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Academyacademy / hermes-101 / connect-ssh

Connect With SSH

Station 5 - Server terminal. Time: 15-20 min. You enter your VPS terminal. Pass when you see the server prompt.

What this is

SSH is how you control your cloud server from your laptop terminal.

You created the Droplet in a browser, but Hermes will be installed inside the server terminal.

Why it matters

The server is a real Linux computer on the internet. SSH is the secure door into that computer. Once you are inside, commands run on the VPS, not on your laptop.

This distinction matters:

  • Laptop terminal before SSH: you are still on your own computer.
  • Server terminal after SSH: you are inside the VPS where Hermes will live.

What to do

Open Windows PowerShell, Windows Terminal, Terminal on Mac, Linux terminal, or WSL.

Use this pattern from your laptop terminal. If you need quick copy commands, open the Command Sheet.

Use this pattern from your laptop terminal:

Terminal command
ssh root@YOUR_SERVER_IP

Example:

Terminal command
ssh root@123.45.67.89

Replace YOUR_SERVER_IP with the public IPv4 address from DigitalOcean.

If you see a first-connection warning like this:

Reference

Are you sure you want to continue connecting?

Type:

Reference

yes

Then press Enter.

A successful login usually shows a prompt like:

Reference

root@hermes101-yourname:~#

Write what your prompt looks like:

Reference

My server prompt:

If SSH does not work

If you see Permission denied (publickey), it usually means the wrong SSH key was selected, the public key was not added to DigitalOcean, or you are not using the matching private key on your laptop.

If you see Connection timed out, check the IP address and confirm the Droplet is running.

If you cannot fix SSH quickly, use the DigitalOcean web console as a temporary fallback and ask the facilitator for help.

Windows note: if you created your SSH key in PowerShell but connect from WSL, or created it in WSL but connect from PowerShell, you may be using a different .ssh folder. Ask the facilitator before creating another Droplet.

Common mistakes

  • Typing the wrong IP address.
  • Running server commands on your laptop before SSH.
  • Using the wrong username. For this workshop path, use root unless the facilitator says otherwise.
  • Pasting the private SSH key into DigitalOcean instead of the public key.
  • Panicking at the first connection warning.

Next step

Go to Prepare Ubuntu.