Tunnel/Forward FTP connection

[kadu]

Hi all,

I have a dedicated server with 1and1 and they also provide me with some free FTP backup space on a separate server. I have a script running daily that compress the files I want to backup and uploads them to the FTP server.

So far so good, my problem is that I can only access this backup server from my dedicated server, I'm trying to make a tunnel (via ssh) to allow me to connect to the FTP server from my home network. I'm doing this so I can use a FTP software to access and delete some files from the backup server to free space for new files.

How can I do this?

Many Thanks
Kadu

[kazler]

To use ssh you would have to log into your server and use a ssh port forward using something like this

ssh -L21:localhost:21 username@backupserver

this will push anything sent on port 21 down the ssh tunnel to port 21 on the remote side.

For a more permanent solution if you have root access you can do this with iptables.

[kadu]

Thanks Kazier, but I'm afraid it doesn't work.

I think the problem is that the backup server does not accept ssh connection, so I get the following message:

ssh: connect to host backup90.pureserver.info port 22: Connection refused

is there any other way I can do it?

Thanks
Kadu

[kazler]

it does look like they either have it firewalled off from you or disallowed within ssh your servers IP, it maynot have ssh installed or even be a M$ box.

I think the only other way would be to use iptables to redirect port 21 from your server to the backup box. I can't really give you any advice on how you would do it as I have never used iptables

You could though use ftp from the linux shell on your server to delete files which is pretty straight forward to use. Other than that you could script it to auto remove old files via the cron and ftp from your server or trigger it manually.

[kadu]

That's what I thought.

I've done a router box with iptable a while back, I suppose I can find my way around it again.

I do use the shell from the server to delete the files, but it's a bit painful as the name of the backup files are long and I have to type them completely because ftp doesn't let me use the TAB key to complete the filename.

A script is possible the best option here, I just have to find some time and write one.

Many thanks
Kadu

[tgv]

Just solved exactly the same problem with this soft -
Tunnelier (Bitvise)

You will need to enable Socks/Proxy forwarding at services tab and then use localhost:1080 in your ftp client as a socks5 proxy. that's it!