> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/ovh/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Dedicated servers

> Deploy and manage bare metal dedicated servers with full hardware control and root access.

A dedicated server is a physical machine ("bare metal") located in an OVHcloud data centre. Unlike shared hosting plans, you have full administrative control over the hardware and OS. No neighbours share your CPU, RAM, or disk — the entire machine is yours.

## When to choose a dedicated server

| Scenario                                    | Dedicated server | VPS     | Public Cloud |
| ------------------------------------------- | ---------------- | ------- | ------------ |
| High I/O workloads (databases, transcoding) | Best fit         | Limited | Viable       |
| Full root access and custom kernels         | Yes              | Yes     | Yes          |
| Predictable, fixed monthly cost             | Yes              | Yes     | Flexible     |
| Hourly elasticity or auto-scaling           | No               | No      | Yes          |
| Hardware-level isolation                    | Yes              | No      | No           |

<Note>
  If you need a lighter footprint or pay-as-you-go billing, consider a [VPS](/bare-metal/vps) or a [Public Cloud instance](/public-cloud/compute) instead.
</Note>

## Getting started

<Steps>
  <Step title="Order your server">
    In the [OVHcloud Control Panel](https://www.ovhcloud.com/en-gb/bare-metal/), go to **Bare Metal Cloud** > **Dedicated servers** and place an order. Once delivered, you will receive an email with your server's IPv4 address and initial credentials.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Install or reinstall an OS">
    Open the server in the Control Panel, click the **General information** tab, then select **...** next to the operating system and choose **Install**.

    Select your OS from the drop-down, optionally customise the partition layout, and add your SSH public key so it is pre-installed automatically.

    <Tip>
      Store your public SSH key in the Control Panel beforehand (**Account** > **SSH keys**) to select it from a drop-down at install time instead of pasting it manually.
    </Tip>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Connect via SSH (Linux)">
    Once installation completes, connect using the username that matches your OS (for example, `ubuntu` for Ubuntu, `debian` for Debian):

    ```bash theme={null}
    ssh ubuntu@203.0.113.1
    ```

    On first login, change the temporary password:

    ```bash theme={null}
    passwd
    ```

    <Note>
      Password input is not displayed on Linux terminals. Type your new password and press **Enter**, then confirm it.
    </Note>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Connect via RDP (Windows)">
    For Windows servers, open **Remote Desktop Connection** on your local machine, enter the server's IPv4 address, and log in with the credentials from your delivery email.

    As a fallback, use the [IPMI console](#ipmi-access) from the Control Panel — it works even without a network connection.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Reboot when needed">
    Prefer a soft reboot from the command line:

    ```bash theme={null}
    reboot
    ```

    For a hard reboot, go to **General information** in the Control Panel, click **...** next to **Status**, and select **Restart**.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Key configuration areas

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Storage and RAID" icon="hard-drive" href="/bare-metal/dedicated-servers#storage-and-raid">
    Configure software or hardware RAID, manage partitions, and handle hot-swap disk replacements.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Networking" icon="network-wired" href="/bare-metal/dedicated-servers#network-configuration">
    Assign IPv6 addresses, configure IP aliasing, and connect to other services via vRack.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Security hardening" icon="shield-halved" href="/bare-metal/dedicated-servers#security-hardening">
    Harden SSH, configure iptables, install Fail2ban, and enable the OVHcloud Network Firewall.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Troubleshooting" icon="wrench" href="/bare-metal/dedicated-servers#troubleshooting">
    Use rescue mode, run hardware diagnostics, and replace faulty disks.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

***

## Storage and RAID

OVHcloud servers use RAID 1 (mirroring) by default when a soft RAID configuration is available. This replicates data across two or more disks for redundancy, but halves your usable storage capacity.

You can customise the partition scheme during OS installation by ticking **Customise the partition configuration**. This lets you choose RAID level, partition sizes, and filesystem types.

