Xbase++

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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LOCAL nSuccess
LOCAL oTunnel
LOCAL nSshPort
LOCAL cPassword
LOCAL nWaitForThreadExit

nSuccess := 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.

oTunnel := CreateObject("Chilkat.SshTunnel")

//  The fixed destination that accepted connections are forwarded to.
oTunnel:DestHostname := "db.internal.example.com"
oTunnel: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).
oTunnel:ListenBindIpAddress := "127.0.0.1"

nSshPort := 22
nSuccess := oTunnel:Connect("ssh.example.com", nSshPort)
IF (nSuccess == 0)
    ? oTunnel:LastErrorText
    oTunnel:destroy()
    RETURN
ENDIF

//  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.
cPassword := "mySshPassword"

nSuccess := oTunnel:AuthenticatePw("mySshLogin", cPassword)
IF (nSuccess == 0)
    ? oTunnel:LastErrorText
    oTunnel:destroy()
    RETURN
ENDIF

//  Pass 0 to let the operating system choose an available port.  After BeginAccepting succeeds,
//  ListenPort contains the actual port that was bound.
nSuccess := oTunnel:BeginAccepting(0)
IF (nSuccess == 0)
    ? oTunnel:LastErrorText
    oTunnel:destroy()
    RETURN
ENDIF

? "Listening on 127.0.0.1 port " + Str(oTunnel:ListenPort)

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

nWaitForThreadExit := 1
nSuccess := oTunnel:CloseTunnel(nWaitForThreadExit)
IF (nSuccess == 0)
    ? oTunnel:LastErrorText
    oTunnel:destroy()
    RETURN
ENDIF

oTunnel:destroy()