Port forwarding

[Steve Comfort]

Hi all,

We have a WiFi device, onto which we'd like to put a web server for 
configuration purposes. We obviously want it to be secure, and we don't 
have enough space to put OpenSSL and an https style browser on the 
board. So port forwarding seemed to be the answer. It is more than 
possible that I don't understand port forwarding correctly, but anyways ...

I am trying the following command on my PC :

       ssh -N -f -L 8000:[IP Address of device]:80 root at device

My understanding of the above is that if I direct my browser at 
localhost:8000, ssh/dropbear will forward this connection to port 80 on 
the board, and that this forwarding will take place once the firewall 
has been penetrated. (Port 22 is allowed, port 80 is not) ?

However, this does not seem to happen. I have compiled Dropbear 0.47 for 
the device, and I start it with the -a option. I also have 
ENABLE_SVR_REMOTETCPFWD defined in options.h.

The only way I can see the web server, is if I open up port 80 on the 
firewall. This however somewhat negates the point of having an SSH tunnel.

Is my understanding of port forwarding completely flawed, or do I need 
to add parameters to the -a option on dropbear, or ... what?

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Best regards
Steve Comfort

PS: For you Aussies from a serf efrican - congrats on a great 
performance by Ricky Ponting this morning :) Maybe we'll manage to beat 
you in one next month :) (And maybe pigs will fly)