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Infrastructure8 min read

Connect Your First Server

Step-by-step guide to securely connect your VPS to Oxaploy using SSH keys or password authentication.

1.Generate SSH Key Pair

Create a secure Ed25519 key pair for passwordless authentication.

  1. Run the key generation command on your local machine
  2. Accept default file location (~/.ssh/id_ed25519)
  3. Add a strong passphrase for extra security
  4. Your public key will be at ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your-email@example.com"
# Generates: ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 (private) and ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub (public)

2.Add Server in Oxaploy Dashboard

Register your VPS with Oxaploy using the generated SSH key.

  1. Navigate to Servers in the dashboard
  2. Click New Server
  3. Enter server name (e.g., production-web-01)
  4. Enter server IP or hostname
  5. Set SSH port (default: 22)
  6. Select SSH Key authentication method
  7. Paste your public key content (cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub)
  8. Click Add Server

3.Test Connection and Troubleshoot

Verify the connection works and fix common issues.

  1. Oxaploy will automatically test the SSH connection
  2. Green checkmark = successful connection
  3. If failed: verify IP, SSH port, key permissions, and firewall
  4. Common fixes:
# On server: ensure SSH daemon allows key auth
sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config
# Set: PubkeyAuthentication yes
# Set: AuthorizedKeysFile .ssh/authorized_keys
sudo systemctl restart sshd

# Fix key permissions
chmod 700 ~/.ssh
chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys