Re: [gentoo-user] [OT] Router for ssh tunnel/SOCKS proxy

[Etaoin Shrdlu <shrdlu@unlimitedmail.org>]

On Friday 5 January 2007 21:25, Mick wrote:

> OK.  I don't think I need to run a full VPN.  I just want to securely
> connect to my router at home while I am out & about using public wifi
> hot spots and thereby to be able to connect to the internet using my
> ISP for browsing & email.  The only ports I should need to forward via
> ssh to the router/server are those serving http/https for browsing and
> 110/995/143/25/587 for email.

If I understand correctly then, you need ssh (and a public IP address) 
running on the router.
For reading and sending email the setup is straightforward: just forward 
each of the ports you mentioned above to the appropriate server (via the 
router), set up your email program accordingly, and you're done. This 
way, your email data will go from your computer (wherever you are) to 
your router via the ssh tunnel, and from there (using your ISP 
connectivity) to the desired servers.

For browsing the internet, the setup is just a little bit more complex. 
At least, you need a http proxy running on the router (like squid), then 
do port forwarding for ports 80, 443, etc. and set up your browser 
accordingly to use the proxy. This way, your http requests are sent to 
the proxy via the ssh tunnel, and from there go to the their intended 
destinations using your ISP connectivity.

> If the above assumptions are correct then what sort of a hardware
> router would I need?  (Either a straight off the shelf product, or one
> with modified firmware).
>[cut]
> No idea how to achieve the same functionality using the embedded OS of
> a hardware router.

Never used it myself, but take a look at the openwrt project.
>From what I understand, it seems that it lets you put linux into the 
firmware of many popular routers, and manage it using a web interface.
Since it's linux, you obviously get all its benefits, including ssh. 
Anyway, I just read the openwrt docs very quickly, so it's entirely 
possible that I'm misunderstanding things here, and hopefully someone 
more experienced than me will give you more reliable info.

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