class Net::SSH::Gateway

A Gateway is an object that allows you to tunnel network connections through a publicly visible host to a host hidden behind it. This is particularly useful when dealing with hosts behind a firewall. One host will generally be visible (and accessible) outside the firewall, while the others will all be behind the firewall, and the only way to access those restricted hosts is by first logging into the publicly visible host, and from thence logging into the restricted ones.

This class makes it easy to programmatically connect to these restricted hosts via SSH. You can either simply forward a port from the local host to the remote host, or you can open a new Net::SSH connection to the remote host via a forwarded port.

require 'net/ssh/gateway'

gateway = Net::SSH::Gateway.new('host.name', 'user')

gateway.open('hidden.host', 80) do |port|
  Net::HTTP.get_print '127.0.0.1', '/path', port
end

gateway.ssh('hidden.host', 'user') do |ssh|
  puts ssh.exec!("hostname")
end

gateway.shutdown!

Port numbers are allocated automatically, beginning at MAX_PORT and decrementing on each request for a new port until MIN_PORT is reached. If a port is already in use, this is detected and a different port will be assigned.

Constants

MAX_PORT

The maximum port number that the gateway will attempt to use to forward connections from.

MIN_PORT

The minimum port number that the gateway will attempt to use to forward connections from.

Public Class Methods

new(host, user, options={}) click to toggle source

Instantiate a new Gateway object, using the given remote host as the tunnel. The arguments here are identical to those for Net::SSH.start, and are passed as given to that method to start up the gateway connection.

gateway = Net::SSH::Gateway.new('host', 'user', :password => "password")

As of 1.1 there is an additional option to specify the wait time for the gateway thread. The default is 0.001 seconds and can be changed with the :loop_wait option.

# File lib/net/ssh/gateway.rb, line 73
def initialize(host, user, options={})
  @session = Net::SSH.start(host, user, options)
  @session_mutex = Mutex.new
  @port_mutex = Mutex.new
  @next_port = MAX_PORT
  @loop_wait = options.delete(:loop_wait) || 0.001
  initiate_event_loop!
end

Public Instance Methods

active?() click to toggle source

Returns true if the gateway is currently open and accepting connections. This will be the case unless shutdown! has been invoked.

# File lib/net/ssh/gateway.rb, line 84
def active?
  @active
end
close(port) click to toggle source

Cancels port-forwarding over an open port that was previously opened via open.

# File lib/net/ssh/gateway.rb, line 146
def close(port)
  ensure_open!

  @session_mutex.synchronize do
    @session.forward.cancel_local(port)
  end
end
open(host, port, local_port=nil) { |actual_local_port| ... } click to toggle source

Opens a new port on the local host and forwards it to the given host/port via the gateway host. If a block is given, the newly allocated port number will be yielded to the block, and the port automatically closed (see close) when the block finishes. Otherwise, the port number will be returned, and the caller is responsible for closing the port (#close).

gateway.open('host', 80) do |port|
  # ...
end

port = gateway.open('host', 80)
# ...
gateway.close(port)

If local_port is not specified, the next available port will be used.

# File lib/net/ssh/gateway.rb, line 121
def open(host, port, local_port=nil)
  ensure_open!

  actual_local_port = local_port || next_port

  @session_mutex.synchronize do
    @session.forward.local(actual_local_port, host, port)
  end

  if block_given?
    begin
      yield actual_local_port
    ensure
      close(actual_local_port)
    end
  else
    return actual_local_port
  end
rescue Errno::EADDRINUSE
  raise if local_port # if a local port was explicitly requested, bubble the error up
  retry
end
shutdown!() click to toggle source

Shuts down the gateway by closing all forwarded ports and then closing the gateway's SSH session.

# File lib/net/ssh/gateway.rb, line 90
def shutdown!
  return unless active?

  @session_mutex.synchronize do
    # cancel all active forward channels
    @session.forward.active_locals.each do |lport, host, port|
      @session.forward.cancel_local(lport)
    end
  end

  @active = false

  @thread.join
  @session.close
end
ssh(host, user, options={}, &block) click to toggle source

Forwards a new connection to the given host and opens a new Net::SSH connection to that host over the forwarded port. If a block is given, the new SSH connection will be yielded to the block, and autoclosed when the block terminates. The forwarded port will be autoclosed as well. If no block was given, the new SSH connection will be returned, and it is up to the caller to terminate both the connection and the forwarded port when done.

gateway.ssh('host', 'user') do |ssh|
  # ...
end

ssh = gateway.ssh('host', 'user')
# ...
ssh.close
gateway.close(ssh.transport.port)
# File lib/net/ssh/gateway.rb, line 170
def ssh(host, user, options={}, &block)
  local_port = open(host, options[:port] || 22)

  begin
    Net::SSH.start("127.0.0.1", user, options.merge(:port => local_port), &block)
  ensure
    close(local_port) if block || $!
  end
end

Private Instance Methods

ensure_open!() click to toggle source

Raises a RuntimeError if the gateway is not active. This is used as a sanity check to make sure a client doesn't try to call any methods on a closed gateway.

# File lib/net/ssh/gateway.rb, line 185
def ensure_open!
  raise "attempt to use a closed gateway" unless active?
end
initiate_event_loop!() click to toggle source

Fires up the gateway session's event loop within a thread, so that it can run in the background. The loop will run for as long as the gateway remains active.

# File lib/net/ssh/gateway.rb, line 192
def initiate_event_loop!
  @active = true

  @thread = Thread.new do
    while @active
      @session_mutex.synchronize do
        @session.process(@loop_wait)
      end
      Thread.pass
    end
  end
end
next_port() click to toggle source

Grabs the next available port number and returns it.

# File lib/net/ssh/gateway.rb, line 206
def next_port
  @port_mutex.synchronize do
    port = @next_port
    @next_port -= 1
    @next_port = MAX_PORT if @next_port < MIN_PORT
    port
  end
end