Connect your Chromebook to your home network over SSH.
Dec 28This week i’m testing out my new Acer A730 to see just what it can do and how far we can take it. One of the frustrations I bumped in earlier this week was that there were limited options when it came to “Phoning home”. Setting up encrypted tunnels to your home network over the internet using VPN or Proxy connections is something we should consider when using public Wifi hotspots.
With the Chromebook relying completely on some wifi connection on a (perhaps foreign) network I was disappointed to find that the only protocols that were supported were L2TP and OpenVpn. Not a bad set to choose from but not something that I had setup on my home network.
Previously I used an SSH server and the SSHuttle app to tunnel my internet, dns and even network traffic over a Socks5 proxy to my home network. I wondered if this would be possible with the Chromebook. Turns out it is ! Let’s start cooking.
To get this little piece of magic working you need 3 things. A : One SSH server (A linux machine) on your home network that has at least one port open to the internet. B : The Secure Shell app from the Chrome store. C : The Switchy-Sharp extension.
Setting it up is quite easy. Lets say we opened up port 8800 of our SSH server to the internet. Setup Secure Shell to connect to the your home SSH server with the additional option to create a port forwarding tunnel on lets say port 8800 with the option -D 8800
Next we setup Switchy Sharp as to use the SSH connection (and port 8800) as a socks 5 proxy.
All you need to do next is Connect to your home SSH server and use the Switchy Sharp extention in your browser to use the connection. The Chromebook will tunnel all http and https requests AND the DNS queries through the tunnel. That way 95% of your Chromebooks traffic (we aren”t a 100 percent sure about what protocols any other apps you have might use) are piped through a secure tunnel. You don’t only get to connect to your home network (to open up any web-interface to any device or server you have) but also you get to do it all ‘in private’
Links.
Related Posts
Turn a broken smartphone into a home server with Servers Ultimate.
Nov 30The most horrible sound that you can imagine is the sound of a smartphone clattering on the floor or the sickening crunch of a breaking tablet display. With many of our favorite devices made out of glass ( I still feel like the Monolith in 2001 a Space Odyssey was actually Apple’s first iPad add) the chance of some of those glass display’s shattering .. is real. But what then ? What when hairline cracks criss cross your screen, (but the touch-part still works) ? What happens when your smart device becomes broken or obsolete. Should you throw away that old or broken phone or tablet ? If its and Android : Don’t ! There is still life in it !
Enter Servers Ultimate.
Servers Ultimate turns your Android device into a home server. It offers you the ability to run “services” on a smartphone or tablet, that are usually reserved for a VM or a beige box. But think about it ! : Your old phone is light, small, powerful, always connected AND has a built in UPS (uninterruptible power supply) called “A Battery”. Why not hook it up to its charger, plop it down somewhere in a corner and start “Serving”.
Servers Ultimate lets you run the following Services on your Android Device
- https (webserver)
- dlna (mediastreamer)
- dyndns
- irc (chat)
- socks (proxy)
- Webdav (web storage)
- Scp (secure file transfer)
- SSH
- ……
The free version of the app lets you run 2 services at the same time, the payed version lets you check all the boxes and turn that old DroidX into a small home server. Storage capacity depends on what you hook up to it ( Internal SD card of your phone or some external storage) Power depends on the processor in your smartphone. But all in all : its a great way to setup a server in your house and re-use an old device.
I’m personally using Servers Ultimate to mess around with my MK802.22 stick to turn that into a home server with the Carbon Footprint of a small fly (its very low power) and hook it up the the wild wild web. Servers Ultimate is Free , but the Pro version will cost you a measly 4.99 in the Google Play Store.
Related Posts
Picture of the week : Geek Setup.
May 07I sometimes get the question what gear I use and how I have stuff set up at home. Thus it might be a good idea to post a pic of the “home office” as I have it setup today. Featuring 2 24 inch Dell displays hooked up to an I7 Mac Mini, an older 19 inch display hooked up to my Asus eee Linux box and the iPad as a “heads up display” screen for keeping track of it all. I should install one of these nifty programs to use one keyboard and mouse over both systems , but since the linux machine and the Mac are on two different subnets , that might not work so well.
