How to connect using SSH

SSH (Secure Shell) is the most widely used protocol for securely accessing and managing remote computers from a terminal. It creates an encrypted connection between your local machine and a remote server, ensuring that login credentials, commands, and transferred data cannot be intercepted or modified by third parties.

To connect via SSH you need the server hostname (or IP address) and the username. SwissGPU servers use the default SSH port 22.

At SwissGPU we assign a mnemonic domain to each server in the format name.swissgpu.ch, where name identifies the specific machine. This makes it easier to remember and connect to servers without needing to recall IP addresses.

Servers use IPv6 by default. Your local network needs IPv6 connectivity; see Network Specs if you need IPv4 or a custom network setup.

Connect to Your Server

For the standard Ubuntu images, open a terminal and run:

ssh ubuntu@<pcname>.swissgpu.ch

Troubleshooting

If a server was reinstalled after you previously connected to it, the SSH host key will have changed. In this situation SSH may display a host key verification warning.

If you expected the change because you reinstalled the server, remove the old host key from your local known_hosts file and connect again.

ssh-keygen -R <pcname>.swissgpu.ch

Connect again and verify the new host key. If the change was unexpected, contact support before proceeding.