A detailed account on how to SSH into your Bluehost server
For the purpose of this tutorial, I will be outlying steps to follow in order to create SSH access into your blue host server. Most shared hosting servers and cPanel accounts might have very similar steps to undertake when creating SSH access. But keep in mind that this tutorial/ article is specific to Bluehost.
Create SSH Key on Bluehost
In order to access your server using a terminal window. You need to first enable SSH access on your account. IF you own a shared hosting account with Bluehost it is important that you call/live chat with Bluehost support in order for them to enable SSH access to your server. Once SSH access is enabled you can do the following.
- Log in to your Bluehost Control Panel
- Click on the Advanced section, to access your cPanel dashboard.
- Click SSH Access under the Security Tab
- Click on Manage SSH Keys
- Click + Generate a New Key
- Give the key a Name
- Create a Strong Password
- Key type: Leave default value ( RSA)
- Key Size: Leave default value (2048)
- Click Generate Key
- Once the Key is created click on the go back button to return to SSH main page
- Select the newly created SSH Public Key
- You will notice it is not Authorized
- Authorize the SSH key by clicking on Manage
- Click Authorize button to activate the key
- Once the Key is activated navigate back to the SSH main page
- Navigate to the Private Keys section
- Select View/Download for the Key you created
- Once inside the key page, you will be given an option to convert the key to a PPK format
- Convert the “KEYNAME” key to PPK format:
- Enter the passphrase to unlock the “KEYNAME” key for conversion à use the Password when creating the SSH key
- Click Convert
- Once the Key is converted you can download it by clicking on the Download button
Use PUTTY / or a similar terminal to access SSH
For the purpose of this tutorial, we will use putty. If you need to download putty, you can use the link below to download putty from their original server.
- Open putty window
- Gather the following information
- CPanel Username
- Hostname or IP address of server -> You can refer to the video above to locate this information
- Enter IP address or hostname
- Select SSH
- Port 22
- On the left-hand menu, control select the SSH option under CONNECTION
- Click AUTH option
- Browse to the downloaded key location, and select the Key.
- Click Open
- ***Optional: you can save your SSH info to putty, refer to the video above for more information
- This will open the terminal window
- Enter Bluehost cPanel Username
- Then it will ask for the password for the Key you created
- If all the information is entered correctly, you will now have SSH access to your Bluehost Server.
