How to Setup a Proxy over an SSH Tunnel on Ubuntu: Examples with Firefox and Chrome

How to Setup a Proxy over an SSH Tunnel on Ubuntu: Examples with Firefox and Chrome

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If you need to have your browser access the internet with another IP and you have SSH access a remote server, you can tunnel your connection through that server.

This means that all traffic will pass through the proxy before reaching the Internet.

This is useful for things like:

  • Accessing your university's proxy so that you can access things like paywalled articles and books.

  • Mask your IP

Set up SSH tunnel to a proxy server

Description: create a SOCKS proxy on localhost:9999 (choose any unused port) over an SSH connection to <remoteserver> on port <portnum>, using username <user>. You may be prompted for your password.

Template:

$ ssh -D 9999 -f -C -N <user>@<remoteserver> -p <portnum>

Actual Example:

$ ssh -D 9999 -f -C -N johndoe@path.to.proxy.server.edu -p 52831

Configure Firefox to use that proxy

  • Open Preferences > Advanced > Network

  • Click Settings:

settings Click Settings, in the Network tab

  • Select Manual proxy configuration and add a SOCKS host (v5):

firefox-connection-settins Add a SOCKS host "localhost" and port 9999 (for a tunnel created as per the previous point)

Example for Firefox v 57+

  • Go to Settings > Preferences:

firefox-v-57-preferences Click the settings button then choose Preferences

  • Scroll down and click on "Settings" under "Network Proxy"

firefox-network-settings Firefox network Settings

  • Configure the proxy you create in the first step:

proxy-configuration-firefox-57 Use the information you used in the first step (red markings)

Chrome

foxy-proxy-options Click Options

  • Click "Add new Proxy" and configure it using the information from the first step:

    • Under "General", give it some name and optionally some color:

    foxy-proxy-name Colors can help if you have multiple proxies.
    - Under "Proxy Details" add the proxy info proper:

foxy-proxy-details Edit these fields

  • Click "Save"

    • Now select the proxy from the dropdown to activate it:

select-proxy-from-dropdown Colors help you know which proxy is activated at any time


References