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SSH Tunnels and Forwarding Cheat Sheet

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Local, remote, and dynamic SSH forwarding with practical database, web, and bastion tunnel recipes.

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## Forwarding Basics
Create a local port forward
↗#
ssh -L 5432:db.internal:5432 bastion.example.com

# Forward a local port to a remote host and port.

Create a remote port forward
↗#
ssh -R 8080:localhost:3000 user@example.com

# Expose a local service on the remote host.

Create a SOCKS proxy
↗#
ssh -D 1080 user@example.com

# Open a local SOCKS proxy for browser or CLI traffic.

Run a tunnel in background
↗#
ssh -fN -L 5432:db.internal:5432 bastion.example.com

# Create a tunnel without running a remote shell.

Forward a UNIX socket
↗#
ssh -L /tmp/pg.sock:/var/run/postgresql/.s.PGSQL.5432 user@example.com

# Forward a local UNIX socket to a remote UNIX socket.

Remote forward with gateway ports
↗#
ssh -R 0.0.0.0:8080:localhost:3000 user@example.com

# Allow remote listeners to bind beyond localhost when server policy permits it.

## Tunnel Recipes
PostgreSQL tunnel
↗#
ssh -fN -L 5432:postgres.internal:5432 bastion.example.com

# Access a private PostgreSQL instance through a bastion.

MySQL tunnel
↗#
ssh -fN -L 3306:mysql.internal:3306 bastion.example.com

# Access a private MySQL instance through a bastion.

Tunnel to Kubernetes API
↗#
ssh -fN -L 6443:k8s-api.internal:6443 bastion.example.com

# Access a private API server locally.

Tunnel via jump host
↗#
ssh -J bastion.example.com -L 9200:elastic.internal:9200 user@private.internal

# Create a local forward through a ProxyJump bastion.

Clear configured forwards on command line
↗#
ssh -o ClearAllForwardings=yes user@example.com

# Override config-defined forwards for one invocation.

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