PHP ActiveX

SSH Tunnel Static (Fixed-Destination) Port Forwarding

Demonstrates fixed-destination port forwarding with the DestHostname, DestPort, ListenBindIpAddress, and ListenPort properties. Every local connection accepted by the listener is forwarded to the same fixed destination through the SSH server.

Background: This is the classic ssh -L scenario: expose a single remote service — a database, an internal web app — at a local port. Binding the listener to 127.0.0.1 keeps the tunnel private to the local machine, whereas 0.0.0.0 would let other hosts route through it. Passing 0 to BeginAccepting lets the OS pick a free port, which ListenPort then reports — handy when a fixed port might already be in use.

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<?php

$success = 0;

//  Demonstrates fixed-destination (static) port forwarding with the SshTunnel properties
//  DestHostname, DestPort, ListenBindIpAddress, and ListenPort.
//  
//  Every local connection accepted by the listener is forwarded to the same fixed destination
//  through the SSH server.

$tunnel = new COM("Chilkat.SshTunnel");

//  The fixed destination that accepted connections are forwarded to.
$tunnel->DestHostname = 'db.internal.example.com';
$tunnel->DestPort = 5432;

//  Bind the listener to loopback so only local processes can use the tunnel.  Use "0.0.0.0" to
//  accept connections from other machines (less secure).
$tunnel->ListenBindIpAddress = '127.0.0.1';

$sshPort = 22;
$success = $tunnel->Connect('ssh.example.com',$sshPort);
if ($success == 0) {
    print $tunnel->LastErrorText . "\n";
    exit;
}

//  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 = $tunnel->AuthenticatePw('mySshLogin',$password);
if ($success == 0) {
    print $tunnel->LastErrorText . "\n";
    exit;
}

//  Pass 0 to let the operating system choose an available port.  After BeginAccepting succeeds,
//  ListenPort contains the actual port that was bound.
$success = $tunnel->BeginAccepting(0);
if ($success == 0) {
    print $tunnel->LastErrorText . "\n";
    exit;
}

print 'Listening on 127.0.0.1 port ' . $tunnel->ListenPort . "\n";

//  Applications now connect to 127.0.0.1:ListenPort as if it were the database server.

$waitForThreadExit = 1;
$success = $tunnel->CloseTunnel($waitForThreadExit);
if ($success == 0) {
    print $tunnel->LastErrorText . "\n";
    exit;
}


?>