SSHing into a Remote Host, Through a Jumphost

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Tags: ssh ngrok walkthrough


  1. Ensure the requirements:
    • An architecture with 3 hosts: one for development, one for production, and one jumphost;
    • An account <USERNAME> created on the production host;
    • An SSH server installed on the production host, on port 22;
    • A public SSH key linked attached to the account;
    • A private SSH key placed on the development host, on <PATH_TO_PRIVATE_KEY>; and
    • A project folder on the development host, on <PATH_TO_SYNCED_FOLDER>.
  2. Login to ngrok, eventually with SSO (e.g. GitHub).
  3. After login, you will be redirected to the setup page. Copy the link to the binary (not. <BINARY_LINK>) specific to the production host's architecture.
  4. Login to the production host, and download the binary with wget <BINARY_LINK>.
  5. Authenticate yourself to ngrok: ./ngrok config add-authtoken <ACCOUNT_TOKEN>.
  6. Expose the SSH server using ngrok: ./ngrok tcp 22.  This step will give you a URL respecting the structure tcp://<NGROK_SUBDOMAIN>:<PORT>.
  7. In the Visual Studio Code installed on the development host, install the SFTP extension.
  8. In the folder you want to sync, create the file .vscode/sftp.json with the content inserted on the end on the list.
  9. In the IDE, run the command "SFTP: Sync Local -> Remote" to upload the initial state of the project folder.
  10. Furthermore, once you save a file in your project's folder, it will be automatically updated on the remote host too.
{
    "name": "Development Host",
    "host": "<NGROK_SUBDOMAIN>",
    "protocol": "sftp",
    "port": <PORT>,
    "username": "<USERNAME>",
    "privateKeyPath": "<PATH_TO_PRIVATE_KEY>",
    "remotePath": "<PATH_TO_SYNCED_FOLDER>",
    "uploadOnSave": true,
    "useTempFile": false,
    "openSsh": false,
    "ignore": [".vscode"]
}