PHP Extension

Open a direct-tcpip Channel (SSH Port Forwarding)

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.

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PHP Extension

<?php

include("chilkat.php");

$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 = new CkSsh();

$sshPort = 22;
$success = $ssh->Connect('ssh.example.com',$sshPort);
if ($success == false) {
    print $ssh->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 = $ssh->AuthenticatePw('mySshLogin',$password);
if ($success == false) {
    print $ssh->lastErrorText() . "\n";
    exit;
}

//  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 = $ssh->OpenDirectTcpIpChannel($targetHostname,$targetPort);
if ($channelNum < 0) {
    print $ssh->lastErrorText() . "\n";
    exit;
}

print 'Opened direct-tcpip channel: ' . $channelNum . "\n";

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

$ssh->Disconnect();

?>