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    Simple Application Server:Connect to a Linux server

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    Simple Application Server:Connect to a Linux server

    Last Updated:Jun 20, 2026

    You can connect to a Linux server using a browser, an SSH client, or a rescue connection.

    Connection method

    Best for

    Workbench (Recommended)

    Quickly and easily connect to your server from a browser, with no client installation required.

    SSH client

    Frequent or long-duration connections that use key pair authentication.

    rescue connection

    Emergency troubleshooting when the server's SSH service is not working or remote connections fail.

    Method 1: Connect using Workbench (Recommended)

    1. Log on to the Simple Application Server console.

    2. In the server list, find your server's card and click Connect.

    3. In the dialog box that appears, choose one of the following logon methods.

      Workbench one-click logon

      In the Connect with One-click on Workbench section, click Log on Now.

      Workbench password logon

      Click Log on by Using Other Methods. In the Password-based Logons on Workbench section, click Log on Now, and then enter the password for the root user.

      Important

      The server has no default password. Before your first logon, you must set a password for the server.

    Method 2: Connect using an SSH client

    Before you begin

    1. Obtain the server's public IP address by logging on to the Simple Application Server console and finding the public IP Address on the server card.

    2. Prepare your logon credentials by choosing one of the following methods:

    Password logon

    Windows

    1. Download and install PuTTY.

    2. Open PuTTY and configure the session.

      Parameter

      Description

      Host name (or IP address)

      Enter root@<public-ip-address>. Example: root@121.40.XX.XX.

      Port

      Enter 22.

      Saved sessions

      Enter a name for the session, such as My-Server, and then click Save to store the configuration for quick logons.

    3. Click Open, enter the server's password in the command-line window, and press Enter.

      For security, the command line does not display characters as you enter the password.

    macOS or Linux

    1. Open the terminal on your local Linux or macOS computer.

    2. Run the following command. Replace <public-ip-address> with your server's public IP address.

      ssh root@<public-ip-address>

    3. If this is your first time connecting, enter yes and press Enter to trust the server.

    4. Enter the server's logon password and press Enter.

      For security, the command line does not display characters as you enter the password.

    Key pair logon

    Windows

    1. Download and install PuTTYgen and PuTTY.

    2. Use PuTTYgen to convert your .pem private key to the .ppk format.

      1. Open PuTTYgen and click Load.

      2. Select All Files (*.*), find and load the .pem private key file. In the dialog box that appears, click OK.

      3. Click Save private key. In the dialog box that appears, click Yes.

      4. Enter a new File name and save the converted private key as a .ppk file.

    3. Open PuTTY and configure the session.

      Parameter

      Description

      Host name (or IP address)

      Enter root@<public-ip-address>. Example: root@121.40.XX.XX.

      Port

      Enter 22.

      Saved sessions

      Enter a name for the session, such as My-Server, and then click Save to store the configuration for quick logons.

    4. Configure the private key for authentication.

      1. In the left-side navigation pane, choose Connection > SSH > Auth > Credentials.

      2. In the Private key file for authentication: section, click Browse.

      3. Select your saved .ppk private key file and click Open. The path to the selected .ppk file (for example, xd-p.ppk) appears in the Private key file for authentication field.

    5. Click Open to log on.

    macOS or Linux

    1. Locate the .pem private key file on your local computer.

    2. Change the private key file's permissions.

      Replace /path/to/your/key.pem with the file's actual path.

      chmod 400 /path/to/your/key.pem

    3. Run the following command to connect to the server using the private key.

      Replace <public-ip-address> with your server's public IP address and /path/to/your/key.pem with the path to your private key file.

      ssh root@<public-ip-address> -i /path/to/your/key.pem

      If the connection fails with the error no mutual signature supported, run the following command:

      ssh -o PubkeyAcceptedKeyTypes=+ssh-rsa root@<public-ip-address> -i /path/to/your/key.pem

    Method 3: Connect using a rescue connection

    Use this method for emergency troubleshooting when conventional methods such as Workbench or SSH are unavailable.

    A rescue connection session times out after about 300 seconds of inactivity. If the connection drops, you must reconnect.

    1. Log on to the Simple Application Server console.

    2. On the server card, click Connect. In the dialog box that appears, click Log on by Using Other Methods.

    3. In the Rescue Logon section, click Log on Now.

      You are automatically redirected to the rescue logon page. If not, ensure your browser is not blocking pop-up windows.

    4. On the VNC logon page, enter the username root and press Enter.

    5. Enter the server's password and press Enter.

      For security, the command line does not display characters as you enter the password.

      The following output indicates a successful logon.

      Alibaba Cloud Linux 3 (Soaring Falcon)
Kernel 5.10.134-16.3.al8.x86_64 on an x86_64
iZbp1eixuzhxxx uf j7Z login: root
Password:
Last login: Mon Aug 26 17:01:39 from 100.xxx.2
Welcome to Alibaba Cloud Elastic Compute Service !
Updates Information Summary: available
    33 Security notice(s)
         7 Important Security notice(s)
        20 Moderate Security notice(s)
         6 Low Security notice(s)
Run "dnf upgrade-minimal --security" to apply all updates.More details please refer to:
https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/document_detail/416274.html
[root@iZbp1exxx uf j7Z ~]#

      Use the Copy Command feature in the upper-right corner of the page to paste long text, such as commands or URLs, from your local device.

    FAQ

    Q1: Switch to password logon

    Attaching a key pair to a server and restarting it disables password logon for the root user by default. To re-enable password logon, reset the server password.

    You can reset the password to its previous value.

    Q2: Rescue connection failure

    The server may be unresponsive due to high vCPU or memory usage. Restart the server during off-peak hours and try again.

    For more information about remote connection issues, such as connection timeouts or failures, see Remote connection FAQ.

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