Access my computer externally without port forwarding

I have a linux machine (Sabayon 13 KDE) that I'd like to be able to access remotely for SSH, FTP, HTTP, and so forth. I signed up for Dynamic DNS with No-IP.com, but this isn't adequate because I am on a college campus network, behind an NAT, and don't have permission to access the router to set up port forwarding. I don't know if the campus routers support UPnP or NAT-PMP but I doubt it.

Anyways, I was wondering if there was a way to get around this using a VPN. I know that a VPN would allow me to, for instance, access my linux box from my laptop if I had the VPN software installed on both machines. But I'd like to be able to access my linux box from any computer, without having to install software. Or at the very least be able to access the HTTP part that way. And while I know that many VPN services offer web interfaces for file transfer, etc., I'd rather be able to access my linux box using regular FTP and SSH client software.

Anyways, is this something you can do with a VPN? Or is there a way to chain a VPN with Dynamic DNS somehow? I looked at the website for Hamachi VPN, but it described all the features in nontechnical terms, so I wasn't able to figure out these questions and I'd prefer to know before creating an account.

UnnamedMook

Posted 2012-09-28T03:45:37.827

Reputation: 141

Does your campus have a VPN service? Many collages have a VPN set up for students to be able to access resources inside the campus LAN. Just try vpn.collagename.edu and see if a computer exists. If so, try using your campus username and password to log in. – Scott Chamberlain – 2012-09-28T13:40:58.230

Answers

There's a few options. Pagekite sounds the most simple and direct - it does everything you ask for and is publically accessible

You might be able to go with some form of reverse ssh and tunnel everything through that. You'd need to establish the connection from the campus network to your home connection (where you'd need to set up port forwarding and such), so you'd need a ssh server on the other side as well.

Some implementations of IPV6 might work as well - I used to use a tunnel broker who is now defunct and I believe the udp method in the past. That should give you full access from another ipv6 enabled box, or through a suitable proxy bridging the two protocols.

Hamachi sets up a VPN, and does most of the configuration - its good for a small localish net.

You may have other options other than that - perhaps set up a openvpn server at home, and connect to that from the university box.

Journeyman Geek

Posted 2012-09-28T03:45:37.827

Reputation: 119 122

1I had the same problem. I established a reverse SSH connection using Teamviewer (which could work by itself but it's a little clunky) to a public server I have access to on both computers, then I was able to ssh through the public server back to the computer behind the NAT. – ejk314 – 2014-12-29T14:14:47.880

And a note using reverse SSH, you need to have an ssh server installed, not just a client. – ejk314 – 2014-12-29T14:39:09.137