SMTP Routing through SSH

I use Cox Cable for my internet and e-mail, but they require that I be
on their network (i.e. at home) in order to send mail over the SMTP
server. Thus, when I am traveling I cannot send e-mail with my Cox
account because I am not hooked directly to their network.

I have a Linux server running Red Hat 8.0 in my attic that I connect to
using SSH. I use port forwarding to reach a VNC server on port 5904. Is
there any way I can route my SMTP traffic through my internet
connection at home while I am traveling? I would assume that a VPN
solution would be ideal but I can't seem to get a VPN server working on
my box.

In short I just want somehow to be able to send e-mail using my Cox
account in Outlook while traveling which would require routing the
packets through my home network connection.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:
> I use Cox Cable for my internet and e-mail, but they require that I be
> on their network (i.e. at home) in order to send mail over the SMTP
> server. Thus, when I am traveling I cannot send e-mail with my Cox
> account because I am not hooked directly to their network.
>
> I have a Linux server running Red Hat 8.0 in my attic that I connect to
> using SSH. I use port forwarding to reach a VNC server on port 5904. Is
> there any way I can route my SMTP traffic through my internet
> connection at home while I am traveling? I would assume that a VPN
> solution would be ideal but I can't seem to get a VPN server working on
> my box.
>
> In short I just want somehow to be able to send e-mail using my Cox
> account in Outlook while traveling which would require routing the
> packets through my home network connection.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> Thanks!
>

my first choice would be to use a VNC desktop and just use your linux
email client. Thats what I do. So my mail is always there and i can
access it from any computer I can ssh in from. I run VNC over ssh.

you are going to need a proxy running on your linux box to relay the
smtp signal. Just as if you were trying to relay your web browsing
across ssh through a proxy running on your linux box.




--
Respectfully,


CL Gilbert

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:
> I use Cox Cable for my internet and e-mail, but they require that I be
> on their network (i.e. at home) in order to send mail over the SMTP
> server. Thus, when I am traveling I cannot send e-mail with my Cox
> account because I am not hooked directly to their network.

before you go to much trouble, find out if cox has webmail (web-based
email) available. i'm sure they do.

--
Let's not complicate our relationship
by trying to communicate with each other.

On 10 Aug 2005 14:57:08 -0700, (E-Mail Removed) wrote:
> In short I just want somehow to be able to send e-mail using my Cox
> account in Outlook while traveling which would require routing the
> packets through my home network connection.

Set up an authenticating smtp server at your house that only has the
task to relay to the Cox smtp server?

This should be quite easy to do with postfix.

I have set up a pop-before-smtp on my server at home with a "delay" of
30 minutes, which means that if I pop from my home mail server, I will
have permission to use my smtp-server from another location for 30
minutes.

Works great, really.

--
Rolf Arne Schulze
Min Weblog: http://rolfas.net/

On Wed, 10 Aug 2005, CL (dnoyeB) Gilbert <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> (E-Mail Removed) wrote:
>> I use Cox Cable for my internet and e-mail, but they require that I be
>> on their network (i.e. at home) in order to send mail over the SMTP
>> server. Thus, when I am traveling I cannot send e-mail with my Cox
>> account because I am not hooked directly to their network.
>>
>> I have a Linux server running Red Hat 8.0 in my attic that I connect to
>> using SSH. I use port forwarding to reach a VNC server on port 5904. Is
>> there any way I can route my SMTP traffic through my internet
>> connection at home while I am traveling? I would assume that a VPN
>> solution would be ideal but I can't seem to get a VPN server working on
>> my box.
>>
>> In short I just want somehow to be able to send e-mail using my Cox
>> account in Outlook while traveling which would require routing the
>> packets through my home network connection.
>>
>> Any ideas?
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>
> my first choice would be to use a VNC desktop and just use your linux
> email client. Thats what I do. So my mail is always there and i can
> access it from any computer I can ssh in from. I run VNC over ssh.
>
> you are going to need a proxy running on your linux box to relay the
> smtp signal. Just as if you were trying to relay your web browsing
> across ssh through a proxy running on your linux box.

No need for any proxy. He just needs to ssh tunnel port 25 on his client
end to port 25 of Cox mail relay on remote end. A rough example (not
knowing name of their outgoing relay): -L 25:smtp.cox.com:25

Then if he tells mail client on client machine to send mail through
localhost (127.0.0.1) it would connect to the near side of tunnel and come
out remote to smtp.cox.com.

I have done that for my Unix ISP, since smtp server is a different box
than we log into.

