vps.taxi

Log in to your VPS with SSH

Your server’s IP address, SSH port and root password are in the client area. The SSH port may not be 22: always use the port shown there.

1. Find your login details

  1. Log in to the client area at my.vps.taxi and open your server.
  2. The server card at the top of the page shows the IPv4 address, the SSH port and the root password.

The SSH port may not be 22. New servers get a random SSH port. Always use the port shown in the client area.

Show (next to the root password) shows the initial password, or the one you last reset, for 7 days. After that the page no longer shows it, but the password on the server does not change. Forgot it? Use Reset root password in the Settings section: it sets a new random password at once (the server must be running).

2. Connect

Windows 10 and 11

Open PowerShell or Windows Terminal and run the command below. Replace PORT and SERVER_IP with the SSH port and the IPv4 address from the client area.

ssh -p PORT root@SERVER_IP

With PuTTY: Host Name = the server’s IPv4 address, Port = the SSH port, connection type SSH, then log in as root.

macOS and Linux

Open Terminal and run the same command:

ssh -p PORT root@SERVER_IP

The first connection

SSH asks whether you trust the server’s host key (“Are you sure you want to continue connecting?”). Type yes. Then enter the root password. Nothing is shown while you type; that is normal. Pasting works too (right-click in PowerShell or Windows Terminal).

3. Log in with an SSH key (optional)

When you add an OpenSSH public key at checkout, or in the client area’s Reinstall form, the new system allows SSH login with that key only: SSH password login is off, and the root password is for the Web console only. Leave the field empty to log in with the root password as usual.

Create a key pair on your computer (PowerShell, macOS or Linux):

ssh-keygen -t ed25519

The public key is the file ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub (Windows: C:\Users\YOU\.ssh\id_ed25519.pub); paste its content into the key field. The Reinstall form can also generate a key pair in your browser. Then connect with:

ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 -p PORT root@SERVER_IP

On a running server you can also add a public key yourself to /root/.ssh/authorized_keys; password login then stays as it is.

4. If you cannot connect

  • Check the IPv4 address and the SSH port in the client area: the port may not be 22.
  • Use the Web console in the client area. It works in your browser also when the network or SSH is broken: log in as root with the password (the server must be running). noVNC shows the screen; xterm.js is a text terminal where copy and paste work.
  • If you changed the SSH port yourself: the client area keeps showing the port originally assigned, and a reinstall goes back to that port.
  • A server that has just been delivered and cannot be reached from mainland China at all: open a ticket. Once staff have confirmed that the address was unreachable from the start, they replace it with another address at no charge.
  • An address that worked before and can no longer be reached from mainland China: see Change the IP address.

5. Change the SSH port (optional)

You can change the port yourself as root; nothing is needed from us. Keep your current SSH session open while you do this, and test the new port in a second window.

  1. Edit the Port line in /etc/ssh/sshd_config.d/04-vpstaxi-ssh-port.conf.
  2. If you use a firewall in the system, open the new port there first: 
    # ufw (Ubuntu / Debian)
ufw allow NEW_PORT/tcp
# firewalld (AlmaLinux / Rocky Linux)
firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=NEW_PORT/tcp
firewall-cmd --reload
  3. AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux with SELinux on (getenforce prints Enforcing): allow SSH on the new port with semanage port -a -t ssh_port_t -p tcp NEW_PORT (if semanage is missing: dnf install -y policycoreutils-python-utils).
  4. Check the configuration with sshd -t (no output means it is fine), then restart SSH: 
    # if "systemctl is-active ssh.socket" prints "active" (Ubuntu 24.04 and later)
systemctl daemon-reload && systemctl restart ssh.socket
# other Ubuntu and Debian
systemctl restart ssh
# AlmaLinux / Rocky Linux
systemctl restart sshd
  5. In a second window, connect with the new port. Once that works, you can close the old session.

The new port stays after reboots. The client area keeps showing the originally assigned port, and a reinstall goes back to it. Locked out? Log in through the Web console and change it back.