First of all, you will of course need an SSH server running somewhere. Linux and OS X come with SSH servers, but there are also SSH servers available for Windows. freeSSHd is a nice free SSH server for Windows. It is a quick and easy installation and relatively easy to configure as well. You will of course need administrator privileges on the machine you install it onto.

Since you will be accessing your SSH server remotely, if it is behind a firewall or router you will have to make sure that port 22 (the default SSH port) is properly forwarded to it. Most routers have the ability to forward ports to individual machines on the local network. You’ll have to refer to the instructions for your router/firewall on how to do this.

Once you have your SSH server configured so that you can connect to it from any Internet connection, you’ll of course need a client to connect to it. Linux and OS X both have SSH clients built-in.  If you’re on Windows, the client of choice is PuTTY. I will provide instructions on tunneling with PuTTY, but you can certainly use other clients as well.

First, specify the address of your SSH server in the Session section. Select SSH for the Connection type and enter 22 for the Port (or whatever external internet port you are using to connect to your SSH server).

Next, go to Connection > SSH > Tunnels. There are three types of tunnels you can set up:

• Dynamic – This acts as a SOCKS proxy that can be used to tunnel traffic through the network where the SSH server resides.  You can then configure applications that support SOCKS proxies (such as a web browser) to take advantage of it. I’ll demonstrate how to set up Firefox to work through a dynamic tunnel.
• Local – A local tunnel will allow you to connect to the specified port on a machine residing on the same network as the SSH server.  One useful example that I will show you is how to connect to a Windows computer running Remote Desktop.
• Remote – As the name somewhat implies, this is the reverse of a local tunnel.  You are probably less likely to use this, but it would allow machines on the SSH server network to access a machine and port on the network where your SSH client resides.  I won’t go through any examples on setting up a remote port in this article.

So in the example I’m going to provide, we will say the home network has two computers. One is a Linux box running the SSH server and the other is a Windows box with Remote Desktop enabled. We want to set up two tunnels: a dynamic tunnel and a local tunnel to connect to the Windows machine via Remote desktop.

Let’s first set up a dynamic tunnel for port 1080. The port you use for a dynamic tunnel is actually arbitrary, but since port 1080 is often used for SOCKS proxies that’s what we’ll use. Type 1080 in the Source port field, select Dynamic as the port type, and then click the Add button.

Next, let’s set up the local tunnel for the computer on the network running Windows Remote Desktop.  Let’s say the local IP addresses on the LAN where the SSH server resides are 192.168.1.xxx addresses.  The Windows machine has a local IP of 192.168.1.100. Enter 3390 for the Source port, 192.168.1.100:3389 for the Destination, select Local for the port type, and then click the Add button. You’ll see later why I’ve configured the source port to be different than the destination.

Once you have everything configured for the connection, go back to the Session section and save your connection. Then click Open and log into your Linux box with your credentials as you normally would.

Now you have to configure your applications to use the tunnels you have set up.  Let’s say you want to do your web browsing through the dynamic tunnel we set up. This is actually an extremely useful way to take advantage of SSH.

You may be on a network with some sort of firewall or content filtering that you wish to bypass. If you are able to get out on port 22 (or any other port, you’ll just have to set up your SSH server accordingly), then you’ll be able to surf wherever you want without issue through the dynamic tunnel.

It is also useful if you are surfing on a network where you may be concerned about others observing your traffic. Perhaps you are connecting from a hotel, a client site, or from work (you didn’t learn that from me) and you do not want others monitoring your traffic.

The best choice is to use Firefox, because Firefox allows you to configure the browser to also send DNS requests through the proxy. If you use Internet Explorer, your DNS requests are still made via the local network you connect from and thus can still be monitored. So Firefox would be the preferred browser if you wish to maintain privacy on the network you are connecting from.

To set up Firefox to use the dynamic tunnel as a SOCKS proxy, go to the Firefox Options > Advanced > Network and click the Settings… button.  In the settings page, click Manual proxy configuration, enter localhost for the SOCKS Host, and 1080 for the Port.

We’re not quite done. We still need to configure Firefox to send DNS requests to the SOCKS proxy as well.  To do this, enter about:config in the navigation bar in Firefox. You may get a prompt asking you if you know what you’re doing. Assure Firefox that you know what you’re doing and proceed.

Enter socks_remote_dns for the Filter and press enter. You should see a single option that says network.proxy.socks_remote_dns. If it says false for the Value, double-click on it so that it says true. You’re now all set. You should be able to surf the web through your new secure dynamic tunnel!

Fortunately, connecting to our Windows Remote Desktop machine is much easier. You just launch the Remote Desktop Client and enter localhost:3390 for the machine address. That’s all there is to it!

