§1. SOCKS over SSH

Open a SOCKS proxy on your local port 8080 over a standard SSH connection:

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ssh -D 8080 -N name@ip -p 22

Then, configure some local apps (like Firefox and Homebrew) to use this SOCKS proxy.

§Firefox

To configure Firefox:

  • Use a manual SOCKS5 proxy at 127.0.0.1:8080.
  • Note: You may need to disable any Firefox VPN extensions for this to work.

§Homebrew

Set the following environment variable to use the proxy:

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export ALL_PROXY=socks5://127.0.0.1:8080

§2. Shadowsocks

§Server Setup

Download the appropriate version from the Shadowsocks GitHub repository: https://github.com/shadowsocks/shadowsocks-rust/releases For example, shadowsocks-v1.20.4.x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.xz for Debian AMD64.

Create a config.json file:

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{
    "server": "0.0.0.0",
    "server_port": 1234,
    "password": "xxxx",
    "method": "chacha20-ietf-poly1305"
}

Run the Shadowsocks server:

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./ssserver -c config.json

§Client: ShadowsocksX-NG on Mac

In Firefox, set it to use system proxy settings:

  • Go to Firefox > Preferences > Network Settings > Use system proxy settings.

However, you may encounter this bug: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1700857

To resolve it:

  1. Set a SOCKS5 proxy in System Preferences.
  2. Select “Use system proxy settings” in Firefox.
  3. Change network.proxy.default_pac_script_socks_version:
    • Set it to 4 = Doesn’t work.
    • Set it to 5 = Works.

To prevent SSH from disconnecting after connecting to a VPN on the remote server, run:

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ip route show
  • Client IP: 27.196.119.86
  • Default gateway: 192.168.1.1

Then add a route:

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sudo ip route add 27.196.119.86 via 192.168.1.1

For more details, check this link: https://serverfault.com/questions/649792/prevent-ssh-connection-lost-after-logging-into-vpn-on-server-machine