hey everyone,

this isn't necessarily a linux-only question, but it mainly pertains to how to do it in linux.

i'm on a university firewall and they are buttholes about file downloading/sharing. basically i needed to send my friend a legit file via ftp, but i cannot do outbound ftp since it is blocked at the router level. what i'm asking is if there is a way to mask packets of different protocols as an allowed type of packet, send it to an outside server, have it convert it back to its native format, then send it to its correct destination? i don't know much about networking so i could come off as a complete idiot. .

if there is a way to do it, what type of software/commands is available to do such a thing?

thanks a lot,

icy

email it to him. =-}

Seriously, though. . .

If you post the file on a website, your friend should be able to
download it from there.
The sort of thing you are talking about is unlikely to make the U.
sysadmins happy, which could get you in trouble. Also, doing something
like that is normally regarded as a security breach of the firewall, and so
is unlikely to be available, as coders generally like to keep their programs
clean of security holes. . .
Is outbound ssh blocked? port 22. If not, then you should be able to use
scp, if your friend is running an ssh server daemon.

hmm i might try that.

i was trying to send him a 690mb iso. i dont think email is a feasible solution =) actually....posting on a website too is unfeasible.....

i can try ssh, but isn't ssh a more secure form of the ftp protocol? i can run ftp servers fine, its just that noone outside of the network can even connect.

thanks,
icy

edit: aren't firewalls generally supposed to keep opposing content out, not in?

Very simply:
A firewall works to keep two networks ( a private one and the global one,
usually) seperated as much as possible, with the maintainer determining
what level of seperation there should be.

If your friend has a computer with an IP address (even dynamic), he can
set up an ssh server (which will allow an scp connection), and YOU can
connect to his server.
scp or sftp is not really the same as ftp or telnet, or whatever. You
accomplish the same goal, but with very different means. Usually
people don't limit port 22 access going out of a firewall, and since
scp uses 22, you should be able to connect to an outside server.

You could always burn a disk and snailmail it to your friend. . .

They are probably blocking port 21. Why not set your client and his server to use another port, one that they aren't blocking?

i've had it running on various different ports, including the most non-blocked ports of all time: 80 and 8080. when i get back to my linux machine, i will try ssh. is ssh a similar setup to ftp? i recall that being a complete pain...

thanks,

icy