When you launch your website, you need a website hosting plan to store the files. There are various hosting plans available like shared hosting, VPS hosting, cloud hosting, dedicated hosting, etc. VPS server hosting has evolved as a preferred hosting service due to the range of features offered by it. Once you buy the best VPS hosting, you will have to log in to the VPS server to configure it and get started. One of the most secure ways of logging in to the VPS server is by using SSH or Secure Shell. In this article, we will offer tips to help you connect your VPS to SSH to improve the security.
To connect your VPS to SSH, you will need the following:
01: The IP address of your server
The first thing that you need to connect your VPS to SSH is the IP address of your web server. You can usually find this under the Services tab on the control panel. Alternatively, you can ask your hosting provider to give you the same.
02: The Root User login credentials
To connect the server to SSH, you will need access to the root directory. Hence, you will need the login credentials of the root user (administrator) of the VPS.
03: The SSH Client
If you are using Linux virtual server hosting, the server usually comes preinstalled with an OpenSSH SSH client. All you need to do is use the SSH command to open a terminal. However, with Windows, you might have to install the required software for SSH.
Steps to connect VPS to SSH
Here are some basic steps to connect your Linux VPS to SSH:
- Call the SSH command as the root user using the IP address of the server.
- If you connect to the server for the first time, you might get a warning since your device does not recognize the server.
- Log in and start configuring the VPS.
- Create SSH keys on your local machine.
- Select a passphrase to boost the security of the SSH key.
- Copy the SSH key to the VPS server by using the ssh-copy-id program.
- Try logging in with SSH.
- Disable password-based logins for root users.
- Reload SSH to ensure that all future logins to the VPS happen via SSH only.
Summing Up
A VPS server is a powerful hosting option. It offers top-notch security despite being shared between multiple users since each virtual server is isolated from the others. However, hackers can try to gain access to your VPS via various means. Accessing your VPS through SSH can ensure that any cyber-attacks via this route face many obstacles making it difficult for anyone to gain unauthorized access to your server. In today’s times, your web server and site security are crucial since users and search engines have a low tolerance for sites that have frequent security issues. We hope that this article helped you understand the basic steps of connecting your VPS to SSH. Good Luck!