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Help:Accessing Cloud VPS instances
Overview
This page explains how to gain access to Cloud VPS using SSH.
What you'll need
Required accounts
| Account Type | Description | Where to sign up |
|---|---|---|
| Wikimedia account | Wikimedia single user login (SUL) account allows you to log into general wikis like Wikipedia, MediaWiki, and MetaWiki | Create Wikimedia account |
| Wikimedia developer account | Wikimedia developer account allows you to log into Wikitech, Phabricator, Gerrit and other developer tools. | Create Wikimedia developer account |
Set up and upload SSH keys
SSH Recommendations
Linux or Mac OS
- Natively supports SSH. You should be able to SSH from the terminal.
Windows 10
- Windows 10 (Spring 2018 Creators update or higher) has a built in SSH client.
- If the OpenSSH client is not already enabled, you can do this by following
Settings->Apps & features->Optional features->Add a feature. Scroll down and enable the SSH Client. - Access the SSH client via Windows Powershell using the
sshdirective. - To use an SSH agent, you will need to enable it.
- Type into your search bar
services.mscand open the Services program - Find OpenSSH Authentication Agent and set that service to "Automatic" and start it if it is disabled.
- Type into your search bar
- Please note, there is a bug in how ProxyJump works, so use the instructions for ProxyCommand below unless you are sure you are not affected by https://github.com/PowerShell/Win32-OpenSSH/issues/1172
- If the OpenSSH client is not already enabled, you can do this by following
Older versions of Windows
It is recommended that you run the most current version of Windows. However, if you choose to run an older version, you will need an SSH client. PuTTY / KiTTY is often recommended.
Accessing Cloud VPS instances
You'll need to proxy through a machine that is visible to the Internet and recognizes Cloud VPS (bastion) instances.
| Your role | Use |
|---|---|
| A member of Wikimedia SRE Team | restricted.bastion.wmflabs.org |
| Everyone else (incl volunteers and WMF staff) | primary.bastion.wmflabs.org |
ProxyJump (recommended)
Use this directive if you are using OpenSSH version 7.3 or higher
$ ssh -J <your-shell-name>@primary.bastion.wmflabs.org <your-shell-name>@<your-instance>.<your-project>.eqiad.wmflabs
Set default configuration
To save time, you can configure the $HOME/.ssh/config file to instruct SSH to use primary.bastion.wmflabs.org as a jump host when connecting to wmflabs instances.
Host *.wmflabs *.wikimedia.cloud
User <your-shell-name>
ProxyJump primary.bastion.wmflabs.org:22
Host primary.bastion.wmflabs.org
User <your-shell-name>
ProxyCommand
Use this directive if you are using OpenSSH 7.2 or older
Host *.wmflabs *.wikimedia.cloud
ProxyCommand ssh -a -W %h:%p <your-shell-name>@primary.bastion.wmflabs.org
User <your-shell-name>
Run the following from your local computer, substituting the instance and project names as appropriate:
ssh your-instance.your-project.eqiad.wmflabs
File managers
You can connect to your Cloud VPS instance through the bastion via SSH with a file manager. There are a number of Open Source options listed below.
Note:' The following options are maintained by third parties. Please see the technical documentation or ReadMe on the software's website to determine the best method of connection.
Options
Windows
Linux
- Gnome: (Files, formerly Nautilus),
- KDE: Dolphin,
- FUSE: libfuse on Github
Mac
Troubleshooting
In general, adding SSH option -v, -vv, or -vvv may help identify possible issues.
#when using ProxyCommand ssh -v your-instance.your-project.eqiad.wmflabs
Into Bastion
Permission denied (publickey)
- Make sure you have uploaded the correct SSH key to your preferences
- Use lowercase letters for your username
- Your SSH user name is your instance shell account name name (see User Profile > Basic Information in your WikiTech account's Preferences page). It is not necessarily the same as your account's username
Connection closed by remote host
- Make sure you have uploaded the correct SSH key to your preferences
- If you have access to other SSH servers, can you connect to them? If not, then there may be an issue with your SSH client.
- If you use Windows, is Pageant (PuTTY authentication agent) set up with correct keys and running?
Blocking connection on OS X with no error message
If you are running OS X and your SSH connection blocks without any error message (while pinging the server works), try
unset SSH_AUTH_SOCK, and then SSH again. This will unset the socket to ssh-agent.
Into your-instance
Permission denied (publickey)
- Make sure the instance build has completed.
- Search in the console output for “Finished puppet run”, BEGIN SSH HOST KEY FINGERPRINTS, and BEGIN SSH HOST KEY KEYS.
Communication and support
Support and administration of the WMCS resources is provided by the Wikimedia Foundation Cloud Services team and Wikimedia Movement volunteers. Please reach out with questions and join the conversation:
- Chat in real time in the IRC channel #wikimedia-cloud connect, the bridged Telegram group, or the bridged Mattermost channel
- Discuss via email after you subscribed to the cloud@ mailing list