Skip to main content
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

ScenarioDedicated serverVPSPublic Cloud
High I/O workloads (databases, transcoding)Best fitLimitedViable
Full root access and custom kernelsYesYesYes
Predictable, fixed monthly costYesYesFlexible
Hourly elasticity or auto-scalingNoNoYes
Hardware-level isolationYesNoNo
If you need a lighter footprint or pay-as-you-go billing, consider a VPS or a Public Cloud instance instead.

​
Getting started

1

Order your server

In the OVHcloud Control Panel, 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.
2

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.
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.
3

Connect via SSH (Linux)

Once installation completes, connect using the username that matches your OS (for example, ubuntu for Ubuntu, debian for Debian):
ssh [email protected]
On first login, change the temporary password:
passwd
Password input is not displayed on Linux terminals. Type your new password and press Enter, then confirm it.
4

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 from the Control Panel — it works even without a network connection.
5

Reboot when needed

Prefer a soft reboot from the command line:
reboot
For a hard reboot, go to General information in the Control Panel, click … next to Status, and select Restart.

​
Key configuration areas

Storage and RAID

Configure software or hardware RAID, manage partitions, and handle hot-swap disk replacements.

Networking

Assign IPv6 addresses, configure IP aliasing, and connect to other services via vRack.

Security hardening

Harden SSH, configure iptables, install Fail2ban, and enable the OVHcloud Network Firewall.

Troubleshooting

Use rescue mode, run hardware diagnostics, and replace faulty disks.

​
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

cat /proc/mdstat
Example output: 
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

lsblk

smartctl -a /dev/nvme1n1
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.

​
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): 
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: 
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:
ip a
Look for the interface whose MAC address matches the Private interface in the Control Panel’s Network interfaces tab.
  1. Configure that interface with your chosen private IP range (for example, 192.168.0.0/16).
network:
  version: 2
  ethernets:
    eth1:
      addresses:
        - 192.168.0.1/16
Apply with:
sudo netplan apply

​
Security hardening

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.

​
Keep the system updated

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: 
sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config
Find the #Port 22 line, uncomment it, and replace 22 with a port number between 49152 and 65535: 
Port 49152
Restart the service: 
sudo systemctl restart sshd
Connect using the new port going forward: 
ssh [email protected] -p 49152

​
Install Fail2ban

Fail2ban blocks IP addresses after repeated failed login attempts: 
sudo apt install fail2ban
Create a local configuration file: 
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: 
[sshd]
enabled = true
port = 49152
maxretry = 3
findtime = 5m
bantime = 30m
Restart Fail2ban: 
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: 
ssh root@SERVER_IP
To access your disk from rescue mode: List partitions: 
lsblk
Mount your system partition: 
mount /dev/md127 /mnt/
To write to the partition, create a chroot environment: 
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: 
WRKR=$(grep -c "^processor" /proc/cpuinfo)
stress-ng --metrics-brief --timeout 60s --cpu $WRKR --io $WRKR --aggressive --ignite-cpu --maximize --pathological
If the server crashes during this test, the CPU is likely faulty.
RAM="$(awk -vOFMT=%.0f '$1 == "MemAvailable:" {print $2/1024 - 1024}' /proc/meminfo)"
memtester ${RAM}M 1
A crash during this test indicates faulty RAM.
smartctl -a /dev/nvme1n1
Replace nvme1n1 with your disk identifier from lsblk.
ping -c 10 proof.ovh.net
for file in 1Mb 10Mb 100Mb 1Gb; do time curl -4f https://proof.ovh.net/files/${file}.dat -o /dev/null; done

fsck -fy /dev/sda1
Run on an unmounted partition. Replace sda1 with your partition name.

​
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

OVHcloud Control Panel

Manage OS installation, reboots, rescue mode, monitoring, and backup storage from the web interface.

OVHcloud API

Automate server management tasks — OS installs, netboot changes, and network configuration — via the REST API.

SSH / RDP

Connect directly to your server for full administrative control over the OS and installed services.

vRack private network

Connect your dedicated server to other OVHcloud services in a private Layer 2 network spanning multiple data centres.

​
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.

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get started for freeTalk to us