The reason we set up the source port to 3390 is because the Remote Desktop Client will not allow you to connect to the default remote desktop port (3389) on the local machine. So that’s why we used 3390 instead (we could have used any port, I just use 3390 because it’s easy for me to remember).

The source port you use for setting up the tunnels is arbitrary. We could have used 1234 instead of 3390 if we wanted to, as long as nothing is running on the local machine at port 1234. What is not arbitrary is what you use on the destination IP and port. For that you will need to use the proper IP address and port for the service you wish to connect to.

You can set up tunnel for any service on any IP anywhere. You’ll just need to set up the program to connect to localhost on the source port you set up for the tunnel. It’s a pretty nifty way to connect to stuff you may not be able to otherwise, due firewall issues you may encounter. All you need is a single port to get to your SSH server, and it of course has to be running on that port.

Do you use SSH tunnels? What sorts of cool things do you use them for?

Photo Credit: kreg.steppe

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New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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Many different companies have come up with many different ways for accessing each of these systems in different ways. Some of these include GoToMyPC, LogMeIn, Windows Remote Desktop, VNC and several other remote access tools that we have profiled on MakeUseOf.

However most of these require some type of firewall configuration, or cost money or are just incredibly insecure. One virtually unknown product, GBridge, provides remote access, file sharing, file syncing and backup capabilities, all only requiring a Google account.

GBridge uses what they call a ‘Revolutionary VPN Infrastructure’ to extend Google’s GTalk into a secure collaboration tool. Once the product is installed (Windows Only), it simply asks for your Google Talk account and automatically displays the rest of your GTalk friends that may or may not have the product installed. If they do have it installed, you may collaborate with them, using each of the tools I am going to describe below. This is all done with a simple install, and no firewall configuration.

Desktop Sharing

GBridge utilizes VNC to not only access your own computer, but also any of your friends or family PC’s to access them remotely and control their desktop. Again this only requires that they have GBridge installed and that they have a Google Talk account.

SecureShare

The SecureShare portion of GBridge allows for quick and easy access to any files on your additional computers with extreme VPN-like security. You can then again allow only certain friends to access these shares as well. Very handy for quickly transferring files without e-mail or FTP-like transferring.

AutoSync

Keep folders in synchronization across the globe. Removes the need to manually transfer and update files on a regular basis. With no size limitations, auto scheduling and even incremental transfers.

EasyBackup

Set up automatic scheduled backups to local or remote locations. Gives you peace of mind having your critical data stored off site somewhere.

GBridge is a very slick application that is very easy to setup on any Windows 2000, XP or Vista machine and gives you all the big capabilities of the remote access tools, plus much more.

Do you have any similar secure solutions like GBridge?

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• How To Set Up An Instant Private Network With Remobo (20)
• DropBox : Review, Invites, and 7 Questions with the Founder (83)
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It is a tried and tested trio which works phenomenally well. Usually to gain access to this trifecta, you need to purchase hosting, and this hosting is usually run in a far away datacenter running on a Linux server. However, not many people know that it is available locally, and for Windows as well. You can use these services for running your own applications, and also for locally testing software you are writing, before uploading code to a production server.

WAMP stands for Windows Apache, MySQL and PHP. Compare this to LAMP, which is Apache, MySQL and PHP on Linux.

There are several ways to get these services running locally. Each service, by itself, has Windows installers. That being said – once the programs are installed, you need to know how to configure the services. That may not be simple unless you happen to be a system administrator.

We are going to focus on WampServer. In my experience, using WampServer is the fastest way to get up and running. Wikipedia has a nice list of all Wamp servers.

Step 1

Download the latest WampServer. As of the writing of this article, it includes Apache 2.2, PHP 5.2 and MySQL 5.0.

Step 2

Run the installer. It will warn you to uninstall WAMP5 1.x if you have installed that already. You can use the defaults and it should install without problem.

Step 3

Start the services. You will see a small icon in your taskbar. Left click on it (right clicking does not display the right menu) and select “go online”. The icon will then make a little animation, and your services will be online. You can view your homepage by going to http://localhost/.

Thats it! Wamp is now running. You are ready to install your application, or start learning some PHP! The public website directory is ‘c:\wamp\www\‘.

Any directory you create in this directory, shows up as a ‘project’ on the main index page.

Advanced Settings

PHP Customization

Depending on which type of program you want to install onto your server, you may require additional extensions that are not loaded by default. There are a whole variety of PHP extensions you can load that come built in, but disabled. Left-click on the Wamp menu, go to PHP->PHP Extensions and click off the extension you would like to reload.

You can also edit the configuration file, php.ini through the menu. Edit anything you need, and save this file. The most common edit is the memory_size, but there are many options you can tweak to your liking.

After making any changes to php, make sure you reload apache. I’ve learned the hard way that changes aren’t automatically pushed to the server, until it is reloaded.

