Accessing a Linux Instance from a Linux or macOS

You can access a Linux instance from a Linux or macOS operating system using the OpenSSH client, which is installed by default on most machines.

This procedure only applies to instances launched using official OMIs, and whose keypair authentication system you did not modify after launch. Otherwise, you need to use the method corresponding to the authentication system you implemented. For more information, see About Keypairs.

Before you begin:

  1. To allow the connection from your machine to the instance, ensure the instance has the following security group rule:

  2. Before connecting to the instance for the first time, you need to type the following command in a terminal of your machine to secure the keypair:

    $ chmod 600 KEYPAIR

    Where KEYPAIR is the path to the .rsa file containing the private key of the keypair on your computer. For more information, see About Keypairs.

To access the instance using OpenSSH, type the ssh command in a terminal of your machine following this syntax:

$ ssh -i KEYPAIR USER@INSTANCE_IP

This command contains the following attributes that you need to specify:

  • KEYPAIR: The path to the .rsa file containing the private key on your computer.

  • (optional) USER: The user of your instance.

    The name of the default user depends on the OMI used:

    • outscale for Ubuntu 18 and Centos 7 OMIs released since 20 December 2018

    • ubuntu for older Ubuntu OMIs

    • centos for older Centos 7 OMIs and Centos 6 OMIs

  • INSTANCE_IP: The public IP of the instance.

    If you are using a VPN or a DirectLink connection, you can use the private IP of the instance.

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