Access Your AWS Cloud9 EC2 Instance from VS Code Over SSH: A Step-by-Step Guide

The AWS Cloud9 IDE offers a rich coding environment directly in your browser, but there are times when you may prefer the familiarity and extensions of your local IDE, such as Visual Studio Code (VS Code). In this tutorial, we will guide you through the process of connecting to an AWS Cloud9 EC2 instance over SSH from VS Code. This allows you to leverage the power of VS Code's interface and extensions while working on your Cloud9 projects.

Prerequisites

Before proceeding, ensure you have the following:

• An active AWS account with an AWS Cloud9 EC2 instance set up.
• VS Code installed on your local machine.
• An existing EC2 Key Pair or the ability to create a new one.

Step 1: Associate a Key Pair with Your Cloud9 Instance

AWS Cloud9 instances, by default, do not allow you to associate a Key Pair for SSH access. To overcome this, we will manually add a Key Pair to our instance:

• SSH into an existing EC2 instance using its private key.
• View the corresponding public key stored in ~/.ssh/authorized_keys.
• Copy the public key details into a temporary file on your local machine.

Step 2: Edit the Authorized Keys File in Cloud9

Next, integrate the copied public key into your Cloud9 instance:

• Access your AWS Cloud9 IDE in your browser.
• Navigate to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys and edit the file.
• Append the public key you copied earlier to the end of the file. Ensure you do not remove existing keys.
• Save the changes to the file.

Step 3: Modify the Security Group for SSH Access

Adjust the security settings to permit SSH connections:

• Locate the Security Group settings for your AWS Cloud9 instance.
• Add a rule to allow SSH access (port 22) from your current IP address, labeled as "My IP".

Step 4: Configure VS Code for SSH Connection

Now, prepare VS Code for the remote connection:

• Open VS Code on your local machine.
• Launch the Command Palette (F1 or Ctrl+Shift+P) and select "Add New SSH Host".

• Enter a descriptive name for your remote server, such as aws-cloud9-development.
• Open Remote Explorer, go to SSH Targets, and you should see your AWS Cloud9 host listed.

Step 5: Finalize SSH Configuration and Connect

Finalize the connection setup in VS Code:

• Click on "Open Config" in the SSH Targets pane to edit the SSH config file.

• Enter the IP Address, username, and path to your private key for the AWS Cloud9 instance.

• Connect to your Cloud9 host by selecting the Remote OS (Linux) and confirming the connection.

Step 6: Access the Remote File System

Once connected, you can start working on your Cloud9 projects using VS Code:

• Go to Explorer in VS Code.
• Select "Open Folder" to view and access folders on the remote host.

You have successfully set up SSH access to your AWS Cloud9 EC2 instance from VS Code. This configuration combines the cloud-based flexibility of AWS Cloud9 with the extensive feature set and customization options of VS Code, offering a powerful and versatile development environment. Happy coding!