Configuring an SSH tunnel with FileZilla

Is there any way to configure FileZilla on Microsoft Windows so that it connects to an SFTP server through some SSH tunnel?

E.g., with WinSCP, I can do the following:

I don't want to have to launch the SSH tunnel another program such as PuTTY or running e.g. ssh -D 443 -v -N -L 443:my_server.org:22 franck50@my_server.org then

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Franck Dernoncourt

Posted 2017-01-29T23:59:06.347

Reputation: 13 518

@Walmart The computer I want to connect to is only accessible through another server for security purposes. – Franck Dernoncourt – 2017-01-30T01:52:12.167

Too bad you couldn't just use WinSCP for that particular connection need rather than FileZilla then since you know it works. – Pimp Juice IT – 2017-01-30T03:25:48.647

Answers

No, FileZilla does not have the "Tunnel" feature of WinSCP.

Martin Prikryl

Posted 2017-01-29T23:59:06.347

Reputation: 13 764

You can use FileZilla with sftp, via port forwarding (using OpenSSH on Linux client). check out: superuser.com/a/1286681/141314 – Noam Manos – 2018-01-18T07:08:37.003

@NoamManos Any TCP/IP client can connect to a port forwarded by another application. But that does not mean that the client supports the port forwarding. – Martin Prikryl – 2018-01-18T07:12:38.913

As Martin Prikryl, FileZilla doesn't support tunneling using a proxy server.

A feature request on this topic got closed: #4806 closed Feature request (rejected) - Add FTP over SSH (tunneling using a proxy server)

Franck Dernoncourt

Posted 2017-01-29T23:59:06.347

Reputation: 13 518

How to create a SSH tunnel to encrypt a plain (insecure) ftp connection using FileZilla client & PuTTY

Summary:

Filezilla FTP Client/Your local PC <~~ [Conn. 1] ~~> SSH server <~~ [Conn. 2] ~~> FTP server
Connection 1 is encrypted using the SSH protocol.
Caution: Connection 2 is not encrypted.
Configure FileZilla to use your local PC as a (generic proxy) SOCKS 5 server.
Configure PuTTY to create a SSH tunnel between your local PC and a SSH server using DYNAMIC port forwarding. In this mode, PuTTY acts as a proxy server.

The SSH server is a remote host that runs a SSH service (typically a Linux/Unix/BSD host). You must have an account to login to this host.

Configuration Procedure:

PuTTY configuration (for release 0.67 or similar):
- Select "Category/Session"
  Host Name: SSH Server IP number or name
  Port: SSH server port number (22 by default)
  Connection type: SSH
- Select "Category/Connection/SSH/Tunnels"
  Source Port: XXXX (5000 for instance, or any other unused high number)
  Destination: (leave it empty)
  Dynamic, Auto
FileZilla configuration (for version 3.46.3 or similar):
- Select "Edit/Settings/Connection/Generic proxy"
  Type of generic proxy: SOCKS 5
  Proxy host: localhost
  Proxy port: XXXX (the SSH tunnel source port number, see PuTTY configuration above)
First execute PuTTY to create the desired SSH tunnel (you will be asked to provide username/password to login to the SSH server). Then execute Filezilla client using:
- Protocol: FTP - File Transfer Protocol
  Host: FTP server IP number or name
  Port: (leave it empty, 21 by default)
  Encryption: Only use plain FTP (insecure)

Possible uses: your PC is on your home network, the SSH and FTP servers are behind your company's router/firewall, and:

you cannot access the ftp server directly (external connections to the ftp server are blocked for security reasons), or
you can access the ftp server directly but you don't want to send your data (username/password/files) without encryption over the internet.

To save/load PuTTY configurations see:
https://documentation.help/PuTTY/config-saving.html

Cairo L. Nascimento Jr.

Posted 2017-01-29T23:59:06.347

Reputation: 1