Apache Customization

For you advanced tinkerers out there, you can tweak the apache configuration files to your heart’s content. Make sure after making any changes, to reload apache.

MySQL Customization

Depending on your project, you may need to create a database in MySQL. This can be done through phpMyAdmin, which is handily included within the WAMPServer install. By default they include no password on the root MySQL user, which is not the best thing for security reasons. I would recommend changing this password. phpMyAdmin can be reached via the Wamp Menu, or via the url http://localhost/phpmyadmin/

In Summary:

Don’t let the fun stop there. Install a blog and start experimenting with PHP and templates. Run your own Wiki. Run your own music server. The howtos on how to install some neat programs are coming in some future articles.

One of the greatest things about running a home apache server, is that you can use it in combination with a VPN (Hamachi) to access your server anywhere in the world, securely. You can even change your setup to host pages to the outside world, if you so desire.

There is no limit to what you can do! OK, maybe it won’t cook you breakfast in the morning – not yet anyway!

Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or need help with the install!

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New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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Lets see what you can do with an IPN, Remobo and how to set it all up.

Remobo allows you to:

• Control your own computer remotely from any other computer.
• Access your files securely from work or while traveling.
• Share files, photos and media with friends & family on your network.
• Secure all your messages and file transfers against hackers.
• Create a virtual private network (VPN) instantly and securely.
• Play LAN games over the internet as if you were all in the same place.
• Connect to any computer in your list securely to access files and data.
• Run virtually any 3rd party application on top of Remobo.

Quite a handful isn’t it? Lets set it all up!

Download and Install

Simply download and install. It will try to install a BitTorrent client (which will be required later as you will see) so if you already have your own, you can say no to this. While setting up the virtual network driver Windows will warn you. Click ‘continue’ and you should be good to go.

Set up an account

Set up a Remobo account. Simple and easy, no fuss. Requires an email address.

Add buddies

When Remobo starts, it asks you for the account details you just set up. Log in and then click on the button labelled “Menu” and then add one of your buddies on the Remobo network. You would have to enter the username of your buddy and your buddy will have to approve your request. This is unlike Hamachi where you create a network where others can join.

Remobo actually supports more than one PC per account, so you can have multiple entries under one buddy. This simply translates to the various computers of your buddy that you can access. This also means that you can use the same account on more than one computer. So you can have your work and home PC listed under the same username.

Let’s MakeUseOf Remobo

This little menu is all you have to take note of for being a Remobo King!

Send files

Files are sent using BitTorrent. Click on “Send a File” and you will be presented with an option to choose the files and folders to share, choose them and specify if you want to share this one time only or keep it shared for longer. Remobo will now automagically create a torrent and send the torrent file to the other side (to the buddy). The other side can then download the torrent file and use any BitTorrent client to download the file. This increases in significance if you are sharing a file with a group!

View Shared files

Clicking on “View Shared Files” will open up a webpage that allows you to view all the shared files (yours and others’) and also allows you to browse the files categorized by usernames so that you know who is sharing which file..

Windows File Sharing

Don’t want to use Bittorrent for some reason? Well no problem you can try “Windows File Sharing” just as you would do on a LAN. Just that it is a lot more simple here. When I clicked on it I was hoping to go through a messy workgroup setup and complicated network settings, but what did I see? I saw the shared printer and shared docs (in other words, it’s already done and I did nothing). Yes that’s how simple it is. Depending upon your situation you may be prompted for a password or do some minor configurations here.

Play games, Stream Media

Basically you can run any 3rd party application atop of Remobo. Want to play any game with your buddy just like you would have played it on the LAN? Easy, hover your mouse over the buddy name and get the IP. This is the virtual IP or the Remobo IP. Use this for streaming media configuration or playing games over the network.

Control Computer from other computers

Click one of the computer names that you want to access. Choose “Remote Control” from the menu that shows up. Enter your buddy’s password and you’ll get remote access to that computer. The whole password situation used for Remote Control bothers me a bit. While this is fine if you are in a work/home scenario, this might not be a good idea in the “buddy” scenario as the Remobo password and the Remote Control password are the same. So if you know someone’s remote control password, you know their account password. Kinda lame?

Chat

I am not going to tell you how you can chat with Remobo. This is just for you to know, that you can chat as well!

Secure Connections

All the connections are secure and encrypted so your data is secure!

Domain Names

Don’t like remembering IP addresses? Well just use <username>.remobo.com and you don’t need to remember any IP address. In case of multiple computer setups use <username>.<computername>.remobo.com

Community

There is a great Remobo community over there. You can make feature requests, get skins, discuss problems and see how others are using Remobo.

All in all a great application. There is the password issue that I mentioned and some dialogs that I feel are redundant, but overall it greatly simplifies the whole process or sharing files, using BitTorrent to send files, VPN setup and Remote Desktop.

