Tag Archives: SSH

How To Unfreeze Frozen SSH Tabs In Mac Terminal App

Published Apr 21, 2014 | In Unix/Server Stuff

I use the Mac Terminal App a lot to ssh into remote servers. It all works great except for a single annoyance. If I leave the ssh tab open without any activity for sometime or put my Mac to sleep, then the tab gets frozen and becomes unresponsive. It takes a couple of minutes for it to log out of the server and become responsive again, so that I can reuse the tab again.

Whenever this happens, I have to close the unresponsive tab and open a new one, or wait for 5-10 minutes. I did some research about it and found that Mac Terminal App provides an escape command that can be used to forcefully log out of the remote server. All you need to do is to type the following command in the unresponsive tab.

~.

(Tilda followed by a dot)

I tried it and it works like a charm. It immediately logs you out of the frozen ssh tab and you can reuse your tab again without waiting for it to become responsive again.

Hope this small trick is useful for others as well 🙂

Posted in Unix/Server Stuff | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Accessing MySQL safely using port forwarding with PuTTY

Published Feb 7, 2008 | In Database Programming, Unix/Server Stuff

During my days with dreamhost, in order to access MySQL from my local machine, I used to add my ip to the allowed host list. Even though security is compromised here, I really liked to use HeidiSQL for accessing MySQL database server instead of the built in MySQL console. But after my move to SliceHost, I found a little trick using which I can continue to use HeidiSQL from my local machine without adding my ip to the allowed host list.

This nice little trick is called port forwarding. Let me show you how I configured PuTTY so as to enable port forwarding.
First install MySQL and then configure SSH to use key based authentication and change the default port by following the articles at Slicehost. After installing MySQL and configuring SSH, download and install PuTTY from its download page. I recommend you to download the zip file containing all the files.

Then create a new session in PuTTY by entering the ip address and also the port. Then choose Connection -> SSH -> Tunnels. In the source port field enter a valid port number like 8600. In the destination field enter the value 127.0.0.1:3306. 3306 is the default port in which MySQL runs. The reason why I asked you to enter a different port in the source is that, in future if you run a MySQL server in your local machine for testing, it will clash with your port forwarding. Click the Add button and then start the session. Don’t forget to save the session.

PuTTY

Now open your favourite MySQL GUI client. Mine is HeidiSQL. In the connection settings, enter 127.0.0.1 as the Hostname and enter the port which you specified in the source field in PuTTY (8600) as port. Also enter your username, password, default database name and the click connect.

PuTTY

Now the request which goes to port 8600 of your local machine is forwarded to port 3600 of your MySQL server by PuTTY and you can safely use a GUI client for MySQL without adding any ip to the allowed host list. Note that it will work only when PuTTY is having the session opened.

I hope this is of help to you and let me know how it is working for you. Happy PuTTYing 😉

Posted in Database Programming, Unix/Server Stuff | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments