SSH Tunnel

[spadez]

Im planning on setting up a SSH tunnel. I have a couple of questions though, does it mean i am basically using the internet that is connected to my second PC, and bypassing the firewalled internet on the first pc totally? If yes will it slow down my connection substaintially?

Do i need a reasonably fast second computer at home? Which distribution would i be better off using?

Thank you for any help you can give,

James

[anomie]

Im planning on setting up a SSH tunnel.

Could you be a bit more specific?

... will it slow down my connection substaintially?

Yes. Encrypting traffic always has overhead.

[spadez]

Not really, im new to linux and i only know a SSH tunnel is what i need, but im unsure how to get there.

I will be using it for downloading and possibly gaming too, but im wondering if my 1-2mb connection at home will be any use if it is routed to the first computer for games / downloads, to what degree will it effect my ping?

[anomie]

To approach this a different way: what is your goal?

Instead of "I need a ssh tunnel" can you explain what you're trying to accomplish? You want encrypted traffic between your laptop and wireless AP? Or what?

[spadez]

Im hoping to be able to connect to my computer in Kent from my house in london (limited internet access) and use it for a sock server (so im told) so i can run my programs, steam, msn etc which i can otherwise not do on my restricted internet in London.

[anomie]

I'm not sure what to suggest here. You can certainly set up ssh port forwarding (tunneling). If you don't require encryption between London and Kent, you could also set up a Linux NAT/Masquerade device.

You really need to know your stuff to do the latter, though. Setting it up incorrectly could leave you open to no end of attacks.

A quick google on ssh tunneling, and see how it goes.

[anomie]

Also, to answer your original questions:

... does it mean i am basically using the internet that is connected to my second PC, and bypassing the firewalled internet on the first pc totally?

Yes, you just need to be able to access the remote ports on the sshd server.

Do i need a reasonably fast second computer at home?

The bottleneck will probably be your internet connection, unless you have some very old PCs.

Which distribution would i be better off using?

Any distro. There are good resources here for new Linux users on how to choose one.

[anomie]

You also might like to check out IPCop. I've been doing some reading about it today (for an upcoming project), and it may actually fit what you need. Either the port forwarding or VPN facilities could be a solution to your problem. In this case you'd install IPCop on the Kent box.

It requires some level of understanding about IP networks, but it does provide a nice web gui interface for configuration.