Connecting via SSH

To connect to your server for the first time, you’ll need an SSH client and the public IP address of your VPS. If you added an SSH key before creating the VPS, you can log in with that key. If you did not add a key during setup, log in as root with the default root password provided to you, then add your SSH key before continuing.

Setting up a client

Open your terminal and use the ssh command followed by root and the IP address of your VPS. If you already added your SSH key, connect with:

ssh root@your_vps_ip -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

If you did not add a key before creating the VPS, connect without -i and enter the default root password provided to you when prompted:

ssh root@your_vps_ip

Adding your Public Key to your VPS

If your VPS already exists and does not have your key installed, log in with the default root password provided to you and add the key using ssh-copy-id:

ssh-copy-id root@your_vps_ip

Alternatively, you can also add the key manually:

mkdir -p ~/.ssh
chmod 700 ~/.ssh
nano ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

Paste your public key into authorized_keys, then save the file.

After saving, update the permissions on the authorized_keys file:

chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

After updating the permissions, keep the root session open while you test key-based login from a new terminal.

ssh root@your_vps_ip -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

Optional - Make Login Easier

You can make logging in easier by adding your key to an SSH agent, configuring an SSH host shortcut, or both.

Add your key to an SSH agent

An SSH agent keeps your private key unlocked for your current login session, so you do not need to type your key passphrase every time you connect.

On Linux or macOS

If you don’t have a preferred command line editor, first install nano or vim. If you use nano, you can exit by pressing Ctrl + X, then Y to save, or N to discard.

Start the agent and add your private key:

eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"
ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

After this, you can connect without passing -i each time:

ssh stackuser@your_vps_ip

On macOS, you can also store the key passphrase in your keychain:

ssh-add --apple-use-keychain ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

On Windows

Windows includes an OpenSSH Authentication Agent service. Open PowerShell as Administrator and run:

Set-Service ssh-agent -StartupType Automatic
Start-Service ssh-agent

Then add your private key:

ssh-add ~\.ssh\id_ed25519

After this, you can connect without passing -i each time:

ssh stackuser@your_vps_ip

Create an SSH config shortcut

You can also create a shortcut in your SSH config file so you only need to type a short command like ssh fyrastack-vps.

On Linux or macOS

Create or edit ~/.ssh/config and add:

Host fyrastack-vps
  HostName your_vps_ip
  User stackuser
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
  AddKeysToAgent yes

Make sure the config file has the right permissions:

chmod 600 ~/.ssh/config

Then connect with:

ssh fyrastack-vps

On Windows

Create or edit ~\.ssh\config and add:

Host fyrastack-vps
  HostName your_vps_ip
  User stackuser
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
  AddKeysToAgent yes

Then connect with:

ssh fyrastack-vps

Replace fyrastack-vps with any shortcut name you prefer, and replace your_vps_ip with your VPS public IP address.

Next Steps

After you can log in, make sure your SSH key is installed and tested. Next, add a non-root user, then harden your server.