How to connect via SSH to your LWS web hosting

Procédure

SSH access lets you connect directly from the command line to your LWS web hosting to manage your files and run tools like WP-CLI, Composer or Git. This feature is available starting with the LWS Starter plan. Thanks to public key authentication, you benefit from a fast, reliable and highly secure connection. In this guide, we will generate an SSH key pair on your computer, register the key in your LWS Panel and open your first session in the terminal.

Generate the SSH key pair

1. Generate your SSH key pair on your computer

   Open your computer's terminal (PowerShell on Windows, or the Terminal application on macOS and Linux). Run the following command to create a secure cryptographic key pair in Ed25519 format. When the system asks you to enter a passphrase (« passphrase »), simply press the Enter key twice to continue without a password.

   ⌨ On your computerCopy

   ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "mon-ordinateur" -f ~/.ssh/lws_hebergement

   Expected result

   Generating public/private ed25519 key pair.
   Enter passphrase for "/home/tuto/.ssh/lws_hebergement" (empty for no passphrase):
   Enter same passphrase again:
   Your identification has been saved in /home/tuto/.ssh/lws_hebergement
   Your public key has been saved in /home/tuto/.ssh/lws_hebergement.pub

2. Display and copy the content of your public key

   To allow access from your machine, you must provide only your public key to the LWS server. Display its text content using the cat command in your terminal, then select and copy the entire line starting with « ssh-ed25519 ».

   ⌨ On your computerCopy

   cat ~/.ssh/lws_hebergement.pub

   Expected result

   ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAIOdhh1/3YU/lRVg4Sw/UcXaGnnOzxzS1jmoNMC2Pvk1f mon-ordinateur

Configure access in the LWS Panel

1. Access your hosting management

   Log in to your LWS customer area. In the Domain(s) & Hosting(s) tab, locate your domain name in the list and then click the corresponding Manage button.

   

2. Open the SSH Access tool

   In your domain dashboard, scroll down to the Software block. Click the SSH Access section to configure your connection rights.

   

3. Open the key addition window

   The page summarizes your connection information (host, port 22 and username). Scroll down to the SSH key listing box and click the Add SSH key button.

   

4. Paste your SSH public key

   A pop-up window appears on the screen. Click in the SSH public key field and paste the entire text copied from your terminal in step 2.

   

5. Save the key on your hosting account

   Check that the string begins with the key format (for example ssh-ed25519) and contains no extra spaces at the beginning. Then click the green Add key button.

   

6. Access the configuration settings

   Once the key is saved in the list, go back to the top of the page in the Connection information section and click the Change configuration link.

   

7. Enable unlimited key access and validate

   Make sure the general option is checked on Activate. Set the Activation duration to Unlimited, then check the box SSH key authentication only (disables SSH password login) to protect your account. Finally click the green Validate button.

   

Connect from the command line

1. Start the SSH connection in the terminal

   Go back to your command terminal. Run the ssh command, specifying the location of your private key with the -i parameter, followed by your SSH user ID and the host name of your hosting account (indicated in your LWS Panel). On the first attempt, the terminal displays a security warning about the remote machine's fingerprint: type yes then confirm.

   ⌨ On your computerCopy

   ssh -i ~/.ssh/lws_hebergement learn2883932@learnlws.fr

   Expected result

   The authenticity of host 'learnlws.fr (2a00:7ee0:1:0:3:2234:0:414)' can't be established.
   ED25519 key fingerprint is SHA256:pW7qVdjWOl1Ebc6mnLmjOB6Z9dno2hostWO8ew4y4Fs.
   This key is not known by any other names.
   Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no/[fingerprint])? yes
   Warning: Permanently added 'learnlws.fr' (ED25519) to the list of known hosts.

2. Navigate through your folders and close the session

   You are now connected to the Debian server of your LWS web hosting. You can check your current location with pwd and display the contents of your web directory with ls. To close the SSH session and return to your computer prompt, simply type exit.

   ⌨ On the serverCopy

   pwd
   ls
   exit

   Expected result

   /var/www/learnlws.fr/htdocs
   default_index.html
   disconnect
   Connection to learnlws.fr closed.

Glossary

SSH (Secure Shell)

Encrypted network protocol that allows secure access to and administration of a remote server via a command prompt.

Public key

Part of the encryption key that you can safely upload to the server to identify yourself during connections.

Private key

Secret file kept only on your computer that proves your identity against the public key.

Ed25519

Modern, highly efficient elliptic-curve cryptography algorithm recommended for generating SSH keys.

Fingerprint

Unique identifier of a key or server used to confirm its authenticity during the initial connection.

SFTP

Secure file transfer protocol that works over the SSH tunnel.

Frequently asked questions