Skip to content

user-management.md

Latest commit

 

History

History
167 lines (112 loc) · 3.11 KB

user-management.md

File metadata and controls

167 lines (112 loc) · 3.11 KB

VS Code Server on EC2 – User Management Documentation

1. Accessing the EC2 Instance

Use SSH with your private key:

ssh -i vscode-key.pem ubuntu@13.251.220.49
  • vscode-key.pem – your SSH private key
  • ubuntu – default EC2 user
  • 13.251.220.49 – public IP of the EC2 instance

2. Checking Existing Users

List all home directories:

ls /home

Shows Linux users like user1, user12, user16, etc.

Check which code-server instances are running:

ps aux | grep code-server

Example output:

user1   588  ... /usr/lib/code-server/lib/node /usr/lib/code-server
user12  1789 ... /usr/lib/code-server/lib/node /usr/lib/code-server

The port each user is using can be found in their config.yaml.

3. Viewing a User’s code-server Configuration

Each user has a per-user configuration at:

/home/<username>/.config/code-server/config.yaml

Example:

sudo cat /home/user1/.config/code-server/config.yaml

Output:

bind-addr: 127.0.0.1:8081
auth: password
password: DevPassword2026!
  • bind-addr – the local port the code-server listens on
  • auth/password – the login password

⚠️ Note: You need sudo to read other users’ config files.

4. Adding a New User

Create the Linux user:

sudo adduser user36
echo "user36:DevPassword2026!" | sudo chpasswd

Assign a unique code-server port (make sure it’s not in use):

# Example: assign port 9006
sudo -u user36 mkdir -p /home/user36/.config/code-server
sudo tee /home/user36/.config/code-server/config.yaml > /dev/null <<EOF
bind-addr: 0.0.0.0:9006
auth: password
password: "DevPassword2026!"
cert: false
EOF

5. Starting code-server for the New User

If using systemd template:

sudo systemctl enable --now code-server@user36

Verify it’s running:

ps aux | grep code-server | grep user36

6. Configuring Nginx for the New User

Add a new location block in Nginx config (/etc/nginx/sites-available/default):

# USER 36
location = /user36 { return 301 /user36/; }
location /user36/ {
    proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:9006/;
    proxy_set_header Host $host;
    proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
    proxy_set_header Connection upgrade;
    proxy_set_header Accept-Encoding gzip;
}
  • 9006 matches the port in the user’s config.yaml

After editing, test and reload Nginx:

sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

7. Accessing the User’s Code-Server

URL format:

http://<your-domain-or-IP>/<username>/

Example:

http://13.251.220.49/user36/

Password: DevPassword2026!

Users do not need direct SSH access; Nginx handles routing.

8. Notes

  • Always assign a unique port per user to avoid conflicts
  • Code-server runs locally (127.0.0.1); only Nginx exposes it externally
  • Security Group: Only open ports 22 (SSH), 80 (HTTP), 443 (HTTPS)
  • Do NOT open code-server ports (9001–9006) to the internet