Connecting to servers and migrating data

After your Sandbox environment is active, you can securely access Linux or Windows virtual server instance (VSIs) and migrate data between IBM Classic infrastructure and VPC infrastructure.

When your Sandbox environment is provisioned, an SSH key pair is automatically created for secure server access. The private key is stored in IBM Cloud Secrets Manager for you to download and use. The following steps guide you through retrieving this key and connecting to your servers.

Before you begin

Download and install the IBM Cloud CLI and the VPC infrastructure CLI plug-in.
For Windows servers, have Microsoft Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) client software available.

Logging into a VSI using an SSH key from Secrets Manager is supported only when the VSI is created through the Quickstart page. If a user creates a VSI from the IBM Cloud UI instead, they must provide their own SSH key. For more information, see Getting started with SSH keys.

Connecting to Linux or Windows servers

Step 1: Reserve and identify the Floating IP

If you haven't already reserved a floating IP address for your instance, follow the instructions in Reserving a floating IP address.

After reserving the floating IP:

In the IBM Cloud console, go to Resource List > Compute > Virtual Server Instances.
Select your VSI and click the Networking tab.
Copy the Floating IP address from the table.

Download the SSH key from Secrets Manager

Go to Resource List > Security > Secrets Manager.
Open your Sandbox Secrets Manager instance.
Locate your SSH private key secret, click the overflow menu (⋮), and select View Secret.
Download the secret key and save to a file (for example, key.pem).
Set appropriate permissions:
```
chmod 400 key.pem
```

Step 3: Check instance status

Before connecting, verify your CLI is targeting the correct region. If needed, see Targeting a region.

First, list all your instances to get the instance ID:

ibmcloud is instances

Then check the instance status using the ID from the previous command:

ibmcloud is instance INSTANCE_ID

Replace INSTANCE_ID with the ID or name of your instance. Wait until the instance status is running.

Step 4: Connect to the server

Linux server (SSH)

Run the following command:

ssh -i <path-to-key.pem> root@<Floating-IP>

Accept the fingerprint when prompted.
When prompted, confirm the fingerprint.

Retrieve the Windows Administrator password using the private key:

ibmcloud is instance-initialization-values INSTANCE_ID --private-key "@~/.ssh/id_rsa"
```   Replace `INSTANCE_ID` with your instance ID or name.

Open Remote Desktop Connection (RDP) on your computer.
Enter the Floating IP as the computer address.
Log in with username Administrator and the retrieved password.

For more information, see Connecting to Windows instances.