SSL VPN

[Chris G]

On Thu, Jun 19, 2008 at 08:08:54AM -0400, John Priddy wrote:
> > 
> > I guess I did not explain well. First, I ssh from the server (which is
> > behind a firewall) out to my home computer and leave this connection
> > open. Then when I go home, is there any way that I can use this
> > connection from home? That is, can I somehow tunnel back through from
> > home to the server over this connection? I may be totally off base, but
> > I thought I read somewhere that this could be done.
> > 
Yes, it can be done, I do exactly this for exactly the same reason.

What you need to do is as follows:-

    From the 'work' computer which is behind the firewall and which
    *does* have the ability to make ssh connections to 'home' you do
    something like:-

        ssh -l chris -R 50022:apollo:22 -N 1.2.3.4

    'apollo' is the hostname of the 'work' computer.  1.2.3.4 is the
    IP address of the 'home' computer, you can use its name if it's
    got proper DNS.  50022 is an arbitrary port number, it just has to
    be above 1024 to be accessible to a non-root user.  The "-l chris"
    is necessary if your username is different on home and work
    computers, it's your username on the home computer.


    Then at the 'home' end you just do:-

        ssh -l chris.work -p 50022 localhost

    Obviously the (arbitrary) 50022 has to be the same at both ends.
    You'll need the "-l chris.work" option again if, as I said, your
    username is different at the two ends.

-- 
Chris Green