Related Posts
Do we need cyber-locksmiths?
Aug 25
By Daniel "Captain Command Line" Turner. (more at http://dannyturner.dyndns.org/ )
Computerized.
Everything today is computerized, your comunications, you finances, many people's enjoyment, travel, even friendships! And all of this is passworded. Imagine, having to recite a secret code just to talk to a friend, it sounds stupid, but millions of people are doing it every day, with MySpace, Instant Messaging and VoIP. But what about the things that hide below, the things that no-one talks about–the OS. Mac, Windows, Linux and BSD, They all now have the capability to require a password to login. Linux, Mac and BSD are the worst here, password this, password that. Root to install this, root to tweak that, root to fix something. What happens when end users use this passwording capability? Windows has it covered, with the "Forgot Password" button, that shows a preset hint. But what of Linux, Mac and BSD? Is their security too strong? Say I give a Ubuntu or PC-BSD desktop to a family, give them all a username and a password, but not root priviledges. I wisper the root password in old dad's ear, tell him it's special, to change it, to remember it well.Fast forward 2 weeks, or a month or what ever, and little Johnny wants to install program xyz for his homework (especially easy for PC-BSD), but keeps getting the dialogue box "Please input root password" What's he to do? He's confused. He goes and asks dear ol' Dad, who by now, having no need for the root password has completely forgotten it, he didn't even change it. Oh dear, they're locked out of their own PC.
Lost.
They've effectivley lost they keys to their virtual home.Who do they call? Where's a locksmith when you need one. Get a LiveCD you say, change the GRUB kernel arguments you say, use John the Ripper you cry? Sure, this non-techie family is going to know exactly what to do, where to get a live CD, how to find the shadowed password, what program to put it in, how long to wait, what to look for. Yes, they're going to know all of this. Sure. To them, this magic black box that holds all that is dear to them is refusing to play nice.So, pick up the phone they do, phone up the computer support guy and ask "What's the root password, and why do I need it?" Many computer support operations are Windows-only (not the one in my home town, but many that I know of). So they get the answer back "The what password?" Oh dear, now they're in deep doo-doos. They take it to PC World, who last time I checked in Britain, is a Windows only operation. So what to they see? They see PC-BSD or Ubuntu boot. They see a different login window. They have no idea what "root" is, or why it's asking for his password. If you're lucky, a Linux or BSD 'nerd' might work there, and immediately know what to do, pulling a LiveCD from his kit, loading BackTrack, going straight for /etc/passwd and then the shadow, if there is one. Pulling a seemingly random string of characters, and loading it into John the Ripper. Sure, that might happen, but it might not. So you're back to square one, a 'broken' but some how functional PC.
Who do you call when you're locked out of your virtual house? Grab the yellow pages and look under "Cyber Locksmiths"? No, there's no one, unless you are lucky when you walk through the door of PC World, your home-grown computer support shop round the corner, or you have an extremely techie friend. Failing this, you are done for.
Where is the button ?
So where's the reset password button, I ask, When's the password hint going to make it into Linux and BSD, or is this just to stupid, to question the security of the OS, just for the user to actually be able to use the OS? So far, this has been fine (well, almost) for Microsoft. Microsoft have been to busy putting out patches of XP to even get an OS out in 5 Years, where as Linux and BSD have grown by leaps and bounds, grabbing market share in government and school computers. Even in the developing world, Linux is taking hold. Linux has had a hold for years in the hobbyist, enthusiast market since it was born as a terminal emulator that ran off a floppy so that Linus Torvalds could use his university account, and learn to use the 386 instruction set. By it's very nature, it's heavily technical.So, I call unto the gods of the copmuter world (Jobs, Torvlads and Gates) create Cyber-Locksmiths!
