VSCode remote SSH: no unix session

Question

I have a development server that only enables the HTTP server while I have an active session on it. The connection is configured in ~/.ssh/config, and VSCode uses this for the remote session as well:

Host devserver
  HostName <hostname>
  User <username>
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa
  ForwardAgent yes

In VSCode I use the default settings for Remote SSH, when first connecting to the remote, only the platform was set:

{ 
  "remote.SSH.remotePlatform": {
    "devserver": "linux"
  },
}

Through a regular terminal, when I SSH into the server and issue the w command, I get:

14:26:23 up 343 days, 23:53,  1 user,  load average: 4.45, 4.65, 3.93
USER      TTY      FROM          LOGIN@   IDLE   JCPU   PCPU WHAT
username  pts/0    ip-address    14:26    1.00s  0.05s  0.00s w

However, if I start a VSCode Remote-SSH session to the server, my HTTP server doesn't get started. If I issue the w command in the VSCode terminal, the table is empty:

14:28:27 up 343 days, 23:55,  0 users,  load average: 4.59, 4.67, 4.04
USER      TTY      FROM          LOGIN@   IDLE   JCPU   PCPU WHAT

Is there a way to start a login session from VSCode when remote-developing on the server?