Connecting to a Linux Oracle instance

You can connect to a running Linux instance by using a Secure Shell (SSH) connection. 

 

 

  Important Alternatively, for advanced control of the boot process or OS troubleshooting, you can use the serial console to connect to an instance. For details, see

 

 Making a Local Connection to the Console 

 Creating a Console Connection Using Cloud Shell 

 

 

 

 

 Connecting to a Linux Instance with SSH 

 Current versions of Windows, MacOS, and Linux include an OpenSSH client by default. (Windows has included the  OpenSSH client  since Windows 10 and Windows Server 2019.) When you create an instance, OCI Compute generates OpenSSH keys for you. You download the keys and use them to connect to your instance. 

  Important SSH keys required:  To connect to your instance with SSH, you must have SSH keys.

 

 If you lost your SSH keys, terminate the instance and create a new instance using the SSH keys provided or SSH keys you generated. See  Managing Key Pairs on Linux Instances . 

 If you created an instance without SSH keys, you can use the  serial console  to connect to your instance and configure SSH. For Oracle Linux, see this  example on how to reset the SSH key for the  opc  user  using the serial console. 

 

 

 For SSH troubleshooting suggestions, see  Troubleshooting the SSH Connection . 

  Note For older Windows versions, you can also use the free PuTTY SSH client. See:  Connecting to a Linux Instance using PuTTY and Windows . 

 

 

 

 Before You Begin 

 You must have the following information to connect to a Linux instance: 

 

 

 

 Public IP address for an instance:  Use the public IP address assigned when you created the instance. If you didn't note the address, get the address from the Instance Details page:

 

 Open the  navigation menu   and select  Compute . Under  Compute , select  Instances . 

 Select your instance. 

 Look at the  Instance access  section. If a public IP address is assigned, the address will be labeled:  Public access IP address . 

 If no public IP address is assigned, see  Assigning an Ephemeral Public IP to an Existing Primary Private IP . 

 

 

 

 Username:  The username used to connect to the Linux instance. Default users names are assigned based on the Linux distribution used.

 

 

 For Oracle Linux or Redhat Enterprise Linux compatible platform images the username is  opc . 

 For Ubuntu platform images to create the instance, the username is  ubuntu . 

 

 

 

 SSH private key:  The full path to the private key file from the SSH key pair used to create the instance. For more information about key pairs, see  Managing Key Pairs on Linux Instances . 

 

 

 

 

 Connecting to a Linux Instance from a Windows System Using OpenSSH 

 Using the OCI generated key pair or your own generated key pair used to create the instance, connect to the Linux instance. 

 

 

 

 Set the Permissions for the Private Key File 

 

 Set the file permissions for the private key file so that only the current user has read-only access. Do the following: 

 

 Locate the SSH key files you created by or created for your instance. 

 In Windows Explorer, navigate to the private key file, right-click the file. 

 Select  Properties . 

 On the  Security  tab, select  Advanced . 

 On the  Permissions  tab, for  Permission entries , under  Principal , ensure that your user account is listed. 

 Select  Disable Inheritance , and then select  Convert inherited permissions into explicit permissions on this object . 

 For  Permission entries , select each permission entry that isn't your user account and select  Remove . 

 Ensure that the access permission for your user account is  Full control . 

 Save your changes. 

 

 

 Connect to the Instance with PowerShell 

 

 Next, connect to the instance with PowerShell. 

 

 

 Open Windows PowerShell and run the following command: 

 

 

 

 

 

 Copy 

 

 

 

 

 ssh -i <private_key_file> <username> @ <public-ip-address> 

 <private_key_file>  is the full path and name of the  .key  file that contains the private key associated with the instance you want to access. 

 <username>  is the default username for the instance. For Oracle Linux and Redhat Enterprise Linux compatible images, the default username is  opc . For Ubuntu images, the default username is  ubuntu . 

 <public-ip-address>  is the instance's IP address that you retrieved from the Console. 

 

 If you're connecting to this instance for the first time, you need to accept the fingerprint of the key. To accept the fingerprint, type  yes  and press  Enter . 

 You are connected to the default shell for the instance. 

 When you have finished your session, type  exit  at the shell prompt to end the session. 

 

 

 

 

  Note For SSH troubleshooting suggestions, see  Troubleshooting the SSH Connection . 

  Tip If you are using an older version of the Windows operating system, you can use PuTTY to create keys and connect to a Linux instance. For details on connecting to a Linux instance with PuTTY, see  Connecting to a Linux Instance from a Windows System Using PuTTY .