#96 Allow RDP tunnelling through ssh more easily

[Andrew Scherpbier]

I currently use scripts like this to use rdesktop from
home to my office:

#!/bin/sh
ssh -C -L 3389:workbox:3389 work sleep 5 &
sleep 4
rdesktop -g 1280x1024 -a 16 localhost

This works, but is a PITA because I need to essentially
create one of these scripts per host I want to connect to.
It would be nice if rdesktop had a "--via" switch which
automates the ssh tunnel setup.
A similar option is supported by xtightvncviewer. Very
handy.

[Chris Rodgers]

Logged In: YES
user_id=661213

Why not just extend your shell script a little to do this?

e.g.

#!/bin/sh
ssh -C -L 3389:$2:3389 $1 sleep 5 &
sleep 4
shift 2
rdesktop -g 1280x1024 -a 16 "$@" localhost

Save this as "rdesktopvia" and call it as "rdesktopvia
<gateway_host> <RDP server> <any other rdesktop parameters>".

Chris.

[Andrew Scherpbier]

Logged In: YES
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I guess in my original feature request I forgot to mention
the the real problem is the inability to start multiple
concurrent sessions to different machines without changing
port numbers.

Also the sleeps are pretty hoaky. Sometimes the script
fails because of timing issues with those.

[Ilya Konstantinov]

Logged In: YES
user_id=335423

Get rid of the sleeps and simply use 'ssh -f' to put it in
the background as soon as it connects.

I must note that built-in SSH support looks pretty alien to
rdesktop, since unlike vnc (and rsync etc.), RDP is already
encrypted. Also, typically xtightvnc SSHs to the same
machine it's going to connect to, whereas you're doing a
VPN-to-network setup, going through your firewall machine to
a different machine. That's a tricky network setup, not
something natural to rdesktop, and if we'll add that, we
could as well add support for every other VPN software in town.