Default password of cloud instances (Linux)

Password-based login is disabled by default on all Linux images to reduce the risk of brute-force attacks.

These are the recommended best practices for default user management:

• Avoid enabling a password for the default user
• Use SSH key authentication to connect as the default user
• Create new users and grant temporary root access with sudo
• Remove or disable the default user when no longer needed

Find out how to manage users on cloud instances. 

If you still wish to set a password, we recommend the following:

• Do not enable password-based SSH login. 
• Set a password for the instance console only.

You can set a default password during instance creation using a cloud-init configuration script.

In the Create Instance dialog, go to the Config & Password tab. 

There are two options:

• A. You can write your own custom configuration script. 
• B. Use the script provided to set a password for console login.

Set a password for the instance console 

This will set a non-expiring password for the default user, for instance console access only. Password login via SSH will remain disabled.

This script works across most cloud-init compatible Linux distributions.

#cloud-config
password: ""                # Add your password between the quotes
ssh_pwauth: false 
chpasswd:
expire: false   

Password recommendations:

• Minimum 12 characters
• At least 1 uppercase letter (not first or last)
• At least 1 number
• Can’t end in a number or special character

Some Linux distributions may reject weak or non-compliant passwords.

Note: It is your responsibility to save your password securely. It will not be stored in your cloud project. Xneelo cannot view or recover this operating-system password. Store it securely if you set one. 

If you didn’t set a password during instance creation, you can still assign one later via SSH.

This will set a non-expiring password for the default user, for instance console access only. Password login via SSH will remain disabled.

Steps

1. 1
   Connect to your instance using SSH – see steps.
2. 2
   Switch to the root user:

sudo su

1. 3
   Update the password:

passwd <username>

Enter new UNIX password:
Retype new UNIX password:
passwd: password updated successfully

• Replace username with the default username.