Accessing FM Server via SSH tunnel

October 8, 200916 yr

My FM Server is behind a corporate firewall and so I often access it through our VPN server. However, our server is often slow and prone to disconnects.

We also have an SSH server which seems reliable. To access my FMS I simply type the alias "SSH-FMS" into the Terminal. I then use the 'Open Remote..' dialogue in Filemaker to access fmnet:/127.0.0.2/

So what is the Terminal alias? Its a bit lengthy and you need to know the I.P. address of your FMServer and your SSH servers. However if you save it in .tcshrc (or a suitable bash location) you only need to type it one time:

alias SSH-FMS "sudo ifconfig lo0 127.0.0.2 alias up ; sudo ssh -NL 127.0.0.2:5003:FMS.IP.address:5003 [email protected]"

Basically, the command creates and SSH Tunnel and routes Filemaker traffic through it. It also creates a loopback interface to 127.0.0.2 to avoid a localhost conflict.

When you run the alias you will be prompted for your local (admin) password (for the sudo command) and then for your SSH server password. The Terminal will appear to hang when you have an active connection. Type Control+C in the Terminal to terminate the SSH session when you're done.