How to get started with a dedicated server

Objective

A dedicated server is a physical server ("bare metal") located in one of our data centres. Unlike Web Hosting plans (also referred to as "shared hosting"), which are technically managed by OVHcloud, you are fully responsible for the administration of your dedicated server.

This guide provides all the information required for your first steps with a dedicated server.

Requirements

• Access to the OVHcloud Control Panel
• A dedicated server in your OVHcloud account
• Administrative access via SSH or remote desktop (Windows) to your server

Instructions

Content overview

• Installing or reinstalling an operating system
• Logging on to your server
• Restarting your dedicated server
• Securing your dedicated server
• OVHcloud Monitoring
• Network configuration
• Rescue mode
• Access using IPMI
• Backup storage

Installing or reinstalling an operating system

You can easily reinstall your server or choose a different OS image to install in your OVHcloud Control Panel. In the General information tab, click on ... next to the operating system and then click Install.

Click Next to continue. Then select the operating system from the drop-down menus.

If you need to modify the partioning scheme of your operating system, check the box "Customise the partition configuration" before clicking on Next.

In this step you are able to set up RAID and partitioning options within the limits of the server's hardware and operating system.

If you don't want to use all your disks for the installation, you can update it after ticking the "Customise the partition configuration" box. In this case, you will be responsible for mounting the other disks in the operating system. Refer to the operating system documentation to find out how to do this.

After you have finished your adjustments, click Next to arrive at the summary page.

You will find additional options that are specific to the chosen operating system.

If you have selected a compatible operating system, you can provide a public key to be installed automatically. You have two options:

• Manually copy the key string and paste it into the field Your Public SSH key.
• If you have previously stored a public key in your OVHcloud Control Panel, select the desired key from the drop-down menu SSH key to pre-install.

To find out more about this topic, consult our guides:

• How to create and use keys for SSH authentication
• How to create and use keys for SSH authentication with PuTTY

Finally, click Confirm to trigger the operating system installation on your dedicated server.

Logging on to your server

Linux

If you have installed an OVHcloud OS template on your server, a user with elevated permissions is created automatically. This user will be named according to the operating system, for example "ubuntu" or "rocky".

You will then receive an email containing the information needed to establish a first connection with SSH. SSH is a secure communication protocol, used to establish encrypted connections to a remote host. You can find more detailed information in our guide: Getting started with SSH.

Most current desktop operating systems will have an OpenSSH client natively installed. This means that your access credentials allow you to quickly establish a connection to your server in the appropriate command line application (Terminal, Command prompt, Powershell, etc.). Enter the following command:

ssh username@IPv4

Example:

ssh ubuntu@203.0.113.1

You can use any third-party application compatible with OpenSSH as well.

Once connected, you can replace the predefined password for the current user with a better passphrase by using this command:

passwd

On a GNU/Linux distribution, a password prompt will not display your keyboard inputs.

Type your current password and press Enter. Enter the new passphrase and type it again at the next prompt to confirm it.

Changing password for ubuntu.
Current password:
New password: 
Retype new password: 
passwd: password updated successfully

Depending on your requirements for security, mobility and convenience, SSH keys can serve as an additional connection method or replace logins with username and password. Find out how to use them in our guides:

• How to create and use keys for SSH authentication
• How to create and use keys for SSH authentication with PuTTY

Windows

Once the installation is completed, you will receive an email with your Windows login credentials. You can then connect to your server via RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol). On your local Windows device, open the Remote Desktop Connection client application.

Enter the IPv4 address of your server, then your username and passphrase. Usually a warning message will appear, asking to confirm the connection because of an unknown certificate. Click on Yes to log in.

You can use also use any third-party application compatible with RDP. This is a requirement if your local device does not have Windows installed.

As a fallback option, you can use the IPMI console in your OVHcloud Control Panel to connect.

Enabling Windows boot logs (optional)

Windows boot logs can be helpful for server error diagnostics.

To activate them, follow the steps below by navigating through the tabs:

The next time your server boots, logs will be saved into a .txt file. The file path is: C:\Windows\ntbtlog.txt.

To access the log file in rescue mode, please follow the instructions in the rescue mode guide.

Restarting your dedicated server

A reboot might become necessary in order to apply updated configurations or to fix an issue. Whenever feasible, perform a "soft reboot" via the command line:

reboot

However, you can carry out a "hard reboot" at any time in your OVHcloud Control Panel. From the General information tab, click on ... next to "Status" in the Service status box, then click Restart and Confirm the action in the popup window.

Securing your dedicated server

As explained in the “Objective” section of this guide, you are the administrator of your dedicated server. As such, you are responsible for your data and its security. You can learn more about securing your server in this guide.

If your server runs Windows, use this guide instead.

OVHcloud Monitoring

You can set the monitoring status for a dedicated server from the General information tab in your OVHcloud Control Panel (section Service status).

Click on the button Configure. In the popup window, you have three options for the monitoring behaviour:

• Disabled: This option stops alert messages and interventions by OVHcloud. Choose this if you are executing pertinent administrative actions on the server which prevent an ICMP response.
• Enabled with proactive intervention: If the server stops responding, an alert email is sent to you and the server will be checked by a technician.
• Enabled without proactive intervention: You will receive an alert message by email in case the server stops responding. To initiate an intervention, enable your server monitoring with proactive intervention.

Click on Confirm to update your monitoring configuration.

You can find more information about OVHcloud Monitoring in this guide.

Network configuration

Network bridging

Network bridging is the action taken by network equipment to create an aggregate network from either two or more communication networks, or two or more network segments. Bridging is distinct from routing, which allows the networks to communicate independently while remaining separate.

The Network Bridge configuration is most commonly used in the context of virtualisation, to allow each Virtual Machine to have its own public IP address.

For more information on network bridging, please refer to our guide: Network Bridging.

IP aliasing

IP aliasing is the process of associating two or more IP addresses to the same network interface. This allows your server to establish multiple connections to a network, each serving a different purpose.

For detailed instructions on how to configure IP aliasing, please refer to this guide.

IPv6 configuration

All OVHcloud dedicated servers are delivered with a /64 IPv6 block. To use the addresses in this block, you will need to make some network configuration changes. Please refer to our guide: IPv6 Configuration.

Rescue mode

For any kind of issue, the first general troubleshooting step to take is rebooting your server into rescue mode from your OVHcloud Control Panel. It is important to identify server issues in this mode to exclude software-related problems before contacting our support teams.

Please refer to the rescue mode guide.

Access using IPMI

OVHcloud deploys all dedicated servers with an IPMI (Intelligent Platform Management Interface) console which runs in your browser or from a Java applet, and enables you to connect directly to your server even if it has no network connection. This makes it a useful tool for troubleshooting issues that may have taken your server offline.

For more information, please refer to our guide: Using the IPMI with dedicated servers.

Backup storage

OVHcloud dedicated servers have an access-controlled storage space as a gratuitous service option. It is best used as a complementary backup option in case the server itself suffers data loss.

To activate and use the backup storage, please refer to this guide.

Go further

How to configure user accounts and root access on a server

Securing a dedicated server

Activating and using rescue mode

OVHcloud API & OS installation

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