SSH/GPG

Tunnels Commands

Create secure tunnels with SSH. Learn local and remote port forwarding, SOCKS proxies, and tunnel management.

8 commands

Pro Tips

Local forward: 'ssh -L 8080:localhost:80 server' - access server's port 80 via local 8080.

Use '-N' to not execute remote command (just tunnel), '-f' to background the connection.

Dynamic SOCKS proxy: 'ssh -D 1080 server' creates a proxy for all traffic through the server.

Common Mistakes

Tunnels can expose internal services. Be careful about what you're making accessible.

Commands

Local port forward

$ ssh -L 8080:localhost:80 user@host

Forward local port to remote.

Remote port forward

$ ssh -R 8080:localhost:80 user@host

Forward remote port to local.

SOCKS proxy

$ ssh -D 1080 user@host

Create SOCKS proxy tunnel.

Background tunnel

$ ssh -N -f -L 3306:localhost:3306 user@host

Create background tunnel.

Dynamic port forward (SOCKS5)

$ ssh -D 9090 -N -f user@host

Background SOCKS5 proxy for browser traffic.

Persistent tunnel with autossh

$ autossh -M 20000 -N -f -L 8080:localhost:80 user@host

Auto-reconnecting tunnel via autossh.

Forward to third-party host

$ ssh -L 5432:db.internal:5432 user@bastion

Tunnel to a host behind bastion.

Reverse tunnel for remote access

$ ssh -R 2222:localhost:22 user@public-server

Expose local SSH via remote server.