Tell me more ×
Unix & Linux Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for users of Linux, FreeBSD and other Un*x-like operating systems.. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 1 down vote favorite

I'm renting a dedicated server which has a fixed / static IP and I'm using this server / IP for my business.

I'm hosting a webapp / webappserver on it (Apache + Tomcat) and I've also set it up as a HTTP Proxy (Squid).

I do need to test both websites and softwares (because that is precisely my job) that are restricted geographically (based on the IP adress) to the region where I did rent my dedicated server (which is the very reason I did rent the server there in the first place).

For websites it's already working fine seen that I managed to set up Squid the way I intended to (and I've configured it to be as transparent as it could).

Now I'd like to configure either a VPN or IPSec or something else so that I can run the software I need to test on my home machines (both Macs and Windows) and the software would "think" they're being run with the IP of my dedicated server.

I'd like to point out that I do not want to compile a new kernel on the dedicated server nor mess up the network configuration of the dedicated server: the dedicated server has a local IP and there are a lot of other dedicated servers (not mine) on the same subnet so I'm limited (I think) in what I can do here.

Ideally I'd like some "userland" configuration / setup that does not require rebooting nor changing the network setup.

In other words: I'd like something as "simple" to setup as Squid, but providing transparent "forwarding" for every single port, not just 80 / 443.

What is the technology I should use here and how should it be configured?

(I've set up the dedicated server myself and configured Squid myself so I've got some admin skills but I'm not a professional sysadmin)

share|improve this question
If you just want to forward a few arbitrary TCP ports, SSH port forwarding is probably the easiest way. – derobert Aug 24 '12 at 20:01
@derobert: sadly I need to use commercial apps using a lot of (mostly undocumented) ports and this is outside my control. In other words: I need to use/test these apps and they require several ports. – Cedric Martin Aug 24 '12 at 20:37
I think you're going to need a VPN or tunnel, then. Good news is most are already built-in to the kernel, so you shouldn't need to recompile. Bad news, you'll have to touch the networking config. Unless your app can use SOCKS proxies, which I doubt. – derobert Aug 24 '12 at 21:05
@derobert: I think I'll go the OpenVPN route then. I'll first test with spare machines before doing the "real thing" on production systems. – Cedric Martin Aug 26 '12 at 10:19
I use OpenVPN extensively, sounds like a good choice to me. – derobert Aug 27 '12 at 15:24

Know someone who can answer? Share a link to this question via email, Google+, Twitter, or Facebook.

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.