Looking for an application to automate ssh tunnels based on remote configuration?

fender1988 · 11-29-2021, 02:24 PM

Hey there,

I have a handful of cases where I start some application on a remote server (like a Jupyter notebook), start an ssh tunnel to forward a port from the remote to my local machine, and then pop open firefox to interact with the application. At the moment I have a script that automates starting the application and building the tunnel command, but I basically take this output and copy and paste it into a local terminal before I start working.

```
##########################################################

For MacOS or Linux, use this command to create SSH tunnel:

ssh -N -L localhost:<local-port>:<internal-server>:<remote-port> <user>@<server>

Then use this URL to access the application:

http://localhost:<local-port>

##########################################################
```

I'm wondering if someone else has written a cli application to automate port setup and even application launching to utilize said port? I imagined having a standard location (~/.config/forward/) on the remote that stores config files of applications that can be used this way.

Thanks!

michaelk · 12-02-2021, 12:45 PM

Belated welcome to LinuxQuestions.

You can setup the tunnel(s) just by using a config file in your ~/.ssh directory on the client computer like:

Code:

host nickname
     hostname IP_address or server_name
     user remote_username
     port xxxx (if not using 22)
     localforward localport internal_server:remote-port
     IdentityFile ~/.ssh/private_key (if using keys)

To connect just run:
ssh nickname

You can create a script to run that command and then start firefox http://localhost:localport

Turbocapitalist · 12-03-2021, 03:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michaelk

You can create a script to run that command and then start firefox http://localhost:localport

You can even do that via ~/.ssh/config as well. The following connects Firefox to port 9999 on the remote system using a tunnel from port 8888 on the local system:

Code:

Host nickname
     HostName server.example.com
     User fender1988
     Port 22
     LocalForward  8888 localhost:9999
     IdentityFile ~/.ssh/private_key
     PermitLocalCommands yes
     LocalCommand firefox --new-tab http://localhost:8888/

Firefox gets launched upon successful login to the remote system.

For now -N is needed when you launch it.

Code:

ssh -N nickname

Very recent OpenSSH clients will allow SessionType to be set in the configuration file so that -N is not needed.