Tag Archives: ssh

One click proxy

2

Overall problem: Have netbook and want to be sure browser traffic is hidden from prying eyes. I don’t care about other programs, just the browser.
Sub-problem: I really cannot be bothered to do the ssh -D 8000 thing every time. Tedious.

So:
1. Get your ssh keys set up as listed here (Ubuntu) (Mac). They both talk about using scp to shift the file from machine to server. For some reason that did not work so I used ftp.
2. Open Terminal and check you can ssh straight in, no password prompt then exit. If you can’t go back up a step.
3. Install QuickProxy in Firefox. Go to http://whatismyip.com and note the numbers. Restart.
4. In Firefox > Edit > Preferences > Network

and apart from the 8000 which you can change you put exactly that.
5. Open Terminal and ssh -D 8000 name@domain.com You should not get a password prompt still.
6. In Firefox click the QuickProxy icon and then go to http://whatismyip.com. They should be completely different. The alternative is that you will get no connection in which case go back to 4 and check that the 8000 (or whatever) you used matches the number you used in terminal.
So, that should all work just great but that whole long winded hassle of opening Terminal, typing that long string and having to then press Return is just too tiring.

Open Gedit (textedit) and type the ssh line then save.
You need to make that file executable. In Ubuntu right-click, select Properties and check the box near the bottom. Save it somewhere easy to find like your main directory.
Now go to the main desktop, press alt-f2 and when the box appears you want to run ‘alacarte’
Go to Accessories (not that it matters, just seemed a good place) and on the right choose New Item.
Find your file (I saved mine as ‘ssh’) and when you add it make the Type “Application in Terminal”
Close the dialogue to save
Back to Desktop, go to Accessories and you should see ‘ssh’ ready for you.
Right-click and Add to favourites.
And there you go. Log in to your machine, give that a couple of clicks and you are good to safely go.

Which ssh setup?

Reply

D is back from Uni this weekend and one of the things I’m going to set her up with is secure browsing. Tunnelrx is installed on the macbook she has so it’s a question of a connection. I see 2 ways: (1) create another user on a domain of mine and let her use that or (2) set another unused domain as almost zero space but with the bandwidth and let her use that. Is there an advantage to either or a better way? (I know this only covers browsing but that’s okay).

Update in case anyone wonders: D has an unused domain hosted on my reseller anyway. That now has the grand total of 5mb disk space and for now 10gb of bandwidth. She will SSH through that.

Playing with connections

Reply

Decided to play with different connections for my machines (The inspiration was in part this post at The Register): [Edit: added what they do]

1. SSH Tunnel using TunnelerX. Really easy to get going and just in case I forget what to do I have a screenshot of their page on the laptop. [Encrypts all data sent from your machine so no-one can eavesdrop]

2. Chicken of the VNC. Again easy to get up and running. My eldest is no slouch though – I installed it on her MB and from upstairs logged in to her machine, opened Textedit and started typing. She typed “Hi Dad” before I’d finished. Only have this running locally though. [Login to another machine and control it as if you were in front of it]

3. HamachiX. Still not difficult. I looked for some docs before just clicking New Connection and going for it. [Establish private network to link 2 or more machines anywhere on the net. I could let you browse my machine and take what you wished for instance.]

4. LogMeIn. Remote desktop. Free. Super easy to get working. [Login to another machine and control it as if you were in front of it]

As to what to use them for …
TunnelerX. I really should use all the time on the laptop and when J goes to the MB I’ll probably set hers up. Our home network is not encrypted at all – access to the router is by MAC address – so some sort of encryption would probably be wise.
Chicken of the VNC. I can better show J what to do with some apps probably and can use the laptop to see this screen I’m looking at right now but otherwise, no idea.
HamachiX. I could have done with this last weekend at my sister-in-law’s house. It was wanting that connection that made me look again at Hamachi.
LogMeIn. Reading IRC when I’m not in the house maybe…

I was pleasantly pleased with how easy these were to get working but the ability to spy on someone using Chicken was surprising. I would never ever check what the girls are doing on the net and I disagree with any parent who feels they need to spy so it was very odd when I did log in and saw her Facebook page, saw the IM client open, saw the background on her laptop changing – and she’ll not have known. That I could have sat and watched felt strange, very uncomfortable.

Anyway, it was all something I’d meant to get around to setting up and today I decided to play and see what happened – for once I’m not ending it frustrated.