Backward access through SSH?

[Theophile]

Here's the scenario:
My girlfriend wants to start running Linux, but she's not tech-savvy enough to do much more that use an already working system. If she wants anything configured, installed, or pretty much changed in any way, I have to do it. But there are no guys allowed in the girls' dorms, so I will have to administer remotely. Further complicating matters is the fact that the school IT department is very unhelpful and forwarding port 22 to her internal IP is out of the question.

So, I cannot SSH into her box but she can into mine. Is there a way for her to SSH into my box and then I can login to her system? What would be the best way for me to be able to do this?

Thanks!

[think4urs11]

Hi!

A little bit of googling showed up this as first hit:



ssh tunnelling

ssh tunnelling is an excellent way to tunnel insecure protocols through a secure communication channel. In this example, I'll tunnel POP3 traffic using ssh. Traditional POP3 traffic, including username and password information, travels clear-text across the network.

OpenSSH is used in the following examples.

To tunnel POP3 traffic using ssh:

1. Make sure an ssh client is installed on your machine and an ssh server is installed on the POP3 server.

2. Create a local ssh tunnel on your machine (port 1234 for this example) to the POP3 server's port 110. You will need to be the root user to bind to "privileged" ports (< 1024).
ssh -f -N -L 1234:localhost:110 user@POP3_server

3. Test the tunnel.
telnet localhost 1234
You should see the POP3 server's banner information.

4. Configure your mail client to access your mail via POP3 using mail server localhost and port 1234.

"Reverse" ssh tunnel
It is possible to create a "reverse" ssh tunnel. The reverse tunnel will allow you to create an ssh tunnel from your work computer to your home computer, for example, and then login to your work machine from your home machine even if your work firewall does not permit ssh traffic initiated from your home machine!

For this to work, an ssh server must be installed on your work and home computer, and ssh (TCP port 22) must be allowed outbound from your work computer to your home computer.

ssh -R remote_port:localhost:22 your_home_computer

ex. ssh -R 2048:localhost:22 home.computer.com

At home, you would then run ssh -p 2048 localhost to log into your work computer via ssh.


HTH
T.
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