Move a Rust server to GuavaHost

What is worth bringing from an old Rust host (the save, blueprint data, plugin configs, server.cfg and users.cfg), what is cleaner to recreate, and why a wipe is the easiest moment to move.

6 min read · Updated Oct 21, 2026 · By GuavaHost Team

Rust is the one game where moving everything is often the wrong call. A Rust world is temporary by design, so the valuable part is rarely the map. It is your settings, your plugin configuration and your admin list, and those are small files that move in seconds.

The easiest move is on wipe day

If your server wipes on a schedule, move it then. The map is being thrown away anyway, so you carry across configuration only and skip the slowest, riskiest part of any migration. Players already expect to start fresh, and nobody loses a base to a half copied save file. Line it up like this:

1. Set up the GuavaHost server and get its configuration in place a few days early.
2. On wipe day, point players at the new address instead of wiping the old one.
3. Keep the old server stopped but alive for a week, in case you forgot something.

Rust wipes: map wipe vs blueprint wipe explains what each wipe clears.

If you are moving mid cycle and want the bases to survive, read on. It is doable, it is just more careful work.

Where Rust keeps everything

Rust keeps almost all of its state under server/, in a sub folder named after the server identity (the identity is the folder name a Rust server saves into, often something like rustserver):

The .sav files are the save itself, and Rust keeps several numbered generations. The .db files hold per player state, blueprints included, so a save without them gives the bases back but resets what everyone researched.

What to bring

Copy these, in roughly this order of value:

• cfg/server.cfg. Your server's personality: gather rates, decay, upkeep, player limit, hostname and description. Hours of tuning in one small file. Edit server.cfg and Rust convars covers what lives in it.
• cfg/users.cfg and cfg/bans.cfg. Your admin list and ban list. Losing the ban list is how old problems come back.
• Plugin configs and data. For Oxide, oxide/config, oxide/data and oxide/lang. For Carbon, carbon/configs, carbon/data and carbon/lang. The data folders are the forgotten ones: kits, shop stock, clan records and player stats live there, not in the config.
• The save and player data, only if you are keeping the map: every .sav and .db file in the identity folder, as one set.
• A custom map, if you run one. Keep the exact map file or URL, not just the map name.

What is cleaner to recreate

Set these up fresh rather than dragging them across:

• The plugin .cs files themselves. Install them again from the Plugins page under Rust tools so you get current builds, then drop your old configs and data on top. Old plugin versions cause most of the console errors after a move. Installing Rust plugins with Oxide or Carbon covers that page.
• The framework install. Set Oxide or Carbon through the panel rather than copying the framework folders wholesale. Copy only your config, data and lang contents into it.
• Game files and Rust binaries. GuavaHost installs and updates these. Never copy them from another host.
• Anything you were only tolerating. A migration is a good moment to drop the plugins nobody uses.

Doing the copy

1. Create the Rust server here and let it finish one full boot and map generation, so the folder structure exists.
2. Set your framework, Oxide or Carbon, and restart so it installs.
3. Stop both servers. Rust writes its save on a timer, and copying mid write gives you a corrupt one.
4. Download the files above from the old host over SFTP, then upload them into the matching paths here. Uploading files with SFTP has the connection details.
5. Check the identity folder name matches the one the new server created on its own first boot. If it saves into a differently named folder, your uploaded save sits there unread and Rust generates a new map.
6. Start the server and watch the Console tab.

On that first start, look for the map loading rather than generating, plugins compiling without errors, and no complaint about a missing save.

Seed, size and custom maps

If you brought a procedural save across, the seed and world size on the new server must match the ones the save was generated with. Set them in Startup settings on the Settings tab before you start, or Rust will regenerate instead of loading your save. Custom maps are simpler: the map is defined by the file, so as long as the new server points at the same map, the save matches.

Get back on the community list

Your server is new to the browser, so it has to be found again.

1. Let the first boot finish. Map generation takes several minutes and the server does not appear until it is listening.
2. Check the query port: open the Ports & network card on the server's Overview and click Manage. Rust lists a server by its game port and its query port, and without a reachable query port it is invisible.
3. Look under the right tab in game: Modded with Oxide or Carbon, Community if near vanilla.
4. Re-check your hostname and description so regulars recognise it.

Rust server not in the community list is the full troubleshooting path if it still does not show.

Confirm you are still admin, too. Owner and moderator entries are Steam IDs in users.cfg, so if that file did not come across, you have a server you cannot moderate. Become an admin on your Rust server shows how to add yourself back.

Before you cancel the old host

Give it a week. Take a backup on the new server from the Backups page once it has run a day with real players, so you are not relying on the old host as a safety net. What to back up before you move a server is the checklist to run before you let the old files go.

Our team is online 24/7 and can do the copy for you if you would rather not handle save files by hand: see Have the GuavaHost team move your server for you.

Common questions

Will players keep their blueprints if I move the server?

Only if you bring the player data files, not just the map save. Blueprints live in the .db files next to the .sav files in the identity folder, so copy the whole set together. If you move on a wipe day they are being reset anyway, so you can skip them.

Can I keep the same map and the same bases?

Yes, if you stop the server before copying, copy every .sav and .db file as one set, and configure the new server with the same seed and world size (or the same custom map). If any of those do not match, Rust generates a new map instead of loading yours.

Do my Oxide plugins work the same on the new server?

They will, as long as you install current builds and then restore your own config and data folders on top. Reusing your saved config with a fresh plugin build is more reliable than copying old plugin files, which often throw compile errors in the console.

Is it worth moving at all if we wipe next week?

Usually not. Set the new server up, get your configs and plugins in place, and switch players over when the wipe lands rather than copying a map that is about to be deleted. Less work, nothing to corrupt.

Still stuck? Jump into our Discord at discord.gg/GuavaHost and the team will help you out.

• migration
• rust
• wipe
• oxide
• carbon

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