I often find myself in need to access papers, files and other things that I only have access from within the university network. A neat way to get access is by using OpenSSH as proxy server (I’ve tried unsuccessfully to configure the university’s VPN, but to no avail…). The steps are simple, first run:
ssh -NCD 9999 uname@university.edu
- -N: prevents an interactive shell from being opened, not strictly necessary
- -C: enables gzip compression, not sure if it actually improves performance (given the extra CPU overhead), but the overall result was satisfactory, so I left it on.
- -D [port]: enables local dynamic port forwarding to localhost:9999
Now it’s time to configure your browser. On Firefox, the proxy settings are found at Preferences -> Advanced -> Network -> Settings (although there are add-ons that allow quick switch from different proxy servers). Enable “Manual Proxy” and set localhost as your host and 9999 as your port. You should be now done.