From sign-up to a working server

In 14 steps, this guide takes you from a new account to a VPS you can connect to over SSH, then on to publishing your website and paying for the following months. You create your account, place the order and pay on blackbox.md, in “Contul meu” (My account); you find the server in the app.blackbox.md panel, under “My Servers”. Each step links to the article with the details.

The blackbox.md website is available in Romanian and Russian; this article quotes the Romanian labels with their English meaning.

Available to: any visitor to blackbox.md (step 1), then the account holder.

Step 1. Create your account

1. Open https://blackbox.md/register (or “Cont client” (Customer account) in the site header → “Înregistrați-vă” (Sign up)).
2. Fill in “Email” and “Parolă” (Password). The password must be at least 12 characters long and include at least 3 of the following: an uppercase letter, a lowercase letter, a digit, a special character.
3. Optionally, fill in “Nume complet” (Full name) and “Telefon” (Phone): your order takes the name and phone number from your profile.
4. Tick “Am citit și accept Termenii și Condițiile și Politica de Confidențialitate” (I have read and accept the Terms and Conditions and the Privacy Policy) and click “Creare cont” (Create account). You are signed in right away.

The quick option: in the “Înregistrare cu” (Sign up with) block, click “Google” or “GitLab”. An account created this way usually has its email already confirmed, so you can skip step 2. Details: Creating an account on blackbox.md.

Step 2. Confirm your email address

Until your email is confirmed, the buttons in your account only open the panel's sign-in page, with no automatic sign-in. The confirmation email is not sent automatically when you sign up: you request it from your profile.

1. “Contul meu” (My account) → “Profil” (Profile), section “Securitatea contului” (Account security), card “Verificarea emailului” (Email verification).
2. Click “Trimite emailul de verificare” (Send verification email). Message: “Email trimis. Verifică căsuța poștală.” (Email sent. Check your inbox.)
3. Open the email “Confirmați adresa de email — BlackBox” (Confirm your email address — BlackBox) and follow the link (valid for 24 hours, single use). The page shows “Email confirmat!” (Email confirmed!), and your profile shows “Verificat” (Verified).

Details: Verifying your email address.

Step 3. Add your SSH key (recommended)

With an SSH key, you connect to the server without a password.

1. “Contul meu” (My account) → “Chei SSH” (SSH keys).
2. Under “Adaugă o cheie SSH” (Add an SSH key), fill in “Nume cheie” (Key name) and paste the contents of your .pub file (for example ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub) into “Cheie publică SSH” (Public SSH key). Never paste your private key.
3. Click “Adaugă cheia” (Add key).

Don't have a key? See Generating an SSH key (Windows, macOS, Linux). You can skip this step: if you don't attach a key when you order either (step 6), you get a root password.

Step 4. Choose a plan

1. Click “Planuri VPS” (VPS plans) in the site header (https://blackbox.md/servers/plans).
2. Choose one of the 21 plans in 5 families: Basic, CPU, Standard, High-Frequency and High-Frequency Compute. Prices are shown in “MDL/lună” (MDL/month); the plan marked “Recomandat” (Recommended) is Standard M.
3. Click “Comandă” (Order) on the plan card. If you are not signed in, you return to the order automatically after you sign in.

How to choose: VPS plans: how to choose. “VPS hosting” plans with a control panel and Dedicated servers are also ordered with “Comandă”, but without step 5.

Step 5. Choose the operating system

In the “Sistem de operare” (Operating system) step, “Ubuntu 24.04 LTS” is selected by default. You can also choose Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, Debian 12, Debian 11, CentOS Stream 9 or AlmaLinux 9. Click “Continuă” (Continue). Details: Available operating systems.

Step 6. Billing details and SSH key (optional)

• “Date de facturare” (Billing details): choose the profile (company or individual) that will appear on the invoice and click “Continuă” (Continue). If you leave “Fără date de facturare” (No billing details) selected, the button is called “Continuă fără date de facturare” (Continue without billing details). See Billing details for companies and individuals.
• “Cheie SSH pentru server” (SSH key for the server): tick a key under “Chei salvate” (Saved keys) or paste one into “Sau lipiți o cheie publică SSH” (Or paste a public SSH key), then click “Continuă”. To go on without a key, click “Continuă fără cheie” (Continue without a key).

When you attach a key, the “Dezactivează autentificarea prin parolă (doar cheie SSH)” (Disable password authentication (SSH key only)) box is ticked automatically: the server will accept SSH logins only with the key. Untick it if you want to keep the password as well. See The SSH key at order time and “key-only” servers.

Step 7. Your order is created

After the last step, the order appears in “Comenzi” (Orders) with the status “Nou” (New) and a number in the form BBX-YYYY-NNNNNN (for example BBX-2026-000123). You receive the email “Am primit solicitarea dumneavoastră — BBX-…” (We have received your request — BBX-…), and your browser opens the payment page. The server is not created until you pay for the order.

Step 8. Pay for the order

1. On the payment page (“Comandă BBX-…” (Order BBX-…), with the amount in MDL), tick the box “Am citit și accept Termenii și Condițiile și Politica de Confidențialitate” (I have read and accept the Terms and Conditions and the Privacy Policy).
2. Choose how to pay:
   • by card: “Achitați X MDL” (Pay X MDL) takes you to Paynet, where you enter your card details. When you come back, you see “Verificăm plata…” (Checking your payment…), then “Plata a fost efectuată!” (Payment completed!);
   • from your balance: “Achitați din sold (Disponibil în sold: X MDL)” (Pay from balance (Available balance: X MDL)), shown only when your balance covers the full amount. Message: “Achitat din sold!” (Paid from balance!).
3. The status changes to “În lucru” (In progress) and you receive the email “Plată confirmată — BBX-…” (Payment confirmed — BBX-…) with the PDF invoice attached.

