SSH, PuTTY and remote access

Not really where to put this so moderators feel free to move it.

I have SSH access to my user account at Uni and believe that I have access to a command line starting with:-

soup :~$

or i can get into my department account via ssh from this terminal which gives me:-

userxxx@xxxxx:/

All I want to do is get to the point where I can use the uni ip address to order some stuff online so I can get educational discount.

I tried to use X-term but not sure if I am doing this right. I have used the terminal a little before but mainly for compiling rubbish C++ programs

Any help will be appreciated

 

If your uni has a proxy server, then you can connect to the internet using your computer. I doubt that your university has that service. Usually dial-up service to your uni has this capability.

Another method is to connect to a computer at your uni and use the web browser from that computer. SSH or X-term can only use lynx, so maybe you can use that. Otherwise a program like remote desktop or (I forgot the unix equivalent) is probably better.

 

SSH is unrelated to your problem.

Check if your uni has a VPN (most do). Connect to the VPN and make sure that http/https traffic is routed through it.

EDIT: some unis may not allow you to configure the connection so that *all* http/https traffic goes through the VPN. In that case, you're SOL.

 

In which case, plug your laptop into a jack on campus and hope, or find an open wireless there.

 

I have a better idea.

Maybe, you're like me, stuck with University that has VPN support only for 32-bit OSes and you just happened to put 64-bit on all your computers. *sigh*

1. Use PuTTY to connect to the University, but there is a slight modification you need to do inside PuTTY configuration [see pic]:


Under Connection/SSH/Tunnels add dynamic port by first typing in a port number under Source Port (I choose 8001 because I find it easy to remember), don't type anything under Destination, and select "Dynamic". Leave the other thing on "Auto". Click Add. You should have the screen like mine. Save your PuTTY session with these settings.

2. Configure your web browser. We'll make your browser (IE, FF, Chrome, anything) use PuTTY SSH connection to access the web. What you want to do is setup a SOCKS5 type proxy called "127.0.0.1" or "localhost" -- think of this as your own IP address (I believe the technical term is virtual loopback address or something), with port 8001 or whatever you typed in PuTTY.

For IE and Chrome you need to go into Control Panel, Internet options, then LAN settings button, then select the checkbox to use proxy, open Advanced settings dialog and make it look like this (again type in the same port you typed in putty!):


3. Press OK, close all settings now. Now when you're using your web browser it will look like you're accessing through your university.


To remove this tunneling, simply go back to Proxy settings in Control Panel / Internet Properties and remove checkbox for proxy. (You can check it back again if you need it.)

 

Cheers for the detailed reply

I ended up managing to solve this two ways:-

1. Using the X11 protocol

This is my prefered method of connection and actually presents me with other options rather than just proxy forwarding.

To use this all you have to do is set up your usual connection in putty then select the ssh box then X11, enable X11 and put the display location as localhost. Close and save Putty. google and install a program called Xming go through the setup wizard selecting all of the default settings (I believe the program has putty incorperated into it but havent worked out how to use this yet). Run Putty and connect to your ssh server, sign in then as though you were in the terminal locally type a command like firefox & this will cause a firefox window to appear on your client but it is actually on the server. You can have multiple windows so you can have firefox, gedit, matlab etc all open at the same time.

2. Vnc

This is a bit more complex pretty slow in use and just a bit rubbish really.

Setup putty as you usually would. install a vnc client there are many around.then login to the server. Hopefully the vnc server should already be installed. You may need to setup passwords for the server. then type in vncserver. this will produce a hold load of rubbish then finally give you a server and display number. then type in vncviewer servername:number type in the password for your server then it should load up giving you a desktop from the server.

There are a couple of good youtube videos around for a better explanation

 

Nice idea, +rep! VNC actually depends on the implementation - as I said my University has incredibly stupid way of connecting. You need to install special software, which only works on 32-bit OS. Also this software does not allow HTTP to tunnel over VNC making it utterly useless for 99.99% of the purposes. *facepalm*

What you described is also good, but the difference is then you're running Firefox or whatever on the server, vs my method which is running programs on your own computer, just utilizing server connection. It's possible to automatize the login by using "keys" instead of password (there are guides online how to set it up). Also I use nice little addon on Chrome so I can switch pretty fast:

 

Yeah I tried the proxy method and it worked alot better and wasn't half as "laggy".

We have the option to add rsa keys to our uni logins, I just can't be arsed to do so.

What web browser are you using?

 

sorry about that, wrong topic.....

 

On my laptop Google Chrome with addons AdBlock, AdBlock button and Switchy!. On the desktop it's Firefox with QuickProxy addon (among others). I like Chrome better on laptop because the screen is 11.6" and it doesn't occupy a lot of space as Firefox. But Firefox has Del.icio.us bookmarks extensions with all my stuff so that's on desktop.