Getting started with a dedicated server (Windows and Linux) – Support Guides

Learn all the information required for your first steps with a dedicated server.

A dedicated server is a physical server ("bare metal") located in one of our data centers. You are fully responsible for the administration of your dedicated server.

NOTE: If you intend to use a Windows license and do not already have one, please see our Purchasing and managing licenses guide.

Requirements

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

If your server is part of the Eco product range (Kimsufi, So You Start, or Rise), use this guide instead.

Instructions

Topics

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 and recovery

Installing or reinstalling your dedicated server

Find out more about server operating systems on our webpage.

You can easily reinstall your server and choose a different OS image in your OVHcloud Control Panel.

Navigate to the Dedicated servers section via the Bare Metal Cloud menu. In the General information panel, next to Operating system (OS), click the more options ... button and select Install my server.

Some proprietary operating systems or platforms, such as Plesk or Windows, require licenses that generate additional fees. You can buy licenses via OVHcloud or from an external reseller. You will then need to apply your license in the operating system itself or by using your OVHcloud Control Panel.

You can manage all your licenses in the Bare Metal Cloud section under Licenses. In this section, you can also order licenses or add existing ones via the Actions button. Learn more about purchasing and managing licenses in our dedicated guide.

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

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

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

NOTE: If your server comes with Soft RAID, our system will give priority to installing the operating system using all your disks. With this process, all the disks are automatically mounted during the installation procedure. This also means that you will only have access to storage on one disk, with the other disk(s) being used for data replication, providing redundancy in the event of a disk failure.

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

After you have finished your adjustments, click Next.

On the summary page, you will find additional questions 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 SSH Public Key field.
If you have a previously stored public key in your OVHcloud Control Panel, select the desired key from the SSH keys drop-down menu.

To learn more about SSH keys, see the following guides:

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

Logging on to your server

NOTE: OVHcloud provides services for which you are responsible for their configuration and management. You are therefore responsible for their proper functioning.

This tutorial is designed to help you as much as possible with common tasks. If you are having difficulty performing these actions, please contact a specialized service provider. OVHcloud cannot provide you with technical support in this regard.

Click each tab across the top to view all content.

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, e.g., "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 Open SSH 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 Open SSH 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

Activating the root user account

It is not necessary to use the "root" user account to get started administrating your server. This account has to be enabled first in the server OS to use it. Moreover, SSH connections with the user "root" are disabled by default as a security measure.

Unless stated otherwise, all administrative actions described in our documentation can be accomplished by the default user account, i.e. typing sudo followed by the respective command. Learn more about this topic in our How to configure user accounts and root access on a server guide.

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:

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

If you experience any issues with this procedure, verify that remote (RDP) connections are allowed on your local device by checking your system settings, firewall rules, and possible network restrictions.

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:

Connect to your server via RDP or IPMI.

Open the Windows start menu and click on Run.

Enter "msconfig" and click on OK.

In the new window, activate the logs option next to Boot log. Click on OK.

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 to apply updated configurations or to fix an issue.

You can carry out a "hard reboot" at any time in your OVHcloud Control Panel. From the General information tab, click on the more options ... button next to "Status" in the Service status box, then click Restart and Confirm the action in the pop-up window.

Whenever feasible, perform a "soft reboot" via the command line:

reboot

List the ID for your server's boot options:

GET /dedicated/server/{serviceName}/boot

Find details for a boot ID:

GET /dedicated/server/{serviceName}/boot/{bootId}

Apply the boot ID to your server:

PUT /dedicated/server/{serviceName}

Specify the boot ID in the Request Body.

Reboot your server:

POST /dedicated/server/{serviceName}/reboot

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.

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) by clicking the Configure button.

In the pop-up window, you have three options for monitoring behavior:

Disabled: This option stops alert messages and interventions by OVHcloud. Choose this if you are executing pertinent administrative actions on the server that prevents 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, you will need to create a support request.

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 virtualization, to allow each Virtual Machine to have its own public IP address.

For more information on network bridging, see our Configuring a Network Bridge guide.

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 and recovery

Our Getting Started - Backing Up a Bare Metal Server with Veeam Enterprise guide can guide you through the process of using Object Storage as a backup and recovery solution.

Go further

For more information and tutorials, please see our other Dedicated Servers support guides or explore the guides for other OVHcloud products and services.