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Virtual Dedicated Server Hosting

Secure Shell (SSH) Service
pg. 3

• Connecting to Your virtual server with SSH
• Logging In

Although many of the administrative features for your virtual server are available through VAdmin Suite, there are some advanced features and custom settings that require you to send Unix commands to your virtual server through a client program.
Your virtual server is equipped with a utility called SSH (Secure Shell), which provides a much higher level of security for communication. SSH implements strong cryptographic algorithms to encrypt your communication with your virtual server, preventing malicious users on the Internet from being able to read the data being passed between you and your virtual server.
 

Connecting to Your virtual server with SSH

To administer your Virtual Server effectively, you first need to know about SSH.
SSH is a service that allows you to securely send commands to your Virtual Server from your keyboard through an SSH client. There are several SSH clients available.

For Windows users, we suggest the SecureCRT client from Van Dyke Technologies. SecureCRT includes a fully functional, 30-day evaluation license, as well as detailed instructions for using it. You can download a copy of SecureCRT by visiting http://www.vandyke.com/products/

SecureCRT is already equipped with SSH. To use it, however, you must select "ssh" as the protocol in your session configurations; otherwise, the client will default to Telnet and your session will not be secure. Both the SSH version 1 and 2 protocols are provided by your virtual server, but if you use SSH 2, select "Standard" server, not DataFellows.

For MacOS users, we suggest F-Secure SSH. You can obtain F-Secure SSH at  http://www.f-secure.com/download-purchase/

Due to strong cryptographic export restrictions, you cannot download SecureCRT or F-Secure SSH if you are located in a country that is subject to current United States trade sanctions. If you need to obtain an SSH client and cannot obtain one of these suggested clients for this reason, there are a number of free and unrestricted clients available for download from sites outside of the United States, including the following:

Windows clients:

http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty.html

MacOS clients:

http://www.lysator.liu.se/~jonasw/freeware/niftyssh/

To connect to your Virtual Server through SSH, run your SSH program and configure it using the instructions or help file that comes with it. To connect successfully, you will be required to enter a domain name or IP address to connect to. This is often referred to as the 'hostname'. You will also need your username and password. All of this information should have been sent to you via email when your Virtual Server order was processed. If you have not received any of the above information, please contact Support. Quite often, your Virtual Server will be set up a couple of days before the domain name registration process is complete. Because of this, you may need to connect to the IP address assigned to your Virtual Server for the first few days after your Virtual Server is set up, while you wait for your domain name to be fully processed.

Logging In

There is no better way to get to know your Virtual Server than by connecting and taking a quick tour. Start up your SSH client and establish a connection to your Virtual Server. Once a successful connection is established, you will receive a login prompt.

After a brief welcome message, you should now see a line that looks something like this:

domain: {1} %

The domain should be your Virtual Server’s domain name without the extension. This line is called a prompt or a command line, and it lets you know that your server is waiting for you to tell it what you want it to do. If you have made it this far, congratulations! You have successfully established your first SSH session with your new Virtual Server.

If you have any difficulty using this service, please contact our Technical Support team.