How To Access Your Vultr VPS
Vultr provides several different ways to access your VPS to configure, install, and use.
Access Credentials
The default access credentials for your VPS are found on the Server Information Page that can be accessed by visiting my.vultr.com and clicking on Servers and then the name of your VPS. The IP Address for your VPS, the Username for the Root/Administrator user, and the password are listed on this page. The password can be revealed by clicking on the eye icon and it can be copied to the clipboard using the copy icon.
Note about credentials: The credentials listed are the ones that we used when the VPS was first created. This information will not update if you change the password inside of your VPS OS. Also if you create a VPS based upon a snapshot the login credentials will be those of the VPS that was used to create the snapshot instead of those listed on the Server Information Page.
Console
Vultr provides a web based Console to all VPSes. This console provides access to the VPS that is similar to sitting in front of a physical machine. This type of access is often referred to as KVM (keyboard, video, mouse) access. The console allows you to see what your VPS is doing even if it is not responding over the network. The console should be one of the first places to look for any errors if you experience any difficulties with your VPS. See our Web Console FAQ.
SSH (Linux)
All Linux VPS are configured for access via SSH. SSH (Secure SHell) is a secure way to access a text console over the network. Macintosh & Linux computers have an SSH client program installed by default. Windows does not include an SSH client, however there are many available. The most common one is PuTTY http://www.putty.org/.
To access with Linux/Mac you will need to open a command prompt. The basic syntax for SSH is ssh username@host For example if your VPS IP address was 192.168.2.1 and your user was root you would use the command ssh root@192.168.2.1
To access with Windows you would need to consult the documentation for the SSH client software that you install.
RDP (Windows)
By default, a Vultr Windows VPS has Microsoft's Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) enabled. All current versions of Windows include the Microsoft RDP client. Microsoft Remote Desktop is also available for macOS, Android, and iOS. Microsoft's instructions for using the built-in RDP client are available via Microsoft's Documentation. Another popular macOS client is CoRD.
Popular clients for Linux are rdesktop, krdc, and Remmina.
SFTP - Secure File Transfer Protocol
Linux cloud servers at Vultr enable SFTP (Secure FTP) by default. SFTP combines the functions of FTP with the security of SSH to provide a more secure way to transfer files. Traditional FTP does not encrypt its data which makes it insecure for use over the internet. The majority of FTP client software supports SFTP. Macintosh & Linux computers include a command line text SFTP client by default. Windows does not include client software and you will need to install a separate client. One of the most popular clients is FileZilla.
FileZilla Configuration
- Click File > Site Manager to create a new site configuration.
- Click the New site button and give the site a name.
- Choose SFTP from the Protocol drop-down.
- Enter the IP address or hostname in the Host field.
- Choose Normal Logon Type.
- Enter your username and password.
- Click Connect.
FileZilla also supports SFTP with SSH keys in PuTTY's PPK format. See the FileZilla documentation for details.