On 2005-08-10, (E-Mail Removed) <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> server. Thus, when I am traveling I cannot send e-mail with my Cox
> account because I am not hooked directly to their network.
> I have a Linux server running Red Hat 8.0 in my attic that I connect to

So, you already have a machine that is hooked into their network,
just use that as mail relay and you're set. Read the documentation of
your mail server about how to setup an authenticated Smtp server and
configure that as your preferred smtp server.

Davide

--
I never really understood how there could be things that would drive you
insane just because you knew them until I run into Windows.
--Peter da Silva on alt.sysadmin.recovery

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:

> I use Cox Cable for my internet and e-mail, but they require that I be
> on their network (i.e. at home) in order to send mail over the SMTP
> server. Thus, when I am traveling I cannot send e-mail with my Cox
> account because I am not hooked directly to their network.

Some ISPs allow external access, using ports other than 25, such as 465 or
587.
>
> I have a Linux server running Red Hat 8.0 in my attic that I connect to
> using SSH. I use port forwarding to reach a VNC server on port 5904. Is
> there any way I can route my SMTP traffic through my internet
> connection at home while I am traveling? I would assume that a VPN
> solution would be ideal but I can't seem to get a VPN server working on
> my box.

What VPN are you using? I've used both CIPE and currently OpenVPN. Both
were easy to set up.

In message <(E-Mail Removed) .com>,
(E-Mail Removed) wrote:

> I use Cox Cable for my internet and e-mail, but they require that I be
> on their network (i.e. at home) in order to send mail over the SMTP
> server. Thus, when I am traveling I cannot send e-mail with my Cox
> account because I am not hooked directly to their network.
>
> I have a Linux server running Red Hat 8.0 in my attic that I connect to
> using SSH. I use port forwarding to reach a VNC server on port 5904. Is
> there any way I can route my SMTP traffic through my internet
> connection at home while I am traveling? I would assume that a VPN
> solution would be ideal but I can't seem to get a VPN server working on
> my box.
>
> In short I just want somehow to be able to send e-mail using my Cox
> account in Outlook while traveling which would require routing the
> packets through my home network connection.
>
> Any ideas?
>
It's easy enough to do. I use ssh port forwarding to connect to my home mail
server from outside, it shouldn't be that hard to port forward to their
server instead. You can have multiple ports being forwarded on a single ssh
link.

--
Dave
mail da (E-Mail Removed) (without the space)
http://www.llondel.org/
So many gadgets, so little time...

Thanks a lot for all your responses. I did figure out how to do it
using SSH port forwarding. I was doing everything right except
redirecting Outlook to 127.0.0.1.

I didn't realize that even if you hit a remote server that you still
have to point the client SSH machine to 127.0.0.1 (I believe I am right
in saying that).

David Efflandt wrote:
> On Wed, 10 Aug 2005, CL (dnoyeB) Gilbert <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>(E-Mail Removed) wrote:
>>
>>>I use Cox Cable for my internet and e-mail, but they require that I be
>>>on their network (i.e. at home) in order to send mail over the SMTP
>>>server. Thus, when I am traveling I cannot send e-mail with my Cox
>>>account because I am not hooked directly to their network.
>>>
>>>I have a Linux server running Red Hat 8.0 in my attic that I connect to
>>>using SSH. I use port forwarding to reach a VNC server on port 5904. Is
>>>there any way I can route my SMTP traffic through my internet
>>>connection at home while I am traveling? I would assume that a VPN
>>>solution would be ideal but I can't seem to get a VPN server working on
>>>my box.
>>>
>>>In short I just want somehow to be able to send e-mail using my Cox
>>>account in Outlook while traveling which would require routing the
>>>packets through my home network connection.
>>>
>>>Any ideas?
>>>
>>>Thanks!
>>>
>>
>>my first choice would be to use a VNC desktop and just use your linux
>>email client. Thats what I do. So my mail is always there and i can
>>access it from any computer I can ssh in from. I run VNC over ssh.
>>
>>you are going to need a proxy running on your linux box to relay the
>>smtp signal. Just as if you were trying to relay your web browsing
>>across ssh through a proxy running on your linux box.
>
>
> No need for any proxy. He just needs to ssh tunnel port 25 on his client
> end to port 25 of Cox mail relay on remote end. A rough example (not
> knowing name of their outgoing relay): -L 25:smtp.cox.com:25
>
> Then if he tells mail client on client machine to send mail through
> localhost (127.0.0.1) it would connect to the near side of tunnel and come
> out remote to smtp.cox.com.
>
> I have done that for my Unix ISP, since smtp server is a different box
> than we log into.

Never thought of that

--
Respectfully,


CL Gilbert