How to Configure SSH Key-Based Authentication and set up VS Code for Remote Development

How to Configure SSH Key-Based Authentication and set up VS Code for Remote Development Prerequisite: Make sure you have your VPN connection set up.

Generate SSH Key pair on your local computer:

ssh-keygen This utility will prompt you to select a location for the keys, and it’s generally a good idea to leave it as the default directory. If you already had an ssh key pair it’ll ask you to overwrite it. It will ask you to enter a passphrase which is optional. If you enter the passphrase, you will have to enter it every time you use the ssh key pair

milind@Milinds-MacBook-Air ~ % ssh-keygen
Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/Users/milind/.ssh/id_rsa):
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
Enter same passphrase again:
Your identification has been saved in /Users/milind/.ssh/id_rsa.
Your public key has been saved in /Users/milind/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.
The key fingerprint is:
SHA256:D1G2Y64Yd3nHKpnFsqQ9WcLxRC4HRipSIVSA+Vvdsms milind@Milinds-MacBook-Air.local
The key's randomart image is:
+---[RSA 3072]----+
| ++o+. .* .  |
|  o  o = = |
| .. ..o.* +  |
|  ....o=.X . |
| o. SoO * o  |
|  .  +.O @ o |
|  . o.X .  |
|  E  o |
| . |
+----[SHA256]-----+

ssh-copy-id username@remote_host Here it scans for your ssh public key that was created earlier (which is why leaving it in the default directory is a good idea) and when it finds it, it’ll ask you to enter the password of the account.

ssh-copy-id  milind.shah@192.168.1.17
/usr/bin/ssh-copy-id: INFO: Source of key(s) to be installed: "/Users/milind/.ssh/id_rsa.pub"
/usr/bin/ssh-copy-id: INFO: attempting to log in with the new key(s), to filter out any that are already installed
/usr/bin/ssh-copy-id: INFO: 1 key(s) remain to be installed -- if you are prompted now it is to install the new keys
milind.shah@192.168.1.17's password:
Number of key(s) added:  1
Now try logging into the machine, with: "ssh 'milind.shah@192.168.1.17'"
and check to make sure that only the key(s) you wanted were added.

Now login using ssh username@remote_host You should be able to log in without entering your password!

Setting up VS Code for Remote Development using SSH

Assuming you have VS Code installed, install the Remote Development extension pack.
Verify that you can login via ssh using ssh user@hostname
In VS Code, select Remote-SSH: Connect to Host… from the Command Palette (F1) and use the same user@hostname as in step 2.
If it asks you to choose a config file, choose your local file. (/Users/username/.ssh/config)
You should now be able to connect to your server via SSH using VS Code!

Sources: