Configuring a Remote Development Environment

  1. Open “Visual Studio Code”

  2. Click on the “Extensions” button on the left (Looks like a set of blocks)

  3. Search for and Install the “Remote - SSH” extension

Remote - SSH Extension Search

  1. Click on the bottom-left of the window (a green >< icon)

  2. Click “Remote SSH - Open Configuration File”

  3. Choose the first listed one (where it lists a .ssh/config file in your account directory)

SSH configuration file prompt
  1. Change the contents of this file to be of this form:
Host    linuxlab
    Hostname csciarch<##>.millersville.edu
    User    <your millersville login name>

NOTE: the <angled brackets> are just placeholders. Remove them from the file and fill in the appropriate information. For ## in the hostname, choose ‘02’, ‘03’, ‘04’, or ‘05’. Try to choose wisely/randomly since if everyone is using the same machine, things will get slow! For example, John Doe’s file might look like this:

Host    linuxlab
    HostName csciarch04.millersville.edu
    User    jtdoe@millersville.edu

  1. Save the file

  2. Click on the “Extensions” button on the left again (looks like a set of blocks) and select the “Remote - SSH” extension

  3. Click on the settings for the “Remote - SSH extension” (looks like a gear) and select “Extension Settings”

SSH extension settings prompt

  1. In the Settings tab of the right-hand pane of VS Code, scroll to the bottom of the settings. Click the box for “Remote SSH: Show Login Terminal” so that the box is checked

  2. In the Settings tab of the right-hand pane of VS Code, clear the box for “Remote SSH: Use Local Server” so that the box is clear

SSH extension settings

Note: You can also edit this in the .json file by selecting the ’Open Settings (JSON) icon at the top of the window. You would want to add the following:

 "remote.SSH.showLoginTerminal": true,
 "remote.SSH.useLocalServer": false

  1. Click on the bottom-left of the window again and choose “Remote SSH - Connect to Host…”

  2. Choose “linuxlab”

  3. If a popup for Windows Firewall or any Anti-Virus Software appears, ensure that you allow connections on Public and Private networks

  4. If prompted, choose “Linux” as the remote Operating System

  5. If prompted, click “Continue”

  6. Enter your Millersville account password

  7. Choose your duo option and respond on your device

  8. In the new Visual Studio Code window, Click “Terminal > New Terminal” – you should see a new window with your Linux shell prompt displayed in the terminal. Here you’ll be able to access your remote files and run commands on the remote Linux machine.