How to Add Another User Through SSH on Oracle Cloud

Managing access to your Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) instances often means bringing in additional team members, developers, or automated processes that need their own SSH credentials. Adding a new user via SSH isn't a single-click operation — it involves Linux user management, SSH key handling, and Oracle Cloud's own permission layers working together.

Here's a clear walkthrough of how the process works and what shapes the right approach for different setups.

What "Adding a User via SSH" Actually Means

When you spin up a compute instance on Oracle Cloud, you connect to it over SSH using a key pair. The instance runs a Linux distribution (commonly Oracle Linux, Ubuntu, or CentOS), and by default you get one administrative user — typically opc on Oracle Linux or ubuntu on Ubuntu-based images.

"Adding another user through SSH" means creating a new Linux system user on that instance and configuring SSH so that person (or process) can authenticate with their own key pair. This is separate from Oracle Cloud's IAM (Identity and Access Management) system, which controls who can interact with the OCI console and API — not who can log into the instance itself.

These two layers — OCI IAM and Linux system users — often get confused. Granting someone OCI console access does not give them SSH access to a running instance, and vice versa.

Step-by-Step: Creating a New SSH User on an OCI Instance 🔑

1. Connect to Your Instance as the Admin User

From your local terminal: