their own cluster
- Complete isolation and custom limits
- Per-cluster billing
Switching Between Clusters
Use the cluster dropdown in the top navigation bar to switch between your clusters. The entire dashboard updates to show that cluster's data.
Next Steps
Now that you have a cluster, you're ready to:
- Install the Agent on your server machine
- Create your first server from the Servers page
- Invite team members from the cluster Settings → Members page
- Configure Discord integration from Settings → Integrations
Best Practices
Naming
- Use clear, descriptive names
- Avoid names that are too similar to existing communities
- Keep slugs short and memorable
Organization
- Use one cluster per distinct community
- Don't mix unrelated game servers in the same cluster
- Create separate clusters for testing
Security
- Only invite trusted members
- Review member roles regularly
- Enable two-factor authentication on your account
Maintenance
- Regularly check your resource usage
- Archive or delete unused servers
- Keep your plan limits in mind when scaling