237 lines
8.9 KiB
Markdown
237 lines
8.9 KiB
Markdown
<!-- START doctoc generated TOC please keep comment here to allow auto update -->
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<!-- DON'T EDIT THIS SECTION, INSTEAD RE-RUN doctoc TO UPDATE -->
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# Setup Guide
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- [1. Acquire a remote machine](#1-acquire-a-remote-machine)
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- [Requirements](#requirements)
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- [Google Cloud Platform](#google-cloud-platform)
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- [2. Install code-server](#2-install-code-server)
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- [3. Expose code-server](#3-expose-code-server)
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- [SSH forwarding](#ssh-forwarding)
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- [Let's Encrypt](#lets-encrypt)
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- [Self Signed Certificate](#self-signed-certificate)
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- [Change the password?](#change-the-password)
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- [How do I securely access development web services?](#how-do-i-securely-access-development-web-services)
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<!-- END doctoc generated TOC please keep comment here to allow auto update -->
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This guide demonstrates how to setup and use code-server.
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To reiterate, code-server lets you run VS Code on a remote server and then access it via a browser.
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See the [README](../README.md) for a general overview and the [FAQ](./FAQ.md) for further user docs.
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We'll walk you through acquiring a remote machine to run code-server on and then exposing `code-server` so you can
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easily access it.
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## 1. Acquire a remote machine
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First, you need a machine to run code-server on. You can use a physical
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machine you have lying around or use a VM on GCP/AWS.
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### Requirements
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For a good experience, we recommend at least:
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- 1 GB of RAM
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- 2 cores
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You can use whatever linux distribution floats your boat but in this guide we assume Debian.
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### Google Cloud Platform
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For demonstration purposes, this guide assumes you're using a VM on GCP but you should be
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able to easily use any machine or VM provider.
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You can sign up at https://console.cloud.google.com/getting-started. You'll get a 12 month \$300
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free trial.
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Once you've signed up and created a GCP project, create a new Compute Engine VM Instance.
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1. Navigate to `Compute Engine -> VM Instances` on the sidebar
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2. Now click `Create Instance` to create a new instance
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3. Choose the region closest to you based on [gcping.com](http://www.gcping.com)
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4. Name it whatever you want
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5. Any zone is fine
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6. We'd recommend a `e2-standard-2` instance from the E2 series and General-purpose family
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- Add more vCPUs and memory as you prefer, you can edit after creating the instance as well
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- https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/machine-types#general_purpose
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7. We highly recommend switching the persistent disk to a SSD of at least 32 GB
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8. Navigate to `Networking -> Network interfaces` and edit the existing interface
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to use a static external IP
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- Click done to save network interface changes
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9. If you do not have a [project wide SSH key](https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances/adding-removing-ssh-keys#project-wide), navigate to `Security - > SSH Keys` and add your public key there
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10. Click create!
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Remember, you can shutdown your server when not in use to lower costs.
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We highly recommend learning to use the [`gcloud`](https://cloud.google.com/sdk/gcloud) cli
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to avoid the slow dashboard.
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## 2. Install code-server
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SSH into your instance and run the appropriate commands documented in [README.md](../README.md).
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Assuming Debian:
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```bash
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curl -sSOL https://github.com/cdr/code-server/releases/download/3.3.0/code-server_3.3.0_amd64.deb
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sudo dpkg -i code-server_3.3.0_amd64.deb
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systemctl --user enable --now code-server
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# Now code-server is running at http://127.0.0.1:8080
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# Your password is in ~/.config/code-server/config.yaml
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```
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## 3. Expose code-server
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There are several approaches to operating and exposing code-server.
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Since you can gain access to a terminal from within code-server, **never**, **ever**
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expose it directly to the internet without some form of authentication and encryption!
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By default, code-server will enable password authentication which will
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require you to copy the password from the code-server config file to login. You
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can also set a custom password with `$PASSWORD`.
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**tip**: You can list the full set of code-server options with `code-server --help`
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### SSH forwarding
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We highly recommend this approach for not requiring any additional setup, you just need an
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SSH server on your remote machine. The downside is you won't be able to access `code-server`
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without an SSH client like an iPad. If that's important to you, skip to [Let's Encrypt](#lets-encrypt).
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Recommended reading: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SSH/OpenSSH/PortForwarding
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```bash
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# -N disables executing a remote shell
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ssh -N -L 8080:127.0.0.1:8080 <instance-ip>
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```
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As long as this command hasn't exited, that means any request on local port 8080 goes to your
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instance at `127.0.0.1:8080` which is where code-server is running.
