Rebooting, reinstalling and taking snapshots of your server

You manage your servers in your control panel: open the server from the list. At the top of the server page you will find its state, the Console button and the power commands; below them are tabs for the overview, the operating system, load, resources, snapshots, the log and settings.

The overview shows a screenshot of the server’s screen, its IP addresses and its network settings (address, netmask and gateway — each value can be copied).

Rebooting and shutting down

The usual command — Reboot, Shut down or Start — is at the top of the page, and the others are in the Power menu:

• Reboot and Shut down — the system closes programs and saves data by itself. Use these first.
• Power off and Power cycle — the equivalent of pulling the plug or pressing the reset button on the case: unsaved data will be lost. Use them when the system has hung and is not responding.
• Start — starts a server that is switched off.

After the server is started, the system needs less than a minute to boot; until it responds, the usual commands are unavailable — this is normal. If the system does not respond at all, only the power commands are offered.

Everything that has happened to the server — starts, reboots, snapshots, password changes, resource changes — is recorded in the Log tab. Charts of CPU, memory, disk and network usage for the last hour, day, week and month are on the Load tab.

Console

Click Console at the top of the page, or the screenshot on the overview tab, and the console opens in a new browser tab. It is the server’s screen and keyboard: through it you can watch the system boot and log in even if SSH or the network is not working. You need the account password to log in — SSH keys are not used in the console. The console is available while the server is running, and it is easier to use from a computer.

Password and login

The operating system tab shows the server’s system, its SSH keys and the password of the administrator account:

• The password of a newly installed system is shown on this tab for 24 hours — with Show and Copy buttons — and a copy is sent to you in the “Server ready” email. After 24 hours the password is no longer stored in the control panel.
• If you set your own password when ordering or reinstalling, we do not store it and do not include it in the email.
• “Reset password” sets a new random password for the account, shows it to you, emails it to you and shows it on this tab for 24 hours.

The same tab has the command for logging in over SSH and for adding a key to a running server. For more on logging in and keys, see How to connect to your server over SSH.

Snapshots

A snapshot saves the state of the disk so that you can return to it. Take one before updating the system or making a risky change: if something goes wrong, rolling back restores everything as it was.

• On the Snapshots tab, enter a name and click “Take snapshot”. A disk snapshot, without memory, takes a few seconds.
• You can keep two snapshots at a time. A snapshot is deleted automatically after 7 days, and you will receive an email a day before.
• “Roll back” returns the disk to the snapshot: everything that changed after it is lost. After a rollback the server is switched off — start it again.
• While a server has snapshots, its disks cannot be enlarged or added to — delete the snapshots first.

Reinstalling the system

On the operating system tab, click Reinstall. Choose the system, select your SSH keys and, if you want, set your own password and User data — cloud-init commands that run on first start-up. To confirm, you need to type the word DELETE in capitals.

The system disk is wiped permanently, and so are the snapshots. Additional disks remain with their data — in the new system you need to attach them again. The server’s IP address and name stay the same. The control panel offers a password for the new system in the reinstall window — save it or set your own: it will not be in the email, and if you forget it, use “Reset password”. When you first connect over SSH you will see a warning that the server’s key has changed; how to clear it is described in How to connect to your server over SSH.

Installing from your own image

If you need a different system or your own disk layout, go to the operating system tab and click “Install from image” → “Choose image”, select an image and click “Attach and boot”. The server restarts from the image, and you carry out the installation yourself through the console. The disk is not touched until you start the installation. When you have finished, click “Detach image” → “Detach and boot from disk”.

In your own system, you set up networking by hand: the address, netmask and gateway are on the overview tab.

If the image you need is not in the list, tell us the name and version of the system through the contact form and we will see about adding it.

Resources and server name

• The Resources tab — CPU, memory, the system disk and additional disks. Changing the CPU or memory involves a reboot — either immediately or the next time the server is switched off; a disk can be enlarged without a reboot. The system disk cannot be made smaller.
• The Settings tab — the server’s name. A new name takes effect the next time the system is reinstalled; on a running server, change it with the hostnamectl set-hostname command.

If the limits of your current plan are not enough, get in touch through the contact form and we will find a solution.