### Check current RAID status

```bash theme={null}
cat /proc/mdstat
```

Example output:

```console theme={null}
Personalities : [raid1]
md2 : active raid1 nvme0n1p2[0] nvme1n1p2[1]
      931954688 blocks super 1.2 [2/2] [UU]
```

The `[UU]` means all disks are healthy. A `_` indicates a failed disk.

### Identify disks

```bash theme={null}
lsblk
```

```bash theme={null}
smartctl -a /dev/nvme1n1
```

<Warning>
  If you plan to replace a disk, contact OVHcloud support first if your server does not support hot-swap. Never remove a disk while the server is running unless it is confirmed as hot-swappable.
</Warning>

***

## Network configuration

### IPv6

All OVHcloud dedicated servers are delivered with a `/64` IPv6 block (High Grade and Scale servers receive a `/56` block). IPv6 is not configured automatically on all distributions.

Find your IPv6 block and gateway in **General information** > **Network** in the Control Panel, then apply the configuration. On Debian/Ubuntu (pre-23.04):

```bash theme={null}
sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces.d/50-cloud-init
```

Add your IPv6 address and gateway, then restart networking.

For Ubuntu 23.04 and later, edit the socket file instead:

```bash theme={null}
sudo nano /lib/systemd/system/ssh.socket
```

### IP aliasing

IP aliasing lets you assign multiple IP addresses to the same network interface — useful when hosting multiple services on one server.

### vRack (private network)

vRack connects multiple OVHcloud services across data centres via a private Layer 2 network. To configure it:

1. Order a vRack service from the Control Panel (**Bare Metal Cloud** > **Network** > **vRack**).
2. Add your dedicated server to the vRack.
3. Identify your private network interface:

```bash theme={null}
ip a
```

Look for the interface whose MAC address matches the **Private** interface in the Control Panel's **Network interfaces** tab.

4. Configure that interface with your chosen private IP range (for example, `192.168.0.0/16`).

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Debian / Ubuntu (Netplan)">
    ```yaml theme={null}
    network:
      version: 2
      ethernets:
        eth1:
          addresses:
            - 192.168.0.1/16
    ```

    Apply with:

    ```bash theme={null}
    sudo netplan apply
    ```
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Windows Server">
    Open **Network and Sharing Center** > **Change adapter settings**, right-click the private adapter, choose **Properties** > **Internet Protocol Version 4**, and assign a static IP in your chosen range.
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

***

## Security hardening

<Warning>
  As the server administrator, you are responsible for its security. OVHcloud has no administrative access to your server and cannot perform security tasks on your behalf.
</Warning>

### Keep the system updated

```bash theme={null}
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
```

Run this regularly, or configure unattended-upgrades for automatic security patches.

### Change the SSH listening port

Changing the default SSH port (22) reduces automated brute-force attempts. Edit the SSH daemon configuration:

```bash theme={null}
sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config
```

Find the `#Port 22` line, uncomment it, and replace `22` with a port number between 49152 and 65535:

```console theme={null}
Port 49152
```

Restart the service:

```bash theme={null}
sudo systemctl restart sshd
```

Connect using the new port going forward:

```bash theme={null}
ssh ubuntu@203.0.113.1 -p 49152
```

### Install Fail2ban

Fail2ban blocks IP addresses after repeated failed login attempts:

```bash theme={null}
sudo apt install fail2ban
```

Create a local configuration file:

```bash theme={null}
sudo cp /etc/fail2ban/jail.conf /etc/fail2ban/jail.local
sudo nano /etc/fail2ban/jail.local
```

Enable SSH protection by adding this to the `[sshd]` section:

```console theme={null}
[sshd]
enabled = true
port = 49152
maxretry = 3
findtime = 5m
bantime = 30m
```

Restart Fail2ban:

```bash theme={null}
sudo service fail2ban restart
```

### OVHcloud Network Firewall

The OVHcloud Network Firewall filters traffic at the infrastructure edge, before it reaches your server. Enable and configure it in the Control Panel under **Bare Metal Cloud** > **Dedicated servers** > select your server > **IP** tab.

