AgentAura on Akamai Cloud (Linode): A Ready Server over SSH 🟢

Linode is now Akamai Cloud, but the servers are still called Linodes and the console is still Cloud Manager at cloud.linode.com. By the end of this guide you will have a Linode with Ubuntu 24.04, 2 vCPUs and 4 GB of RAM, a public IPv4 address, and an SSH key that lets you, and AgentAura, log in as root.

We use My Server, the SSH path that every AgentAura client offers (web, iPhone and iPad, Mac, Android, Windows, Linux). Getting a Server for AgentAura explains the requirements behind each choice below.

Cloud Manager changes from time to time, so labels may look slightly different from what we describe.

1. Create an account

Sign up at login.linode.com/signup with an email address, a username and a password, or with Google or GitHub. Akamai then asks you to:

• confirm your email address through the link it sends;
• verify a phone number with a code sent by SMS;
• choose a Personal or Business account;
• add a payment method (credit or debit card, or PayPal) and a billing address. Akamai uses it to verify your identity and charges it only when you deploy a paid service.

Most accounts are activated instantly; a few go through a manual review first. Akamai also recommends turning on two-factor authentication, since anyone with access to the account can reset the root password of your Linodes.

At the time of writing (September 2026), Akamai's free-credit page advertises US$100 in credits for new customers, to be used during a trial period. Unused credit expires, usage beyond it is charged at standard rates, and a valid payment method is still required.

2. Make an SSH key and add it to Cloud Manager

Make a new key used only for this server, with no passphrase (AgentAura has no passphrase field):

# macOS or Linux
mkdir -p ~/.ssh
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f ~/.ssh/agentaura -N "" -C "agentaura"

# Windows 10 or 11, in PowerShell. When asked for a passphrase, press Enter twice.
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force "$HOME\.ssh" | Out-Null
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f "$HOME\.ssh\agentaura" -C "agentaura"

The overview guide explains the key rules in detail. Now show the public key and copy it:

cat ~/.ssh/agentaura.pub                   # macOS / Linux
Get-Content "$HOME\.ssh\agentaura.pub"     # Windows PowerShell

In Cloud Manager, click your username at the top right and choose SSH Keys. Click Add an SSH Key, enter a label such as agentaura, paste the public key and click Add Key. ed25519 is one of the supported formats.

3. Create the Linode

Open the Create menu on the top bar and choose Linode. Then fill in the form:

• Region: the one nearest to you.
• Image: under Distributions, choose Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. Not a Quick Deploy App: AgentAura wants a fresh server with nothing else installed.
• Plan: the Shared CPU tab, plan Linode 4 GB (2 vCPUs, 4 GB RAM, 80 GB storage). You do not need a Dedicated CPU plan or a GPU. The form has no separate CPU architecture setting.
• Label: something recognisable, such as agentaura.
• SSH Keys: tick the agentaura key. It is added to the root account.
• Root Password: optional when you add a key. If you set one, root can also log in over SSH with it by default, so make it long. If you leave it empty, the browser console (Lish) needs a password, which you can set later with a root password reset.
• Networking: choose Public Internet as the interface, with an auto-assigned IPv4 address (included at no extra cost). Do not use a VPC-only setup: its Allow public IPv4 access option is off by default, and without it the Linode has no internet access. Either network interface type works for a single server like this.
• Firewall: see the next step before you pick one.

Click Create Linode. Akamai says distribution images take about 3 minutes. You land on the Linode's detail page, which shows its IP addresses.

4. Firewall and network

The create form asks for a Cloud Firewall. You can pick an existing one (a default firewall set in Account Settings is filled in automatically), create one, or choose No firewall, which Akamai does not recommend. Cloud Firewalls are free.

Here is the part that breaks deployments: a new custom firewall starts with the inbound policy set to Drop and the outbound policy set to Accept. With no rules, it blocks SSH. So:

• Add one inbound rule: TCP port 22 (SSH), sources all IPv4 and all IPv6, action Accept. Do not limit it to your own IP: AgentAura connects from its own cloud, for the install and for later logs, restarts and updates.
• Leave the outbound policy on Accept, so the installer can download packages.
• Nothing else. AgentAura reaches the agent through an outbound Cloudflare Tunnel, so no other inbound port needs to be open.

If you start from a firewall template or a firewall you already have, check its inbound rules for the same SSH rule before you attach it.

5. Log in once yourself

Wait a few minutes after the Linode shows as running: it may still be finishing its first boot or running package upgrades, which lock apt. The detail page shows a ready-made ssh root@... command under SSH Access; add your key to it:

ssh -i ~/.ssh/agentaura root@203.0.113.10
# Windows PowerShell: ssh -i "$HOME\.ssh\agentaura" root@203.0.113.10

Answer yes to the fingerprint question the first time. If you get a root@ prompt, type exit.

6. Fill in AgentAura

Choose My Server in AgentAura and enter:

To display the private key for copying:

cat ~/.ssh/agentaura                   # macOS / Linux
Get-Content "$HOME\.ssh\agentaura"     # Windows PowerShell

Copy everything, including the BEGIN and END lines. Start the deployment and watch the output; each step is reported. The quick start covers the model credential you choose next.

7. Costs and cleanup

Akamai bills Shared CPU Linodes by the hour, rounded up, and never more than the plan's monthly cap. The invoice arrives on the first of each month; a new account may also get a mid-month bill when charges pass a threshold.

The important rule: a powered-off Linode is still billed, because its data and resources stay reserved. Removing an agent in AgentAura does not delete the Linode either. To stop paying, go to Linodes, open the ... menu next to the server, choose Delete, and confirm with Delete Linode. Deleting erases the data, including any Backups service snapshots.

Common problems

• Connection timed out. The Cloud Firewall has no inbound SSH rule (the default is Drop), or the rule only admits your IP. Also check that the Linode has a public IPv4 address.
• Permission denied (publickey). The key was not ticked when the Linode was created, you pasted the .pub file, or the key has a passphrase. Since the Linode is empty, deleting it and creating a new one with the right key is usually quicker than repairing it.
• The install stops asking for a sudo password. Akamai's "Set up and secure" guide suggests a limited user and disabling root login. A user that needs a password for sudo will not work with AgentAura. Keep key-only root login, or give that user passwordless sudo.
• The install stops on an apt lock. First-boot upgrades were still running. Wait a few minutes and deploy again.

Official Akamai pages we used: Get started · Create a Linode · Create a Cloud Firewall · Billing