It’s still in beta and I am sure it will mature as it grows. If you thought Hamachi was easy and feature rich (or otherwise) try Remobo, you’ll have no idea!

Let us know what you think about it. Have you tried it? Or do you plan to stick with Hamachi or some other application?

(By) Varun Kashyap, who is getting absent minded and forget to mention his name in the last two articles. And before he forgets, he would like to invite you to his TechCrazy Blog, where he writes about latest on the web, tech tips, tweaks and hacks.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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Hamachi is a service that runs in the background and connects your computer to any other computer you wish in a particular network. This creates an encrypted VPN (Virtual Private Network) between you and other PCs in your own network.

This becomes ultra convenient when you have a number of PCs that you want to connect to, for example if you have a work PC, home PC, school PC and/or servers. Once Hamachi is installed, the computers are available via IP address for their file shares, or any other service. Lots of people also use to play video games in a multi-player mode regardless of their location.

I like a few things about Hamachi that set it apart from the other VPN software available:

• Ease of use – Installing the program is a snap!
• Network Compatibility – Works with many types of networks, uses a variety of methods to get around firewalls (NAT, etc.)
• Cross-Platform Availability – Clients include the typical Windows and Mac, but also Linux, Mobile Devices, Windows Mobile and more.
• Security Built In – Communication between Hamachi clients is encrypted.

Windows Hamachi Install

Setting up the client is easy on Windows.

After installing the client, run it for the first time and “power” it on. It will have you create a network, and include a password so that anyone joining it (if it is a personal network, this would just be you) will need a password.

You will then join the network. For now, you will be the only one in this network. On subsequent installations, you can cancel out of the “create” network part. You will just join the network – so supply the password you used while creating the network.

Setting Hamachi up on Linux is a bit more difficult because it is via command line, however it is still easy as long as you are comfortable typing in a few commands.

Linux Install

From the readme for the Linux client:

• Run ‘make install’ and then ‘tuncfg’ from under the root account
• Run ‘hamachi-init’ to generate crypto identity (any account).
• Run ‘hamachi start’ to launch Hamachi daemon.
• Run ‘hamachi login’ to put the daemon online and to create an account.
• Run ‘hamachi join ‘ to join the network.
• Run ‘hamachi go-online ‘ to go online in the network.
• Run ‘hamachi list’ to list network members and their status.

More or less, this is all you will need to do. Depending on which flavor of linux you are installing this on, there may be some tricks you’ll need to use to get it working properly. Also, don’t forget to add it to your init scripts (or rc.local) to load on startup.

There is also a GTK GUI for the Linux client – see this forum post if you are interested in downloading or knowing more about it.

So now what?

So now that you have your machines set up, what can you do with them?

Here is just a random selection of some useful programs or services that you can use between your Hamachi clients:

VNC, Remote Desktop, NoMachine, etc. – Remotely access any PC on the VPN. The connection is encrypted, so you feel secure using even unencrypted protocols (like default VNC).

File Shares – Whether you use Windows file sharing, Samba or other protocols, you can access files on any other Hamachi PC. For Windows shares, just use the IP: \\5.x.x.x\. You can also map these shares to a drive, giving you access to your files like a local drive.

Music or Video Streaming – Use a streaming media server, such as Jinzora, to stream music from one PC to another.

Gaming – Play multi-player games with friends even if you’re on different networks.

Really anything you can think of that would be handy via a VPN, P2P network would work really well with Hamachi. Most connections are direct, so bandwidth is limited by your direct internet connection. In some cases a ‘relay’ is used to maintain connectivity, but this is only used in rare cases (Hamachi claims that 95% of connections are direct).

Finally, there are two versions of Hamachi. The free version has a few limitations – namely it will not run as a system service, is limited to the number of networked clients and uses ‘low speed’ relays (when necessary). The paid version takes away these limitations – for a full description see the comparison page.

The only two downsides that I can see to Hamachi is that it is closed-source, and that it depends on mediation servers. Being closed source, it is impossible to audit the code to ensure it is 100% secure and encrypted. The mediation servers have always worked well for me, but this adds in a 3rd party which some people may not like.

Hopefully you will find Hamachi as useful as I have! This program was purchased by LogMeIn a few years back but has retained its free and useful nature. If you have any particular issues with it, their forum is a great resource with lots of knowledgeable users.

Alternatives: OpenVPN is a similar service, but since there is no mediation server – configuration is a good bit more complex.

(By) Dave is an IT Manager by day and technology consultant by night. He is interested in all things internet but is specifically interested in system administration, network security, history, and backpacking. He lives near Philadelphia with his family. See his blog @ www.systembash.com.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• How To Set Up An Instant Private Network With Remobo (20)
• How to Tunnel Web Traffic with SSH Secure Shell (22)
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• Orb – Free File Sharing and Streaming Program for Your PC (9)