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Next ssh into your instance and edit your code-server config file to disable password authentication.
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```bash
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# Replaces "auth: password" with "auth: none" in the code-server config.
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sed -i.bak 's/auth: password/auth: none/' ~/.config/code-server/config.yaml
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```
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Restart code-server with (assuming you followed the guide):
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```bash
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systemctl --user restart code-server
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```
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Now if you access http://127.0.0.1:8080 locally, you should see code-server!
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If you want to make the SSH port forwarding persistent we recommend using
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[mutagen](https://mutagen.io/documentation/introduction/installation).
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```
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# Same as the above SSH command but runs in the background continously.
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# Add `mutagen daemon start` to your ~/.bashrc to start the mutagen daemon when you open a shell.
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mutagen forward create --help -n=code-server tcp:127.0.0.1:8080 <instance-ip>:tcp:127.0.0.1:8080
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```
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We also recommend adding the following lines to your `~/.ssh/config` to quickly detect bricked SSH connections:
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```bash
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Host *
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ServerAliveInterval 5
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ExitOnForwardFailure yes
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```
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You can also forward your SSH key and GPG agent to the instance to securely access GitHub
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and sign commits without copying your keys onto the instance.
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1. https://developer.github.com/v3/guides/using-ssh-agent-forwarding/
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2. https://wiki.gnupg.org/AgentForwarding
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### Let's Encrypt
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Let's Encrypt is a great option if you want to access code-server on an iPad or just want password
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based authentication. This does require that the remote machine is exposed to the internet.
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Assuming you have been following the guide, edit your instance and checkmark the allow HTTP/HTTPS traffic options.
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1. You'll need to buy a domain name. We recommend [Google Domains](https://domains.google.com)
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2. Add an A record to your domain with your instance's IP
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3. Install caddy https://caddyserver.com/docs/download#debian-ubuntu-raspbian
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```bash
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echo "deb [trusted=yes] https://apt.fury.io/caddy/ /" \
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| sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/caddy-fury.list
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sudo apt update
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sudo apt install caddy
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```
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4. Replace `/etc/caddy/Caddyfile` with sudo to look like this:
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```
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mydomain.com
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reverse_proxy 127.0.0.1:8080
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```
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5. Reload caddy with:
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```bash
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sudo systemctl reload caddy
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```
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Visit `https://<your-instance-ip>` to access code-server. Congratulations!
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In a future release we plan to integrate Let's Encrypt directly with code-server to avoid
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the dependency on caddy.
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### Self Signed Certificate
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**note:** Self signed certificates do not work with iPad and will cause a blank page. You'll
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have to use [Let's Encrypt](#lets-encrypt) instead.
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Recommended reading: https://security.stackexchange.com/a/8112
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We recommend this as a last resort as self signed certificates do not work with iPads and can
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cause other bizarre issues. Not to mention all the warnings when you access code-server.
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Only use this if you do not want to buy a domain or cannot expose the remote machine to the internet.
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ssh into your instance and edit your code-server config file to use a randomly generated self signed certificate:
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```bash
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# Replaces "cert: false" with "cert: true" in the code-server config.
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sed -i.bak 's/cert: false/cert: true/' ~/.config/code-server/config.yaml
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# Replaces "bind-addr: 127.0.0.1:8080" with "bind-addr: 0.0.0.0:443" in the code-server config.
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sed -i.bak 's/bind-addr: 127.0.0.1:8080/bind-addr: 0.0.0.0:443/' ~/.config/code-server/config.yaml
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# Allows code-server to listen on port 443.
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sudo setcap cap_net_bind_service=+ep /usr/lib/code-server/lib/node
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```
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Assuming you have been following the guide, restart code-server with:
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```bash
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systemctl --user restart code-server
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```
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Edit your instance and checkmark the allow HTTPS traffic option.
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Visit `https://<your-instance-ip>` to access code-server.
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You'll get a warning when accessing but if you click through you should be good.
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You can also use [mkcert](https://mkcert.dev) to create a self signed certificate trusted by your
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OS to avoid the warnings.
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### Change the password?
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Edit the code-server config file at `~/.config/code-server/config.yaml` and then restart
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code-server with:
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```bash
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systemctl --user restart code-server
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```
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### How do I securely access development web services?
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If you're working on a web service and want to access it locally, code-server can proxy it for you.
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See the [FAQ](https://github.com/cdr/code-server/blob/master/doc/FAQ.md#how-do-i-securely-access-web-services).
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