Remote Access to RT-AC68U Web GUI via SSH Tunnel

[gatorback]

[SOLVED] Has anyone had success remotely accessing OpenWRT-Merlin 378.55 through an Internet Explorer (IE) SSH connection?

In the past I have had success accessing the web DD-WRT web GUI and believe that this can be done through OpenWRT-Merlin. Attempts to view the Asus RT-AC68U GUI fails, as well as any other WWAN website. Posting that identify any issues with this setup or relevant diagnostic questions are appreciated.


SSH tunnel setup:

Internet Explorer 11 Tunnel setup:

IE Switch (checkbox) to direct traffic through Socks port 3000:

 

[martinr]

You wrote OpenWRT-Merlin when I think you mean AsusWRT-Merlin. And, yes, I have remotely accessed the web GUI using SSH, though IE is always my very last choice, so I can't swear I've ever done it using IE, but I expect I have. Now, I noticed from "D3000", you've used dynamic port forwarding - no harm in that - but you would use that, together with the socks proxy, if you wanted to tunnel home to the router and then bounce out unencrypted back onto the Internet for browsing - I think some people call that a "poor man's vpn", though that's unfair. You could still access the web GUI that way, but less complicated is to use the local port forwarding in Putty then you don't need to set the socks proxy in the browser. That would get you to your home network (and the web GUI).

 

[gatorback]

Attempts to view the Asus RT-AC68U GUI fails, as well as any other WWAN website. I am hoping that those that have had success in the past will be able to pick out any setup errors or pose a diagnostic question.

 

[RMerlin]

Don't forget to enable SSH port forwarding on the Administration -> System page.

 

[martinr]

If you are using public-private key pairs rather than a username and password, it'd be wise to revert to the latter until you get it working thereby eliminating another area where brick walls pop up. What error message, if any, do you get?

 

[Lost Dog]

I do this all the time with a combination of PuTTY, Firefox and the FoxyProxy plugin to make it very easy to switch between the tunnel and standard connection.

In fact, I use PuTTY Portable and Portable Firefox on a USB drive so I can have the secure connection no matter where I am.

 

[gatorback]

[SOLVED] @RMerlin : Thank you for the actionable suggestion.

Enabling SSH port forwarding on the Administration -> System page was the missing key that solved the original issue.

Because I have setup many systems in the past with DD-WRT, I could \ should have reasoned that it was a setting in the AsusWRT firmware and posted a screenshot of the router settings. Kudos to Merlin for solving this problem without this screenshot. Thanks to all who have participated.