This guide walks you through everything after your dedicated server is provisioned — accessing your server, connecting via SSH, understanding what your managed services cover, and taking the first steps to deploy your applications.

After your dedicated server is provisioned, you receive a welcome email containing:

• Your server's primary IP address (and any additional IPs if ordered)
• Root login credentials
• SSH connection details
• Your managed services tier and what it covers
• Network bandwidth allocation (1 Gbps)

HOSTDOG dedicated servers feature AMD EPYC or Intel Xeon processors, NVMe SSD storage, and 1 Gbps network bandwidth with a 99.9% network SLA. All servers are housed in a German data center running on 100% renewable energy.

Navigate to the HOSTDOG homepage and click the Log in button in the top right corner. Under Services, select your dedicated server to view its management dashboard.

Open a terminal and connect using the credentials from your welcome email:

ssh root@YOUR_SERVER_IP

After your first login, change the root password immediately and consider setting up SSH key-based authentication for improved security.

Confirm your server specifications match your order:

# Check CPU
lscpu | grep "Model name"

# Check RAM
free -h

# Check storage
lsblk

# Check OS
cat /etc/os-release

Run a full system update to apply the latest patches:

# Debian/Ubuntu
apt update && apt upgrade -y

# CentOS/AlmaLinux
dnf update -y

If your managed services tier includes OS updates, HOSTDOG handles this automatically. Check your managed services coverage to confirm.

After first login, these are the recommended initial steps:

• Configure the firewall — Set up iptables or firewalld to restrict access to only the ports you need. See How to configure the VPS firewall.
• Set up backups — Configure your backup strategy before deploying any production data.
• Install a web server — Deploy Nginx or Apache depending on your application requirements.
• Point your domain — Create A records in your DNS settings pointing to your dedicated server IP.
• Enable monitoring — Set up server performance monitoring to track resource usage.

Your dedicated server provides bare-metal performance with no resource sharing. Unlike a Cloud VPS, you have full control over the physical hardware, which makes dedicated servers ideal for high-traffic websites, database-intensive applications, and workloads requiring maximum I/O performance. For a detailed comparison, see Cloud VPS vs. dedicated server: Which do I need?

• Cloud VPS vs. dedicated server: Which do I need?
• Understanding HOSTDOG managed services
• VPS/Dedicated backup options and restoration
• How to monitor your server performance