### Backup storage

Every dedicated server includes 500 GB of free backup storage. Activate it in the Control Panel and access it via FTP, FTPS, NFS, or CIFS.

***

## Troubleshooting

### Rescue mode

Rescue mode boots your server into a temporary Linux environment from the OVHcloud infrastructure. Use it whenever your server is inaccessible or when you need to run diagnostics without the installed OS.

**To activate rescue mode:**

1. In the Control Panel, open **General information** for your server.
2. Click **...** next to **Boot** and select **Edit**.
3. Choose **Boot in rescue mode** > **Customer rescue system**.
4. Select password or SSH key authentication, then click **Confirm**.
5. Restart the server: click **...** next to **Status** > **Restart**.

You will receive login credentials by email. Connect via SSH:

```bash theme={null}
ssh root@SERVER_IP
```

**To access your disk from rescue mode:**

List partitions:

```bash theme={null}
lsblk
```

Mount your system partition:

```bash theme={null}
mount /dev/md127 /mnt/
```

To write to the partition, create a chroot environment:

```bash theme={null}
chroot /mnt/
```

**When finished**, change the boot mode back to **Boot from the hard disk** and restart the server.

### Hardware diagnostics

Run these commands in rescue mode to test hardware components:

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="CPU stress test">
    ```bash theme={null}
    WRKR=$(grep -c "^processor" /proc/cpuinfo)
    stress-ng --metrics-brief --timeout 60s --cpu $WRKR --io $WRKR --aggressive --ignite-cpu --maximize --pathological
    ```

    If the server crashes during this test, the CPU is likely faulty.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="RAM test">
    ```bash theme={null}
    RAM="$(awk -vOFMT=%.0f '$1 == "MemAvailable:" {print $2/1024 - 1024}' /proc/meminfo)"
    memtester ${RAM}M 1
    ```

    A crash during this test indicates faulty RAM.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Disk health (SMART)">
    ```bash theme={null}
    smartctl -a /dev/nvme1n1
    ```

    Replace `nvme1n1` with your disk identifier from `lsblk`.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Network bandwidth">
    ```bash theme={null}
    ping -c 10 proof.ovh.net
    for file in 1Mb 10Mb 100Mb 1Gb; do time curl -4f https://proof.ovh.net/files/${file}.dat -o /dev/null; done
    ```
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Filesystem check">
    ```bash theme={null}
    fsck -fy /dev/sda1
    ```

    Run on an unmounted partition. Replace `sda1` with your partition name.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

### IPMI access

The IPMI (Intelligent Platform Management Interface) console lets you connect to your server directly from the OVHcloud Control Panel, even if the server has no network connection. Find it in **General information** > **IPMI** tab.

Use IPMI to:

* Connect when SSH is unreachable
* Access the server during OS installation
* View the display output as if you were physically at the machine

***

## Management options

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="OVHcloud Control Panel" icon="browser" href="https://www.ovhcloud.com/en-gb/bare-metal/">
    Manage OS installation, reboots, rescue mode, monitoring, and backup storage from the web interface.
  </Card>

  <Card title="OVHcloud API" icon="code" href="/manage/api">
    Automate server management tasks — OS installs, netboot changes, and network configuration — via the REST API.
  </Card>

  <Card title="SSH / RDP" icon="terminal" href="/bare-metal/dedicated-servers#getting-started">
    Connect directly to your server for full administrative control over the OS and installed services.
  </Card>

  <Card title="vRack private network" icon="network-wired" href="/network/vrack">
    Connect your dedicated server to other OVHcloud services in a private Layer 2 network spanning multiple data centres.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

### OVHcloud monitoring

Enable server monitoring in **General information** > **Service status** > **Configure**:

* **Disabled** — no alerts, useful during maintenance windows.
* **Enabled with proactive intervention** — OVHcloud sends an alert and a technician checks the server if it stops responding.
* **Enabled without proactive intervention** — you receive an alert email only.