Usernames
When provisioning a new VPS, a user with sudo privileges, able to perform administrative tasks (root user), is added to the VPS. The root username is derived from the Linux distribution: debian, ubuntu, rocky, centos, almalinux.
SSH Login
When ordering a new VPS, the initial SSH key for the root user with a distribution-dependent username can be entered, which can later be changed via “My Zone”:
(My Zone > Cloud Servers > server > Access).
The root user can only log in to the VPS via SSH using a key. If desired, the user can modify the SSHD configuration so that the root user can also log in with a password, but for security reasons, we do not recommend this.
Logging in via SSH with the root username is not possible. This can also be modified in the SSHD configuration by the user, but for security reasons, we do not recommend it.
Console Login
It is possible to log in via VNC console with all usernames that have a password assigned within the VPS and are not locked: (My Zone > Cloud Servers > server > Console).
Enabling or disabling console login is not related to the VPS’s SSHD configuration.
It is possible to log in to the VPS via the VNC console with the root username. To log in as the root user via the console, it is necessary to set a password for the root user through My Zone or within the VPS after provisioning. If the root user password is forgotten or needs to be changed for security reasons, this can be done via My Zone without logging into the VPS. It is not possible to delete the root user password in My Zone.
The console cannot be accessed “directly” from the internet without My Zone.
It is possible to log in to the VPS via the console even when the VPS has no internet connection.
Adding Users
When provisioning a new VPS, logging in via SSH with the root username is disabled, and only logins with SSH keys are allowed. If new user accounts are added within the VPS, with this default setting, an SSH key must be configured for each user. Until an SSH key is configured, the user cannot log in via SSH.
If logging in with a password is enabled in the SSHD configuration within the VPS, a password must be configured for each new user.
Network Interfaces
The network settings on the VPS are somewhat unconventional.
The VPS has two network interfaces, each assigned the same IP address. The Zone base network operates with parallel IP connections, which improves network availability and ensures quick IP traffic switching in case of failures, without adding complexity to network management. This duplicated network connection reaches all servers operating in the Zone, including VPSs. To efficiently use IP addresses, the subnet mask for all VPSs is 255.255.255.255 (meaning the prefix length of the VPS’s IP address is 32 bits).
The network interface names are eth0 and eth1, regardless of the Linux distribution.
Default Gateway
Since the VPS has two “equal” network interfaces, there are also two default gateways in the Linux routing table, each with equal weight – 172.31.254.1 (via interface eth0) and 172.31.254.2 (via interface eth1). The IP addresses of the default gateways are not in the same subnet as the VPS’s IP address – the gateway addresses and the VPS’s address are not similar at all! (The VPS’s address is subnet-less)
Some Linux distributions do not handle equally weighted routes well. To address this, the VPS runs a script called zroute , which corrects routing table entries if necessary.
In some Linux distributions, default gateways may not be “directly” accessible – PING to the default gateway IP addresses may not work. This does not mean that the IP connection towards the internet is broken.
If PING to the default gateways doesn’t work but you still want to confirm their availability, you must issue commands in the VPS (with root privileges):
ip route add 172.31.254.1 dev eth0 ip route add 172.31.254.2 dev eth1
Routes added from the command line do not survive VPS restarts!
Changing the Network Management System
If a different network management system is used within the VPS instead of the default one, care must be taken to ensure that the network interface settings and names remain unchanged.
The configuration of default gateways should not be altered when changing the system – this is taken care of by a script installed on the VPS.
DNS and NTP
The DNS servers for the new VPS are configured as 1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1. Users can change this configuration using tools specific to their Linux distribution. If desired, a different DNS system can be installed instead of the default DNS resolution system within the distribution.
The NTP time server for the new VPS is configured as chronyd. The NTP time server is set to the DNS name “ee.pool.ntp.org”, which is periodically resolved to a specific IP address.