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Connect to your VPS over SSH

2 min read07 November 2026

SSH opens an encrypted terminal on your VPS. On the first connection your client receives a host key fingerprint and must decide whether to trust the server, then you authenticate with a password or a key. These are two separate steps, and confusing them explains most early connection problems.

Connect with the IPv6 address

Copy the address from the VPS panel, then run:

Bash
ssh root@VOTRE_IPV6

OpenSSH accepts the raw IPv6 address after the at sign. However, scp, rsync and URLs require brackets:

Bash
scp file.tar.gz root@[VOTRE_IPV6]:/root/

If the port was changed, add -p 2222 (-p for ssh, -P for scp). For diagnosis, ssh -v root@VOTRE_IPV6 prints every negotiation step.

Verify the host fingerprint

On the first exchange the client shows a SHA256:... fingerprint and offers to store the key. Do not accept blindly: compare it with the server. Open the panel console and run:

Bash
ssh-keygen -lf /etc/ssh/ssh_host_ed25519_key.pub

The output must match exactly. After a reinstallation the fingerprint changes: that is expected, but confirm through the console first that nobody replaced the machine. Once confirmed, remove the old entry with ssh-keygen -R VOTRE_IPV6.

Password or key

The root password provided by NeoHeberg is enough for the first login. It is long and random: paste it into the terminal, it is not echoed. An SSH key is safer and more convenient; the SSH key guide covers setup. While PermitRootLogin allows passwords, a stolen reusable password is worse than a compromised key.

Common errors

Message Likely cause
Connection timed out Firewall, missing route or stopped service
Connection refused sshd stopped or different port
Permission denied (publickey,password) Rejected credentials or root login disabled
Host key verification failed Fingerprint changed, often after reinstall
Too many authentication failures Too many keys offered by the agent

For the last case, force the right key with ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 -o IdentitiesOnly=yes root@VOTRE_IPV6.

After the first login

Check identity and system:

Bash
whoami
cat /etc/os-release
ss -tlnp | grep :22

whoami should return root, os-release should show the expected distribution and ss should list port 22. If not, the console remains available to fix sshd_config before restarting the service with systemctl restart ssh.

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