Getting Started With Your New VPS
Your server is online. Here is exactly what to do in the first five minutes, from finding your login details to your first successful connection.
Your VPS is provisioned automatically and comes online in under sixty seconds after checkout. This guide covers the five minutes after that: where your credentials live, how to make your first connection, and the two things worth doing before you install anything.
Before you start
You need your Virtualized client portal login, and a terminal. macOS and Linux already have one. On Windows, use PowerShell, Windows Terminal, or PuTTY.
You do not need to install a control panel. Every VPS ships with full root access, so you configure it yourself.
Step 1: Find your credentials
Your welcome email has the same login credentials but if you've changed anything since it will not match.
Step 2: Open the SSH port in the Firewall Manager
Every Virtualized VPS sits behind Path.net filtering, and ports are closed by default. Before your first connection, you need a rule that allows SSH through.
In the portal, open Services, then Firewall Manager. Select your IP, click New Rule, set the protocol to TCP, set the destination port to 22, tick Whitelist, and click Create Rule.
Firewall rules take 1 to 15 minutes to propagate across the network. If your first connection attempt times out, wait a few minutes and try again before assuming something is broken.
There is a full walkthrough in How to open an SSH Port with the Firewall Manager.
Step 3: Connect for the first time
Once the rule is live, connect from your own machine:
ssh root@your-server-ip
You will get a fingerprint warning the first time. That is normal, it is your machine noting that it has not seen this server before. Type yes and enter the password from the portal.
You are now on your server.
Step 4: Update the system
The image your VPS was built from is a point-in-time snapshot, so there are almost always pending security updates waiting. Install them first.
On Ubuntu or Debian:
apt update && apt upgrade -y
On AlmaLinux or Rocky:
dnf update -y
Step 5: Lock it down before you build anything
Your server has a public IP, which means automated scanners found it roughly the moment it came online. They are already trying root with common passwords. Ten minutes of hardening now saves you a rebuild later.
The short version: create a real user account, switch to SSH keys, disable password login, and install Fail2ban. The full walkthrough is in How to Secure a Brand-New VPS, and it is worth doing before you install your application, not after.
If you cannot connect
Three things cause nearly every failed first connection.
The firewall rule has not propagated yet. This is the most common one by far. Give it the full fifteen minutes.
The rule is on the wrong IP. If you have several services, it is easy to add the rule to a neighboring address. Check the IP in the rule against the IP on your service page.
You are using the wrong port. Port 22 is the default. If you changed it, your rule and your ssh command both need the new number:
ssh -p 2222 root@your-server-ip
If all three check out and it still will not connect, open a ticket in the client portal with your IP address and the exact command you ran.
What next
Your server is online, patched, and secured. From here it depends what you are building, point a domain at it, install Docker, or set up Nginx and serve your first site.