Root password and SSH keys

The Access tab holds three things: the administrator password, your SSH keys and the hostname. Open your server and click Access.

The password#

The account is root on Linux and Administrator on Windows.

There are two ways to set a new password.

Generate a new password. Click the button and we make a strong one for you. It is shown once, on screen, with a copy button. Copy it before you click Done.

Set one myself. Click that, type your own into the New password field and click Set password. Rules: at least 12 characters, at most 128, and no spaces. When you supply your own, nothing is displayed back to you, because you already have it.

A new password is written straight to the server and takes effect immediately. You do not need to restart anything.

Revealing the password you already have#

If you lose the password you do not have to reset it. Go back to Overview and find the How to connect card, then click Show the password.

You are asked to type the hostname to confirm. Then the password appears, with a copy button and a Hide button.

Two things to know before you use it:

• Every reveal is written to your activity log with the time and the address it was shown from. You can see those entries under Activity in the client area.
• You can reveal a password six times in ten minutes. After that you have to wait.

If the card says we hold no password for the server, set a new one from the Access tab. From that point on it is stored and can be revealed.

SSH keys#

Keys are a better way in than a password. They cannot be guessed and you never type anything.

In the SSH keys section, click Add a key (or Edit keys if you already have some). A box appears. Paste one public key per line, in OpenSSH format, then click Save keys.

ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAIExample you@laptop
ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAAB you@desktop

Rules and limits:

• Up to 12 keys per server.
• Use your public key, the one ending in .pub. Never paste a private key anywhere.
• Accepted types are ssh-ed25519, ssh-rsa, ecdsa-sha2-nistp256, ecdsa-sha2-nistp384, ecdsa-sha2-nistp521, and the two hardware key types [email protected] and [email protected].
• Save keys replaces the whole list. Whatever is in the box is what the server ends up with.
• Clear all empties the box. Nothing changes until you click Save keys.

Keys are pushed into the server on its next boot, so restart the server after saving them. Until then the existing keys and the password still apply.

A Windows server signs in over Remote Desktop and holds no SSH keys, so this section refuses to save on Windows.

Making a key#

If you do not have one yet, run this on your own machine:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "you@laptop"

Press Enter to accept the default location and set a passphrase if you want one. Then print the public half and paste what you see into the panel:

cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

The hostname#

The last section sets the hostname, the name the server calls itself. Type a new one and click Save.

Use letters, digits and hyphens only, up to 63 characters, starting and ending with a letter or digit. It is lower cased when it is saved.

The hostname is also the phrase you type to confirm a reinstall or a password reveal, so keep it something you can type.