Logging in to your system over SSH

SSH stands for "Secure Shell", and is a protocol for securely logging-in to your remote systems. Most Unix-like Operating Systems have the SSH Server installed by default which providing Remote Shell capabilities over a secure connection.

Contents:

1. Overview
2. SSH Authentication
3. Choosing your SSH Clients
4. Logging in to your system using the provided private key
5. Things to do after login
6. Common issues

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Overview

So, you've purchased the resources on SpeedCloud and you're perhaps wondering what you'd do with something known as the "SSH Private Key" or troubleshooting the issues with your credentials, then you're at the right place.

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SSH Authentication

SSH Server and Clients support a huge range of authentication mechanisms wherein "password" and "publickey" authentication methods are the most common ones. The classic ones are "passwords" and one of the modern ones are the "key-based" authentications.

SpeedCloud offers "SSH Public Key Authentication" out-of-the-box, so eliminating any weak bootstrap passwords. You may use your own keys, or generate new ones or replace existing ones at your will.

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Choosing your SSH Clients

There are a wide range of SSH Clients in the market. Some of the popular ones are

1. Windows built-in SSH Client

2. SSH client from the ssh packages on your Linux-based distribution

3. External clients like puTTY, Termius etc.,

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Logging in to your system using the provided private key

You would have received your key in various modes of the communication from SpeedCloud Sales and on the SpeedCloud Cloud Management Portal. Download and place the Key file on your local system.

Common usernames:

For Ubuntu Operating Systems, the username is "ubuntu"

For CentOS Operating Systems, the username is "centos"

For Debian Operating Systems, the username is "debian"

For openSUSE Operating Systems, the username is "opensuse"

Using Command Prompt or the Linux Terminal

Windows:

Let's say your file is at the location "C:\Users\<your_uname>\Downloads\mykey.txt"

Refer the common usernames section, and on the command prompt

ssh -i "C:\Users\<your_uname>\Downloads\mykey.txt" centos@103.177.224.11

This should land you on the Operating System.

Linux-based:

Let's say your file is at the location "/home/<your_name>/Downloads/mykey.txt"

Refer the common usernames section, and on the command prompt

ssh -i "/home/<your_name>/Downloads/mykey.txt" centos@103.177.224.11

This should land you on the Operating System.

Yes, power users also can put their private keys on the .ssh  directory as .id_rsa and login without specifying the key.

Using puTTY

Open puTTY, input your username, additionally navigate to "Auth", and browse your private Key. This should get you in.

Using Termius

Please refer to the documentation of Termius.

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Things to do after login

1. SpeedCloud Linux-based instances do not come with the passwords by default. Setting the password is very essential.
2. Let's say your SSH daemon crashed after performing some changes and you're unable to obtain the Shell over the network. In this case, you may navigate to the Web Console of the VM and login.
3. Setting the password won't allow Password Authentication over the network, so we're safe.

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Common Issues

Though in all the scenarios you should be able to login, you may end up in seeing some of the below ones.

1. Bad key permissions

Make sure your key is only readable by you. At your local computer do,

chmod 400 </path/to/key>

2. Remote Machine Identification has been changed.

You would have reinstalled the Operating System which might have caused this.

ssh-keygen -R <IP_Address>

3. Unable to login

Ensure you're supplying the right key and ensure you're using the correct usernames.