BENTECH

Purchasing and Connecting to a Contabo VPS via SSH

This tutorial provides a complete walkthrough on how to select, configure, purchase, and connect to a Contabo Cloud VPS server. The lesson begins by exploring the pricing tiers…

This tutorial provides a complete walkthrough on how to select, configure, purchase, and connect to a Contabo Cloud VPS server. The lesson begins by exploring the pricing tiers on the Contabo website, explaining hardware specifications including vCPU cores, RAM, and the differences between NVMe and SSD storage types. After finalizing server parameters such as datacenter region, operating system image (Ubuntu), and setting a root password, the guide demonstrates customer registration and completing checkout using a credit card. Finally, it covers retrieving connection credentials from Contabo confirmation emails, installing the PuTTY SSH client on a Windows desktop, and successfully logging into the remote Linux server terminal as the root user.

Section 1: Introduction and Navigating to Contabo Cloud VPS

Introduction and Navigating to Contabo Cloud VPS • Selecting Term Length, Storage, and Operating System • Configuring Networking, Add-Ons, and Root Password

Lesson 1.1: Introduction and Navigating to Contabo Cloud VPS

  • Navigate to contabo.com in a web browser.
  • Locate the Cloud VPS category under the hosting options.
  • Review entry-level pricing tiers available for new deployments.

The presenter introduces the tutorial and navigates to the official Contabo website to explore available Cloud VPS hosting plans.

Practical work

  1. Reproduce the demonstrated step for: Navigate to contabo.com in a web browser. and verify the result yourself.

Lesson 1.2: Selecting Term Length, Storage, and Operating System

  • Select the billing interval (1 month, 6 months, or 12 months).
  • Choose between NVMe storage (faster I/O) and SSD storage (higher capacity).
  • Select the base OS image, such as Ubuntu 24.04, or other available distributions.

The configuration page allows choosing the contract term, region, disk type (NVMe vs SSD), and operating system image.

Practical work

  1. Reproduce the demonstrated step for: Select the billing interval (1 month, 6 months, or 12 months). and verify the result yourself.

Lesson 1.3: Configuring Networking, Add-Ons, and Root Password

  • Stick with the standard free IPv4 address unless additional IPs are required.
  • Choose unmanaged server management to avoid additional monthly management fees.
  • Decline optional paid SSL certificates if planning to use free Let's Encrypt certificates.
  • Define a secure root password meeting the complexity requirements.

Settings for network allocation, server management levels, SSL options, and setting the root administrative password are configured.

Practical work

  1. Reproduce the demonstrated step for: Stick with the standard free IPv4 address unless additional IPs are required. and verify the result yourself.

Section 2: Customer Registration and Payment Details

Customer Registration and Payment Details • Order Review and Order Placement • Reviewing Setup & Login Emails

Lesson 2.1: Customer Registration and Payment Details

  • Select private individual or business account status.
  • Input personal contact information including address, country, and email address.
  • Select payment method (Credit Card or PayPal) and authenticate through 3D Secure/OTP verification.

The user fills out account profile information, selecting private individual status, and completes billing with a credit card.

Practical work

  1. Reproduce the demonstrated step for: Select private individual or business account status. and verify the result yourself.

Lesson 2.2: Order Review and Order Placement

  • Review optional add-on prompts like Auto Backup and choose whether to add or protect data manually.
  • Review final invoice amounts, one-time fees, and server specs.
  • Click 'Order & Pay' to finalize the server deployment request.

Contabo prompts for an automated backup upsell, which is declined before completing the order review and final payment submission.

Practical work

  1. Reproduce the demonstrated step for: Review optional add-on prompts like Auto Backup and choose whether to add or protect data manually. and verify the result yourself.

Lesson 2.3: Reviewing Setup & Login Emails

  • Check your registered email inbox for Contabo communications.
  • Locate the email containing 'Your login data' which includes the server IPv4 address.
  • Note the default administrative username ('root') and port (22).

After order processing, Contabo delivers several confirmation emails containing order confirmation, customer control panel access, and the server IP address.

Practical work

  1. Reproduce the demonstrated step for: Check your registered email inbox for Contabo communications. and verify the result yourself.

Section 3: Downloading and Installing PuTTY

Downloading and Installing PuTTY • Connecting to the VPS Terminal via PuTTY

Lesson 3.1: Downloading and Installing PuTTY

  • Search for PuTTY and navigate to putty.org or chiark.greenend.org.uk.
  • Download the 64-bit Windows Installer (.msi).
  • Run the installer setup wizard and finish the installation.

To connect to the VPS via SSH on Windows, the user downloads and installs the PuTTY SSH and Telnet client.

Practical work

  1. Reproduce the demonstrated step for: Search for PuTTY and navigate to putty.org or chiark.greenend.org.uk. and verify the result yourself.

Lesson 3.2: Connecting to the VPS Terminal via PuTTY

  • Paste the server IPv4 address into PuTTY's 'Host Name (or IP address)' field with Port 22.
  • Accept the SSH host key security alert upon initial connection.
  • Enter 'root' as the login user.
  • Type or paste the root password specified during checkout to reach the bash prompt.

The user launches PuTTY, inputs the VPS IP address, accepts the server host key, and logs in using the root credentials.

Practical work

  1. Run or reproduce this step, then verify the result: login as: root