VDS: The admin shell

The admin shell allows you to perform various administrative tasks on your virtual server. The admin shell is accessed via Secure Shell (SSH) to the server hosting your virtual machine. You can access this server as:

admin.yourservername.vs.mythic-beasts.com

Using your server name as the username.

Once you are logged into the admin shell, the following commands are available:

autoreboot [ on | off ]

The autoreboot setting determines whether your virtual server will restart automatically after it is shut down. We recommend that this be set to "on" as it will control whether your server is restarted in the event that host server has to be rebooted.

authkeys

Allows you to set up SSH authorised keys, enabling you to log in to the admin shell without entering a password.

cad

Sends an "Alt-Control-Delete" signal to your server. This should be your first action to recover a hung virtual server.

console

Connects you to your server's console. The console allows you to see boot messages, allows you to interact with the server when in single user mode, and perform maintenance on the server whilst disconnected from the network. You can replay the last few lines output to the consoole by pressing space when you first connect.

cycle

"Power cycles" your machine. This forcefully terminates your server. You should use this only if cad fails to reboot your server.

help

Gives a list of available commands.

kernel [ kernel-image ]

Selects the kernel image used by your server. Run without an argument to get a list of kernels. The change of kernel will take place next time your kernel is rebooted. Our kernels are built without module support, so there is no need change any module configuration within your server.

rootfs [ fs-image ]

Changes the filesystem image used by your server. This resets your server to one of our default installations, destroying any changes that you have made. Run without options for a list of available images. You will be prompted to enter a root password for your new installation.

start

Starts your server, if it is stopped. If you want you server to restart automatically if it is shutdown, you should also set autoreboot to "on".

status

Returns the current status of your server.