Using SSH Tunnels

How to create an encrypted ssh tunnel for applications

Sometimes you want to access a remote server using software on your local machine
BUT that software does not have a built in way to use an secure shell tunnel (so, MySQL Workbench DOES, but MongoDB Compass DOES NOT)
So you can create what is known as an SSH Tunnel, that links a local port on YOUR machine to a port on the remote machine that is linked to the service (say port 27017 for MongoDB)
This allows a secure connection to the service on the remote machine, but from your software applications viewpoint, you will be connected to a local port on YOUR machine
You can do this at the command line, or using putty

This assumes you already have your filename.pem in your .ssh folder AND that you have changed the permisisons (chmod 600 ~/.ssh/filename.pem) previously
ssh -i ~/.ssh/my-aws-key.pem -N -f -L 8080:localhost:27017 ec2-user@xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
Obviously, replace xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx with your up to date IP address (or domain name if you have one)
Now you can start your service and tell it to
- use the local host port 8080 for your application (or whatever you used above)
- this will connect on the remote machine on localhost:27017 or whatever domain:port you set up

Load up your existing settings that you normally use in Putty to connect to your remote host
Now go into ssh then tunnels
Set up the Source port to 8080 and the Destination port to localhost:27017 (Remember, change the port numbers and IP address as needed for your application)
Now hit the Add button and you can then do Open, This should establish your tunnel, but for putty will oddly enough also open up the ssh terminal as well
Now go and set up your application to connect to localhost:8080 or whatever values you used for the Source Port