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[Server offline] its ok if support ask for login details to my server?
dodheimsgard
Member
in Help
Long story short my server is offline (dont respond to ping), server was rebooted by support but its still offline. Support ask for login details to server. Its common practice in such case? I smell something fishy here but maybe im paranoid
Comments
Unfortunately, yes. Especially if you deal with a clueless support agent. I don't like giving out login credentials either.
They may be helpful though if the support agent works with a clueless customer, so I kind of understand why the ask for credentials.
Don't give it and see what happens.
Just don't complain to us that your server is down for a long time.
I'm working on a French famous hosting company, and that's not normal.
We're never asking for server credentials, all diagnostics must be performed in rescue mode for Linux based servers, except if you're rented a managed server.
This is normal, They are asking for credential because of your server is offline. You can deny and fix it by yourself.
Tell them that you use SSH public key and does not even have password login. Which you should always use anyway.
It depends.
Is the server accessible via remote console/vnc/rescue mode? If yes, you should be able to log in and see what’s up. If you aren’t able to, support people needs to login and see what’s up.
If the above isn’t correct, there’s no point in asking for login as it is a hw issue.
Also, in many cases, it is easier to just ask and do it instead of explaining what to do to average clients. It is the nature of the industry sadly
Hardware problems no but software related problems It is normal.
It doesn't necessarily happen often, but it is not surprising when it does. I've only had one provider insist on it where it seemed suspicious so I cancelled the service. Turns out it was a simple miscommunication with a less experienced staffer who apparently always came at problems that way.
I don't run systems where it would cause me any real harm if they did have it. If you have something on the system that you don't want them to see, then you should probably find another provider or consider having your own hardware co-located somewhere. With VMs, it would probably be wise to consider they already have root access to your system and proceed accordingly. In a sense, they do.
to avoid this next time ask for ilo/ipmi acces before place a order. And yes , if you have a problem how can the host to help you if dont have acces ? Any way to avoid this the better way is ask for IPMI acces. The wrost case if the server dont have it at least a kvm console.
@ciociu I didnt see any dedi offer from you in a while, something is comming for valentines day ?
It's somewhat common... contabo had asked me to place their SSH key for troubleshooting a networking issue.
Well if you screwed up your network config and want me to fix it then yes I will ask for credentials, otherwise good luck with NoVNC
Don't give your host your login info.
Never give it to them. Never!
in 1-3 month i will start some crazy offers , we receive new hardware this days and we are focusing to open the new locations pending , negociate with the providers , locations , etc ... so i dont want to overwork in this period. But if need asap you can always tell me your budget and what you look for and we can do something in one of 3 locations what is public yet.
Excellent , waiting for storage offers
you know will came
Giving your login credentials is something you would not like to do for obvious reasons. On our end, it is something we don't like to even know about. As a provider, or at least us, we do not want to have any access via SSH to your server for security reasons.
But..... There are sometimes that people need to fix something very quickly or they do not know how to troubleshoot properly. So for the sake of efficiency, it is necessary to share your credentials. Not everyone is an expert in the field or an engineer...
You could just ask your customer to do certain commands and share the output. But, they will most likely get frustrated because it is a slow process. You could take a lot of time answering or solving an issue that way.
The bottom line. Don't give out the login info, OP.
Leave it offline. That's safer.
Definitely safer.
Next time, provide a longer story. You've not done basic troubleshooting steps over console. So if you're clueless and support already said things look fine and don't believe you, then asking for your credentials is to get out of the gridlock of you not being able to provide adequate troubleshooting info to support.
You can always change the password after.