no features in bash in new vps?

Question

I have 12.04 server minimal running on my VPS. When I ssh into the server, only $ is showing at the prompt for each prompt. There's no typical <directory> <username>$, no autocompletion (bash-completion is installed), and no use of arrow key, etc. I'm suspecting bash or .bashrc is not sourced or something?

How do I get the standard bash features working?

edit: bash, .bashrc, and .profile exist in the filesystem.

Here is my ps output:

$ ps 
PID  TTY   TIME    CMD 
4053 pts/0 00:00:00 sh 
4055 pts/0 00:00:00 ps

Answer 1

It appears that you aren't even using Bash. Your ps output shows why:

$ ps 
PID  TTY   TIME    CMD 
4053 pts/0 00:00:00 sh 
4055 pts/0 00:00:00 ps

Try running bash:

$ bash

and you should get this prompt:

something@somewhere ~:$

Now change it to be the default:

chsh /bin/bash

If the command is not found, you need to install bash:

sudo apt-get install bash

or use whatever steps are appropriate on your VPS to install packages(most likely this).