October 3, 2019 by Sana Ajani, @sana_ajani
In a previous Remote SSH blog post, we went over how to set up a Linux virtual machine and connect to the VM using the Remote - SSH extension in Visual Studio Code. In this blog post, we'll go into some tips and tricks that you can use to get the most out of your remote setup.
Connect using Remote SSH
Hit Return to create a keypair using the default name idrsa and put it in the.ssh folder in your home folder. The Finder in macOS keeps that.ssh folder hidden. To see your.ssh folder in the Finder, press Command+Shift+G, then enter /.ssh. The tilde is filesystem shorthand for your user’s home folder. Apr 01, 2020 ssh-add /keyfile.pem /dev/null 2&1 Store SSH Keys In macOS Keychain. If you’re on macOS, you can store additional SSH keys in the macOS Keychain. Open up /.ssh/config and add the following lines: Host. UseKeychain yes. You can now add keys with. Ssh-add -K /keyfile.pem. The keys will be stored in the keychain and persist across reboots. # chmod 400 /.ssh/ec2private.pem Create a config file: # vim /.ssh/config Enter the following text into that config file: Host.amazonaws.com IdentityFile /.ssh/ec2private.pem User ec2-user Save that file. Use the ssh command with your public DNS hostname to connect to your instance.
The Visual Studio Code Remote - SSH extension allows you to connect to a remote machine or VM using SSH, all from inside VS Code. If you don't already have the extension installed, you can search for 'remote ssh' in the Extensions view (⇧⌘X (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+X)).
After you install the extension, you'll notice an indicator on the bottom-left corner of the Status bar. This indicator tells you in which context VS Code is running (local or remote). Click on the indicator to bring up a list of Remote extension commands.
SSH configuration file
In the earlier Remote SSH blog post, we only connected to a single machine and did so by entering the 'user@host' when prompted. If you log in to multiple remote servers or local virtual machines on a regular basis, there's a better way to connect without having to remember all the usernames, addresses, and additional configuration options.
Ssh With Pem Key
OpenSSH supports using a configuration file to store all your different SSH connections. To use an SSH config file, click on the remote indicator to bring up the remote commands, choose Open Configuration File, and select the file that follows the path 'Users/{yourusername}/.ssh/config'.
Here's an example of an SSH config file:
There are many more configuration options you can specify in the SSH config file format. You'll get completions and colorizations in this file and you can press (⌃Space (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Space)) for IntelliSense to learn more about the config options.
The options used above are:
Option | Description |
---|---|
Host | An easy-to-remember alias for your host machine. |
HostName | The hostname of server (you can use the IP address of the server). |
User | The user you've specified to log in to the machine via SSH. |
Port | The port used to connect via SSH. The default port is 22, but if you've specified a unique port, you can configure it here. |
IdentityFile | The file location where you've stored your private key. |
You can add the information for all the hosts you have. Once you've saved the config file, you'll be able to see those hosts in the Remote Explorer, as well as any folders you have opened on that host. You can select the icon next to each host or folder and it will launch a new VS Code window (instance) and connect you to that host. In the screenshot below, I'm connected to my remote machine 'python-linux-vm' and the Remote Explorer shows me the folders I have connected to in the past, as well as any forwarded ports from the remote machine.
ProxyCommand
Sometimes you may need to connect from your desktop or laptop to a remote machine over your company's Intranet or behind a firewall. In this case, you may be using an intermediate server or jump box. This kind of setup is useful if you are working within a secure system that is configured to only accept SSH connections from a fixed set of hosts.
To use a jump-box setup with the Remote - SSH extension, you can use the
ProxyCommand
config option. This configuration will open a background SSH connection to the jump box, and then connect via a private IP address to the target.You can set the
ProxyCommand
config option in the SSH config file like this:ControlMaster
If you are connecting to a remote SSH host using other authentication methods besides key-based authentication, such as two-factor, password-based, or an SSH key with a passphrase, you may have to enter the required information multiple times.
Instead of opening multiple SSH connections, you can use
ControlMaster
option (only on macOS/Linux clients) to reuse an existing connection and reduce the number of times you must enter your passphrase.To use this feature, add the following to your SSH config file:
Offline remote machine
If you are restricted by a firewall or your company locks down your VMs and they cannot connect to the Internet, the Remote - SSH extension won't be able to connect to your VM because VS Code needs to download a component called the VS Code Server to the remote machine.
However, you can now solve this issue by a new user setting in the Remote - SSH extension. If you enable the setting
remote.SSH.allowLocalServerDownload
, the extension will install the VS Code Server on the client first and then copy it over to the server via SCP.Note: This is currently an experimental feature but will be turned on by default in the next release.
Remote - SSH Nightly extension
https://energygolf482.weebly.com/multi-clipboard-for-mac-os-catalina.html. If you're interested in testing new updates and experimental features as soon as they are available, install the Remote - SSH Nightly extension (uninstall the Remote-SSH stable extension first). This is the nightly build of the extension where we experiment with new features and settings before releasing them into the stable version.
We'd like your feedback
Thanks for trying out the Remote - SSH extension! If you run into any issues or would like to suggest new features or scenarios for us, please open an issue on our GitHub repo. If you want to see what features we're currently working on or are upcoming, take a look at our Remote Development release notes and iteration plans. You can also try out these Remote Development tutorials, which walk you through using the other remote extensions to work inside Docker containers and the Window Subsystem for Linux (WSL).
Happy Remote Coding,
Sana Ajani, VS Code Program Manager @sana_ajani
Log in with an SSH private key on Linux and macOS
Macos Using Pem For Ssh Config Firefox
This article demonstrates how to use a private key to log in to a Linux速server by using a private key with a Terminal session on macOS速. However,you can follow the same process to use a private key when using anyterminal software on Linux.
Note: For information about using Secure Shell (SSH) private keys on Microsoft速 Windows速 operating systems, see Logging in with an SSH Private Key on Windowsand Generate RSA keys with SSH by using PuTTYgen.
Prerequisites
To complete this process, you need the following software applications:
- SSH client software that is installed on your Linux or macOS operating system by default.
- Your favorite text editor. This example uses the vim text editor.
- Your private key. For more information about generating a key on Linux or macOS, see Connect to a server by using SSH on Linux or Mac OS X.
Log in with a private key
- Using a text editor, create a file in which to store your private key. This example uses the file deployment_key.txt.
- To edit the file in vim, type the following command:
- After the editor starts, press i to turn on insert mode.
- Paste your private key, such as the one in the following image, into the file.Be sure to include the BEGIN and END lines.
- To save your changes, press Esc.
- Type :wq to write the file and return to the command line.
- Run the following command to change the file permissions to 600 to secure the key. https://energygolf482.weebly.com/hp-officejet-pro-8600-driver-for-mac-catalina.html. You can also set them to 400.This step is required:
- Use the key to log in to the SSH client as shown in the following example, which loads the key in file deployment_key.txt, and logs in as user demo to IP 192.237.248.66:
- When you are prompted to confirm the connection, type yes and then press Enter.
- If your SSH key requires a password, enter it when prompted to complete the connection.
Experience what Rackspace has to offer.
©2020 Rackspace US, Inc.
Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License