This guide details the procedure for establishing your first SSH connection to an Infomaniak Cloud VPS or VPS Lite.

Connecting via Windows (PuTTY)

On Windows, the standard tool is PuTTY.

Your private key must be converted to the .ppk format to work.

Step A: Conversion with PuTTYgen

1. Launch PuTTYgen.
2. Click Load to load your current private key.
3. Click Save private key to generate your .ppk file.

Step B: Configuring PuTTY

1. In Session, enter the server's IP address in "Host Name".
2. In Connection > SSH > Auth, click Browse to load your .ppk file.
3. Click Open.
4. A window opens: enter your username.

Connecting via a Unix terminal (macOS and Linux)

Use your system's native SSH client by opening a terminal.

The syntax is as follows:

ssh -i [key_path] [user]@[server]

Details of the parameters

• [key_path]: Path to your private key file (generated or imported during the command).
• [user]: Username (see the table of distributions below).
• [server]: IPv4 address of your VPS, available in the Manager.

Note on permissions: If you get an error like "UNPROTECTED PRIVATE KEY FILE", secure your key with the following command: 
chmod 400 [key_path]

List of default users

Use the ID corresponding to the Linux distribution installed on your server:

Note: The user is always the one defined by default by the distribution's publisher.

Switching to Administrator (Root) Mode

For security reasons, the initial connection is not made directly as root.

To gain full control over the system, run:

sudo -i

This command loads the complete environment of the root user (system variables and home directory).