Troubleshooting common Elastic Metal server access issues

Reviewed on February 05, 2025

Problem

You are unable to access your Scaleway Elastic Metal server.

Symptoms

• SSH connection fails with a timeout or authentication error.
• The server does not respond to ping requests.
• Remote console access is unavailable or unresponsive.
• You cannot log in with the root credentials.
• Network services appear unreachable.

Possible causes

• Incorrect SSH key or credentials.
• Firewall rules blocking access.
• Network configuration issues.
• The server is in recovery mode or powered off.
• Scaleway’s infrastructure experiencing temporary issues.

Solution

Verify SSH access

• Ensure you are using the correct SSH key and username.
• Run ssh -v root@<server-ip> to enable verbose mode and check for errors.
• If you recently changed your SSH key, update it in the Scaleway console.

Check network connectivity

• Try pinging your server’s IP address: ping <server-ip>.
• Use traceroute <server-ip> to diagnose network routing issues.
• If your server has a Private Network, ensure you are connecting from the correct subnet.

Review firewall and security settings

• Verify your firewall rules using iptables -L -v -n or ufw status.
• Check if SSH access is restricted to specific IPs in /etc/ssh/sshd_config.
• If necessary, disable firewall rules temporarily to test connectivity.

Use the remote access feature

• If your server is equipped with remote access, activate the feature to visualize the screen output of the server.
• Access the remote console from the Scaleway console.
• Log in and check the system logs (journalctl -xe) for access-related errors.
• If the server is in recovery mode, reboot it into normal mode.

Ensure the server is powered on

• In the Scaleway console, confirm that your server is running.
• If the server is powered off, try restarting it manually.

Contact Scaleway support

If you still cannot access your server, contact technical support with:

• Your server ID and IP address.
• SSH error messages.
• Logs from the remote console.