Adding servers
A server in SHTERA is an address, a port and a protocol, stored inside a folder. That is where it inherits credentials and VPN from.
Three ways to load them
The first thing you pick is the connection TYPE, and the form changes with it: SSH, Windows remote desktop (RDP), VNC, FTPS, a database or an S3 bucket. Name, address, username and password come after.
One at a time, when there are few. By CSV file, pasting the list you already have. Or by network range, when you want a whole segment at once.
When you add it you enter its username and password, stored encrypted against THAT server. If another server in the folder already has its own, the "Use credentials from…" dropdown copies them over so you do not type them twice.
One server, one login. If you need to reach the same machine with a different account, add it again with that account: that way the audit log always says who signed in and as which user.
The port is declared, not scanned. SHTERA does not probe ports on your network: if your SSH lives on 2222, you type it.
Automatic pairing
A server is only saved if it could be reached. On save, SHTERA first checks the port answers, then signs in with the password, and only then registers it. If anything fails you are told what, and nothing is left half-done.
It happens on its own when you save the server: SHTERA signs in once with the password you entered, generates a key pair, installs the public half on the server, verifies it works and stores the private half encrypted in the folder. After that nobody types that password again.
Many servers filter by IP address. SHTERA always connects from its server address — shown to you on the add screen — so you have to allow it in the destination firewall before adding the server. It is the most common reason a connection does not work.
Pairing is what enables the SFTP file explorer and Ansible runs against that server.
A real name for each server
Every paired server gets a real domain name: server.yourcompany.shtera.com. It works inside the panel and from outside too, with whatever client you normally use.
Moving a server between folders
You can, and it is more than relabelling: the access private key and any saved control panels are encrypted with the source folder key. When the server moves, all of that is re-encrypted with the destination folder key, entirely inside your browser. If anything could not be decrypted, the move is not even attempted.
