Secure shell connection

If you are a Mac user, you don’t need to install a third party client like PuTTY to connect to your Cloud Server via Secure Shell (SSH). Terminal is a terminal emulation program included with Mac OS that can be used to run ssh. It can be accessed at Applications > Utilities.

First login

These instructions are written for users connecting to a new Cloud Server for the first time.  If you’re connecting with a non-root user, replace root in the instructions with your username.

Follow these steps to connect to your Cloud Server with Terminal:

1. Launch Terminal. You will see a terminal window interface.

   user00241 in ~MKD1JTF1G3->$

2. Establish an SSH connection to your Cloud Server. The correct syntax is:
   

   ssh root@IPaddress

   Example:

   MKD1JTF1G3->$ ssh root@166.76.69.51

3. The first time you connect to your Cloud Server, you will see a message asking if you want to continue connecting.

   This is because your Cloud Server has an RSA key not stored in your system registry, the identity of which cannot be verified.

   The authenticity of host '198.61.208.131 (198.61.208.131)' can't be established.
   RSA key fingerprint is 47:ff:76:b4:211:0f:11:15:21:bd:92:2f:44:0a:d9:0a.
   Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?

   Type yes and hit enter. This adds the RSA key to the list of known hosts. You will not see this warning again during future connections.

4. Enter the root password for this server. The password will not echo to the screen.
   

   MKD1JTF1G3-$ ssh root@198.61.208.131
   root@198.61.208.131's password:

   If you entered the correct password, the prompt will respond with a shell prompt as seen below:

   [root@yourservername ~]#

First things first – changing the root password

Change the root password after your first login.

1. At the shell prompt, enter

   passwd

2. Change your password:

   Enter new UNIX password:
   Retype new UNIX password:

3. If the passwords match, you will receive the following confirmation that the authentication tokens have been updated successfully:
   

   Passwd: password updated successfully

   Use the new password with the root user when connecting to your server.

The next article will show you how to use Rescue Mode to connect to your Cloud Server.  This is useful when performing troubleshooting and when your server becomes unresponsive.