Open an SSH session to a container in Azure App Service

Open SSH session in browser

To make open a direct SSH session with your container, your app should be running.

Paste the following URL into your browser and replace <app-name> with your app name:

https://<app-name>.scm.azurewebsites.net/webssh/host

If you're not yet authenticated, you're required to authenticate with your Azure subscription to connect. Once authenticated, you see an in-browser shell, where you can run commands inside your container.

You can also connect to the container directly from your local development machine using SSH and SFTP.

Open SSH session in browser

To make open a direct SSH session with your container, your app should be running.

Paste the following URL into your browser and replace <app-name> with your app name:

https://<app-name>.scm.azurewebsites.net/webssh/host

If you're not yet authenticated, you're required to authenticate with your Azure subscription to connect. Once authenticated, you see an in-browser shell, where you can run commands inside your container.

Use SSH support with custom Docker images

See Configure SSH in a custom container.

Open SSH session from remote shell

Using TCP tunneling you can create a network connection between your development machine and Web App for Containers over an authenticated WebSocket connection. It enables you to open an SSH session with your container running in App Service from the client of your choice.

To get started, you need to install Azure CLI. To see how it works without installing Azure CLI, open Azure Cloud Shell.

Open a remote connection to your app using the az webapp create-remote-connection command. Specify <subscription-id>, <group-name> and <app-name> for your app.

az webapp create-remote-connection --subscription <subscription-id> --resource-group <resource-group-name> -n <app-name> &

az webapp config set --resource-group <resource-group-name> -n <app-name> --remote-debugging-enabled=false

The command output gives you the information you need to open an SSH session.

Port 21382 is open
SSH is available { username: root, password: Docker! }
Start your favorite client and connect to port 21382

Open an SSH session with your container with the client of your choice, using the local port. The following example uses the default ssh command:

ssh [email protected] -p <port>

When being prompted, type yes to continue connecting. You are then prompted for the password. Use Docker!, which was shown to you earlier.

Warning: Permanently added '[127.0.0.1]:21382' (ECDSA) to the list of known hosts.
[email protected]'s password:

Once you're authenticated, you should see the session welcome screen.

  _____
  /  _  \ __________ _________   ____
 /  /_\  \___   /  |  \_  __ \_/ __ \
/    |    \/    /|  |  /|  | \/\  ___/
\____|__  /_____ \____/ |__|    \___  >
        \/      \/                  \/
A P P   S E R V I C E   O N   L I N U X

0e690efa93e2:~#

You are now connected to your connector.

Try running the top command. You should be able to see your app's process in the process list. In the example output below, it's the one with PID 263.

Mem: 1578756K used, 127032K free, 8744K shrd, 201592K buff, 341348K cached
CPU:   3% usr   3% sys   0% nic  92% idle   0% io   0% irq   0% sirq
Load average: 0.07 0.04 0.08 4/765 45738
  PID  PPID USER     STAT   VSZ %VSZ CPU %CPU COMMAND
    1     0 root     S     1528   0%   0   0% /sbin/init
  235     1 root     S     632m  38%   0   0% PM2 v2.10.3: God Daemon (/root/.pm2)
  263   235 root     S     630m  38%   0   0% node /home/site/wwwroot/app.js
  482   291 root     S     7368   0%   0   0% sshd: root@pts/0
45513   291 root     S     7356   0%   0   0% sshd: root@pts/1
  291     1 root     S     7324   0%   0   0% /usr/sbin/sshd
  490   482 root     S     1540   0%   0   0% -ash
45539 45513 root     S     1540   0%   0   0% -ash
45678 45539 root     R     1536   0%   0   0% top
45733     1 root     Z        0   0%   0   0% [init]
45734     1 root     Z        0   0%   0   0% [init]
45735     1 root     Z        0   0%   0   0% [init]
45736     1 root     Z        0   0%   0   0% [init]
45737     1 root     Z        0   0%   0   0% [init]
45738     1 root     Z        0   0%   0   0% [init]