SSH Gateway

SSH, also known as Secure Shell, is the method of connecting from your computer to the web server where your site is hosted. With SSH access you can use a variety of command-line tools such as: WP CLI, MySQL command line, bash, and Composer to manage your website. WP Engine’s SSH Gateway will connect to a container, like a sidecar, that sits alongside the website. This allows authorized users to access the website’s filesystem and database.

SSH Gateway uses key-based authentication for even greater security than a simple username and password combination, and is only accessible to users who have been granted permission to access the specific environment.

---

About SSH Gateway

SSH stands for “Secure Shell” and is the authentication method two devices (computers, servers, or other internet devices) use to communicate with each other. On the WP Engine platform, SSH Gateway access means the ability for you to connect remotely from your local machine to a container where your site’s content is hosted. Developers who are testing, building, or managing multiple websites can and should use SSH Gateway. SSH Gateway should be used by people who are familiar with the use of command line, bash, and WP CLI.

SSH Gateway is ideal because it allows users an easy, secure interface to interact with their site’s files and content. This includes using WP-CLI to manage WordPress® settings and administration, navigating files and directories, using rsync and SCP to move and transfer files, and using MySQL command line to manage databases.¹ Users can even create scripts and bash loops to automate tasks that previously would take a lot of manual work. WP CLI allows developers and site administrators to manage their site outside of the confines of the WordPress back-end, which allows for faster work and chained commands to automate site workflows.

WP Engine uses an SSH “sidecar” that sits alongside your server with a timeout of 10 minutes. Each site will have its own unique connection details and a separate sandbox to ensure there is no cross-contamination of sites or resources. This ensures the highest security level while allowing access to your site, without requiring additional steps such as IP allowing. When connected through SSH Gateway, you will be able to access the WordPress files and database as though you were connected directly to the server, but you won’t see all of the standard processes that are running on a server, such as PHP or MySQL.

The SSH session does not use the Memory dedicated to the server itself and as such will also not cause load to increase. SSH Gateway processes are not affected by the PHP timeout. The PHP kill script exists on the server itself, while the commands are running in the sidecar container.

SSH multiplexing is supported, which provides a way to reuse a connection for multiple SSH sessions to reduce the connection overhead for subsequent sessions. Since SSH Gateway spins up a new sidecar environment for each connection, multiplexed sessions reuse the same environment resulting in much faster connection times.

If desired, add the content below config to ~/.ssh/config to enable multiplexing for a given WP Engine environment.

Host *
ControlPath ~/.ssh/socket-%C
ControlMaster auto
ControlPersist 10m

Connect to SSH Gateway

SSH Gateway allows for file and database access through a secure interface, as well as access to tools like WP-CLI and MySQL command line. Connecting to SSH Gateway requires three steps: Create and add your SSH key to the WP Engine User Portal, then run a connection command.

Create SSH Key

• If you already have a SSH key locally labelled wpengine_ed25519.pub, then simply copy the contents when adding the key in the next step.
• If not, please follow SSH Key Management to generate a key first.

We highly advise configuring a SSH config file before proceeding, as this will mitigate many potential issues down the road.

Add SSH Key

Adding your SSH key to the User Portal allows the key to be used on all environments your email has access to in the User Portal. This makes it simple and easy to ensure you have SSH access ready to go when it’s needed for past and future environments.

After your key has been added to the User Portal, the command you must use to connect using SSH will require that you specify the environment name to ensure you enter the appropriate website.

A direct link to the page to add your SSH key to your account can be found at: https://my.wpengine.com/profile/ssh_keys

Or, to access this page manually, use the following steps:

1. Log in to the User Portal
2. Click the profile icon at the top right
3. Select SSH Keys
4. Click New SSH Key