Open a direct-tcpip Channel (SSH Port Forwarding)

See more SSH Examples

Demonstrates the Chilkat Ssh.OpenDirectTcpIpChannel method, which opens a direct-tcpip channel through the SSH server to a target host and port. The first argument is the target hostname and the second is the target port. It returns the channel number, or -1 on failure.

Background: This is SSH local port forwarding at the API level: the channel carries ordinary TCP traffic to a service that may be reachable only from the SSH server's network — a database, an internal web app, a message broker. The key detail is that the server resolves the target name, not your machine, so it must resolve and be reachable there. Supplying a numeric IPv4 address avoids remote DNS resolution entirely.

Chilkat C Downloads

Download Chilkat for C

#include <C_CkSsh.h>

void ChilkatSample(void)
    {
    BOOL success;
    HCkSsh ssh;
    int sshPort;
    const char *password;
    const char *targetHostname;
    int targetPort;
    int channelNum;

    success = FALSE;

    //  Demonstrates the Ssh.OpenDirectTcpIpChannel method, which opens a direct-tcpip channel
    //  through the SSH server to a target host and port.  The 1st argument is the target hostname
    //  and the 2nd is the target port.  It returns the channel number, or -1 on failure.

    ssh = CkSsh_Create();

    sshPort = 22;
    success = CkSsh_Connect(ssh,"ssh.example.com",sshPort);
    if (success == FALSE) {
        printf("%s\n",CkSsh_lastErrorText(ssh));
        CkSsh_Dispose(ssh);
        return;
    }

    //  Normally you would not hard-code the password in source.  You should instead obtain it
    //  from an interactive prompt, environment variable, or a secrets vault.
    password = "mySshPassword";

    success = CkSsh_AuthenticatePw(ssh,"mySshLogin",password);
    if (success == FALSE) {
        printf("%s\n",CkSsh_lastErrorText(ssh));
        CkSsh_Dispose(ssh);
        return;
    }

    //  The target name is resolved by the SSH server, not by this computer, so it must be
    //  reachable from the server's network.
    targetHostname = "db.internal.example.com";
    targetPort = 5432;
    channelNum = CkSsh_OpenDirectTcpIpChannel(ssh,targetHostname,targetPort);
    if (channelNum < 0) {
        printf("%s\n",CkSsh_lastErrorText(ssh));
        CkSsh_Dispose(ssh);
        return;
    }

    printf("Opened direct-tcpip channel: %d\n",channelNum);

    //  The channel now carries ordinary TCP data to the target, tunneled over SSH.

    CkSsh_Disconnect(ssh);


    CkSsh_Dispose(ssh);

    }