You can also pay later: “Comenzi” (Orders) → “Achită comanda” (Pay for the order). Details: Paying by card (Paynet), Paying for an order from your balance.

Step 9. Get your server details

Servers on VPS plans are created automatically, usually within a few minutes after the payment is confirmed. You receive the email “Serverul dvs. este gata — BBX-…” (Your server is ready — BBX-…):

• The email may arrive about a minute before the server responds over SSH. If your first connection attempt fails, wait another minute.
• The email for “key-only” servers mentions a VNC console. Customers have no web or VNC console: you manage the server over SSH and from the panel.
• Dedicated servers are prepared manually by our team; we will contact you.

Security If your root password came by email, change it after you first log in (step 12) and delete the email.

Details: After payment: server activation and emails.

Step 10. Connect over SSH

On macOS, Linux or Windows 10/11 (PowerShell), run the command below with the IP address from the email:

ssh root@SERVER_IP

The first time you connect, confirm the server's fingerprint by typing yes. In password mode, enter the root password (the characters are not shown as you type). On a “key-only” server, your key is used. Details, including PuTTY: Connecting to your server over SSH (Windows, macOS, Linux).

Step 11. Find your server in the panel

1. “Contul meu” (My account) → “Panou de administrare” (Admin panel) (in the side menu), or “Profil” (Profile) → the “Serviciile tale” (Your services) card → “Deschide panoul” (Open the panel). The panel opens in a new tab and signs you in automatically.
2. In the panel menu, click “My Servers”.
3. The server card shows “Order” (the BBX number), “IP”, “Plan”, “Spec” and buttons such as “Reveal credentials”, “Reset password”, “Reboot”, “Stop”, “Start”.

Shortcut: “Comenzi” (Orders) → “Gestionează în app.blackbox.md” (Manage in app.blackbox.md) opens “My Servers” and highlights the card of the server you ordered.

Note The panel opens on the “Overview” page, which for most customers shows “No servers found. Contact an administrator to get access.” This is normal: servers ordered on blackbox.md are under “My Servers”.

Details: Opening the app.blackbox.md panel from your account, The “My Servers” page: the server card.

Step 12. Secure your server

1. Update the system. Ubuntu and Debian:

   apt update
   apt upgrade -y

   AlmaLinux and CentOS Stream:

   dnf upgrade -y

2. If your password came by email, generate a new one with “Reset password” in the panel and confirm: the new password appears on the server card. If you change it with passwd on the server, “Reveal credentials” will keep showing the old password.

3. Add your SSH key to the server if you didn't do it when you ordered (Adding and removing SSH keys on the server), and check that you can log in with it from a second terminal. Only then click “Disable password login” in the panel.

4. Make your own backups: Backup strategy for your server.

There is no web console, so keep a second SSH session open while you change SSH or firewall settings. If you lose access, write to support. Inbound traffic also passes through a network filter managed by BLACKBOX: if a port that is open on your server does not respond from outside, contact support. The full checklist: Securing a new server: checklist.

If something goes wrong

• The payment does not go through or the order stays “Nou” (New): The payment failed or the status did not update.
• You did not receive the “Serverul dvs. este gata” (Your server is ready) email: The server does not appear after payment.
• SSH does not respond or rejects your password: I can't connect over SSH.
• The panel does not show your server: The panel shows “No servers found”.

Step 13. Publish your website or app

You install the website or app on the server yourself, over SSH, as root: the panel has no settings for web servers or applications. Pick the guide that fits:

• to point your domain to the server: How to point your domain to the server;
• a website with free HTTPS: Web server with HTTPS: nginx or Apache and Let's Encrypt;
• a WordPress site: WordPress on LEMP (nginx, MariaDB, PHP);
• apps in containers: Installing Docker and Docker Compose;
• a Node.js or Python app, or another service that listens on an internal port: Node.js, Python and other services: nginx as a reverse proxy;
• an existing website you are moving from another provider: Moving a site to a BLACKBOX server.

Step 14. Get ready to pay for the next month

Paying for the order covers one month from server activation, that is, from the date of the email “Serverul dvs. este gata — BBX-…” (Your server is ready — BBX-…). For the following months:

1. The BLACKBOX team issues the monthly invoice, with a number in the form BT-…. It appears only in “Contul meu” (My account) → “Facturi” (Invoices): you get no email when the invoice is issued, so check that page from time to time.
2. To have invoices paid automatically, open “Contul meu” → “Sold” (Balance) and turn on the “Reîncărcare automată” (Automatic top-up) switch. Despite its name, the switch does not charge your card: it pays the invoice from your balance, starting on the date in the “Scadență” (Due date) column, and only if your balance covers the invoice's full total.
3. Keep at least the invoice total in your balance. You top up your balance by card, with the “Alimentează soldul” (Top up balance) button: Topping up your balance.

A server stopped with “Stop” is still billed. Billing stops only after the server is deleted (terminated) with “Terminate” in the panel, and deletion is irreversible: Permanently deleting a server. More about payment: Monthly renewal and paying on time, Automatic payment of invoices from your balance.

Frequently asked questions

How much does the smallest server cost? The Basic XS plan (1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 20 GB disk) costs 416 MDL/month. All prices are monthly, in MDL. Details: Prices, currency and billing period.

Why does the panel's sign-in page open instead of my servers? Usually, your account email is not confirmed. Complete step 2, then open the panel again from “Contul meu” (My account).

Can I install Windows? Not through the online order. Windows is available only on request, through support.