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Out-of-Band (OOB) gives you direct access to your server’s hardware-level serial console over SSH. This lets you see and interact with the system before and during boot, including BIOS, GRUB, and early kernel output. Out-of-band automatically enables a serial login on the server after boot, so you can also use OOB to administer Linux even when normal SSH is unavailable.

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What to expect

A Serial-over-LAN console behaves differently from a normal SSH session:
  • It is lower bandwidth and may refresh slowly
  • The BIOS interface appears in text mode
  • Keystrokes may feel slightly delayed
  • It looks like a normal terminal after login, but it is still a serial console
  • Graphical KVM output is not available here (use Remote Access instead)
Despite these limitations, OOB provides full control of the machine at every boot stage. For full graphical keyboard-video-mouse access, use Remote Access.

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Requirements

To access your server’s serial console you need:
  • An SSH key (configured in your Latitude.sh account)
  • Your server’s root password or your OS user credentials (if you want to log in after boot) — Optional
If you lost your root password, use Rescue mode to reset it.

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Creating an OOB connection

  1. Go to the server page, click the Recovery tab, and select Out-of-Band.
  2. Select your SSH key and click Enable out-of-band.
  3. Wait until the process finishes and the status change from Connecting to Connected.

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Using the console

Copy the command snippet from the side panel on your terminal. It will look similar to this: 
ssh <server_id>@<server_ip> -p 2222
If OOB is active, you will see: 
[SOL Session operational. Use ~? for help]

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Capabilities

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Before boot

You can:
  • Change boot order
  • Inspect hardware setup
When you reboot you can:
  • Enter BIOS (DEL/ESC)
  • View POST and GRUB

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After boot

Hit Enter to see the Linux login prompt: A login prompt when using OOB. Log in with the root credentials of your server. This gives you a full Linux shell, identical in function to SSH but running on the serial console (ttyS0) instead of a network connection.

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Ending the session

To close the OOB session: 
~.
(tilde, then dot)