What you will do
SSH is how you work on a server. It opens an encrypted connection from your computer to the server, where you type commands and the server runs them. You do not need to install anything: Windows 10 and 11, macOS and Linux all come with it.
Every step below was run from a Linux computer against a Debian 13 server at Melonslab, and the messages quoted are the ones it showed. Windows and macOS use the same SSH program, OpenSSH, so the commands and messages are the same there. The steps for opening a terminal on them follow Microsoft's and Apple's documentation.
1. Find your server's address and password
Log in to the client area at my.melonslab.cloud, and click your server in your list of services. Once the server is set up, its row shows:
- IP Addresses, such as
203.0.113.10, which you connect to; - IPv6 Subnet, the range of IPv6 addresses that comes with the server;
- Root Password, hidden until you choose Show.
The user to log in as is root, the administrator of the server. The examples use 203.0.113.10 for your server's address: replace it with yours.
2. Open a terminal
- Windows 11: right-click the Start button, and choose Terminal.
- Windows 10: right-click the Start button, and choose Windows PowerShell.
- macOS: open Terminal, in Applications and then Utilities.
- Linux: open your terminal app.
3. Connect
Type this, with your server's address, and press Enter:
ssh root@203.0.113.10
The first time, SSH does not know the server yet, and asks:
The authenticity of host '203.0.113.10 (203.0.113.10)' can't be established.
ED25519 key fingerprint is: SHA256:jBJugfnJI5ppWhjhMQJFNlFjB+JNo8usUj6a/hs5ANo
This key is not known by any other names.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no/[fingerprint])?
Type yes and press Enter. SSH remembers the server from now on, and asks only if it ever changes. Then it asks for the password:
root@203.0.113.10's password:
Copy the password from the client area, and paste it: on Windows, right-click or press Ctrl+V; on macOS, press Cmd+V. Nothing appears while you paste or type, not even dots. That is normal. Press Enter.
You are in when the last line ends with #, such as root@vps01:~#. Everything you type now runs on the server. To leave, type exit.
To be certain that you reached your own server and not someone pretending to be it, compare the SHA256: value SSH showed with the one on the server itself. Open the console from step 5, log in, and run ssh-keygen -lf /etc/ssh/ssh_host_ed25519_key.pub. The two must match.
4. Your first commands
Install the updates that came out since the server was installed. On Debian or Ubuntu:
apt update && apt upgrade
Press Enter when it asks Do you want to continue?. For other systems, the operating system guide lists their commands.
Then secure the server: log in with a key instead of a password, turn on automatic security updates and set up a firewall. After that, you connect the same way, with your key instead of the password.
5. When SSH does not work: the console
The console shows the server's screen, as if you were standing at it, so it works even when SSH does not. In the client area, manage your server, open the Server tab, and choose Open console under Console. Log in as root with the root password. Type the password there: pasting into the console does not always work.
The Server tab also has Reset Root Password, which gives the server a new random password and shows it to you. The old one stops working at once.
Troubleshooting
ssh: connect to host 203.0.113.10 port 22: Connection timed out. Check the address in the client area. A server that was just ordered may still be being set up. Some workplace and public Wi-Fi networks block SSH: try from another network. If you ordered the server without an IPv4 address, connect to its IPv6 address instead, from a network that has IPv6. The console shows that address when you run ip -brief address.
Permission denied, please try again. The password is wrong. Copy it again from the client area, or reset it on the Server tab.
Permission denied (publickey). The server accepts only keys, which the security guide turns on. Connect from the computer that has your key, or use the console.
WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED! The server's identity is not the one SSH remembers. That is expected after you reinstall the server. Make SSH forget the old one, then connect again and answer yes:
ssh-keygen -R 203.0.113.10
If you did not reinstall the server, do not go on: check the fingerprint with the console, as in step 3, first.