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Debugging for Remote SSH

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Eleanor Boyd edited this page Feb 1, 2023 · 2 revisions

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Debugging Remote SSH

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If you are experiencing an issue with Remote-SSH in VS Code please follow these steps to debug yourself before then filing an issue on our repo here. Going through these steps before submitting an issue is required as it provides additional information that will help debug your issue. Thanks!

Debugging Steps

  1. Solutions to many common user issues with both Remote-SSH and remote development in VS Code can be found by going to our troubleshooting docs. Check there first to see if your problem is a common issue we have a solution to.
  2. Try running your SSH connection command in your local terminal. First you must find the logs by click on the View menu at the very top of your computer screen, then select Output from the dropdown, and then select Remote-SSH from the output dropdown on the top right of the Output window. Next search in your SSH logs for Running ssh connection command and copy the command directly after. This is the exact command the extension attempted to use. If you are unable to connect to your remote machine from the command line this means you likely have an issue with your SSH (for example the config file, authorization, or the command you are trying to run). Please look at SSH help docs to troubleshoot your issue in this case.
  3. Now try running this command but add echo "echo hello" | to the beginning of your SSH command to confirm that we can execute a script on your remote by piping it into SSH
  4. Try connecting with Remote-SSH with both values of the remote.SSH.useLocalServer settings as shown below and see if either of them are successful. If both still fail, evaluate if the failure message is different. If you are submitting an issue please record this observation as we will ask you to include it in your bug submission.

remote.SSH.useLocalServer - Server Mode for Connecting: The Remote-SSH extension has a setting called remote.SSH.useLocalServer which provides two different modes of connecting. The default value is true which is called Local Server Mode and when false it is Terminal Mode. This setting by default is disabled on Windows, to enable it on Windows you must enable it directly in your settings.json, not through the settings UI. The two options are described below:

  • Local Server Mode: The Remote-SSH extension spawns an SSH process via Node which will then be reused by all VS Code windows connected to that remote. This mode allows for a single, shared Remote-SSH connection.
  • Terminal Mode: In this mode, the Remote-SSH extension runs the SSH connection command in a background terminal. This means each VS Code window has it own connection and therefore it is not a shared connection.

Other Suggestions:

Here are two other useful tips which can help you reset or find errors.

  1. If you are attempting to "reset" your environment to retry the connection and it seems as though VS Code data is persisting on your remote side, run Kill Remote Server on your client side to reset.
  2. Look at the developer tools by going to Help in the menu and then selecting Toggle Developer Tools from the dropdown. Check for errors here because extension startup or other errors might show up here.
  3. If your SSH logs end with something like Got connection 1 and no other error message this might mean a connection was made but the error you are experiencing occurred afterward. If your logs end like this, please check your developer tool logs and include those in the more information section of the issue form.