Standard SSH Access vs. Root SSH Access

All of our VPS Hosting and Dedicated Servers include ssh (shell) access. Shared Hosting users have no ssh access. By default, the ssh access you have is for your specific cPanel account. For example, if your cPanel username is userna5, when you log in via SSH you will only have access to edit files under the userna5 user and not for anyone else.

What is Root Access?

If you're familiar with managing a Windows server, you know then that the Administrator can edit any files on the server and perform any tasks they need to. Linux has a similar administrative account, but it is named "root" instead of "administrator".

The Root user on the server can do much more than the standard user. The root user can perform various tasks that other users cannot, such as:

• Install server wide applications
• Configure server wide applications, such as Apache or MySQL
• Edit any file on the server

Root access is not given by default on VPS or Dedicated Hosting Accounts. Because the root user can do anything they want, the level of support we can offer varies slightly for accounts that have root access. Because of this, we require users to accept our Root Access Disclosure before we allow root access to their servers.

If you have further questions on root access, please see our Root Access FAQ. If you missed our previous article, please see the cPanel vs. WHM ( Web Host Manager ) article.

Requesting Root Access

To review our Root Access Disclosure or to request Root Access:

1. Log into AMP
2. Under "Additional Services", click "Other"
3. Under "Add Services", click the account in question
4. Click "Request Root Access"

Get a VPS Hosting Solution

If you are currently on a shared hosting account and are considering upgrading to a VPS, then read here to see what makes a good vps. For more information on this course please visit An Introduction to Web Hosting