Guides - Deploying VS Code through the Linode Marketplace

Run a Visual Studio Code Server in the browser with the Visual Studio (VS) Code Marketplace App. Code Server uses the open source code to provide a web interface for VS Code.

Deploying a Marketplace App

The Linode Marketplace allows you to easily deploy software on a Compute Instance using the Cloud Manager. See Get Started with Marketplace Apps for complete steps.

1. Log in to the Cloud Manager and select the Marketplace link from the left navigation menu. This displays the Linode Create page with the Marketplace tab pre-selected.

2. Under the Select App section, select the app you would like to deploy.

3. Complete the form by following the steps and advice within the Creating a Compute Instance guide. Depending on the Marketplace App you selected, there may be additional configuration options available. See the Configuration Options section below for compatible distributions, recommended plans, and any additional configuration options available for this Marketplace App.

4. Click the Create Linode button. Once the Compute Instance has been provisioned and has fully powered on, wait for the software installation to complete. If the instance is powered off or restarted before this time, the software installation will likely fail.

To verify that the app has been fully installed, see Get Started with Marketplace Apps > Verify Installation. Once installed, follow the instructions within the Getting Started After Deployment section to access the application and start using it.

Note

Estimated deployment time: Visual Studio Code Server should be fully installed within 2-5 minutes after the Compute Instance has finished provisioning.

Configuration Options

• Supported distributions: Debian 10
• Recommended minimum plan: All plan types and sizes can be used.

VS Code Options

• The password to login to the VS Code Web UI (required): Enter a strong password that can be used to access VS Code.
• Email address (required): Enter the email address to use for generating the SSL certificates as well as configuring the server and DNS records.
• The version of VS Code Server you’d like installed (required): This is the version of VS Code Server that is installed during setup. The default at the time that this guide was written is 3.10.2. This field is filled in and it is recommended that you use this value. If you do not fill in this field, the latest version is used.

Limited User (Optional)

You can optionally fill out the following fields to automatically create a limited user for your new Compute Instance. This is recommended for most deployments as an additional security measure. This account will be assigned to the sudo group, which provides elevated permission when running commands with the sudo prefix.

• Limited sudo user: Enter your preferred username for the limited user.
• Password for the limited user: Enter a strong password for the new user.
• SSH public key for the limited user: If you wish to login as the limited user through public key authentication (without entering a password), enter your public key here. See Creating an SSH Key Pair and Configuring Public Key Authentication on a Server for instructions on generating a key pair.
• Disable root access over SSH: To block the root user from logging in over SSH, select Yes (recommended). You can still switch to the root user once logged in and you can also log in as root through Lish.

Custom Domain (Optional)

If you wish to access your application using a custom domain, fill out the following fields.

• Linode API Token: If you wish to use the Linode’s DNS Manager to manage DNS records for your custom domain, create a Linode API Personal Access Token on your account with Read/Write access to Domains. If this is provided along with the subdomain and domain fields (outlined below), the installation attempts to create DNS records via the Linode API. See Get an API Access Token. If you do not provide this field, you need to manually configure your DNS records through your DNS provider and point them to the IP address of the new instance.
• Subdomain: The subdomain you wish to use, such as www for www.example.com.
• Domain: The domain name you wish to use, such as example.com.

• Would you like to use a free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate? Select Yes if you want the install to create an SSL certificate for you, or No if you do not. If No is selected, the VS Code app triggers security warnings in most web browsers. If you create a certificate and do not create a domain, the installer uses the Linode rDNS assigned name for the certificate.

Getting Started after Deployment

VS Code is now installed and ready to use.

1. Before you go to the app, if you filled out the optional VS Code configuration fields for domain:

   • In the Cloud Manager DNS Manager there is now an entry for the domain with possible subdomain records pointing to the new server.
   • Configure the rDNS on the Linode server.

2. VS Code is accessed via the domain name if you entered one, or by the rDNS name if you did not. For example, http://example.com or http://203-0-113-0.ip.linodeusercontent.com, replacing the domain name or rDNS name with values for the server.

3. At the login screen, login using the password you entered during installation.

4. After logging in, the VS Code Welcome screen appears in the browser and ready to code.

Software Included

The VS Code Marketplace App installs the following software on the Linode:

Note

Currently, Linode does not manage software and systems updates for Marketplace Apps. It is up to the user to perform routine maintenance on software deployed in this fashion.

More Information

You may wish to consult the following resources for additional information on this topic. While these are provided in the hope that they will be useful, please note that we cannot vouch for the accuracy or timeliness of externally hosted materials.

• Code Server FAQ
• Code Server Setup and Configuration Guide