hermes

Hermes

Hermes (cryptonym to "web-bridge") is an application for introspected tunnels to localhost

This project was once used to setup a proxy-server using NGINX + SSH Tunnel. The problem and solution are: (1) there is a hidden server in the Web, which is not directly open to the open Web; (2) a Docker container connects to the hidden server through SSH, creating a SSH Tunnel inside the container and making it available to the NGINX setup through a localhost port; (3) the open Web can access the hidden HTTP server through this setup. Basically, it is intended to be used in a home-private context with TCP-port restrictions imposed by an ISP or network setup.

Currently, there's an application for introspected tunnels to localhost, just like ngrok v1 used to work. You may define several applications running in a hidden server and the application will make them available to the open Web.

Setup & Running for the containerized (initial) solution

The following image installs NGINX Amplify, if the API_KEY build-argument is available. REMOTE_USER and REMOTE_DOMAIN is mandatory, as well as the machine.pem file in the project root; that file is copied into the Docker image to access the remote/hidden server. The following commands create a new image, tagged earaujoassis/hermes, and create a Docker container mapping the port 8080 -> 80 (port 80 is exposed by default through the official nginx Docker image):

$ docker build -t earaujoassis/hermes --build-arg API_KEY=? --build-arg REMOTE_USER=? --build-arg REMOTE_DOMAIN=? .
$ docker run -d -p 8080:80 earaujoassis/hermes:latest

The following command can be used to remove dangling images created through the command above:

$ docker images --quiet --filter=dangling=true | xargs docker rmi

Setup & Running introspected tunnels to localhost (server)

A .env file is used to load environment information for the application – .env.sample is available with important environment variables. Since the application uses two processes, we use goreman (a Golang fork of Foreman) to initiate all necessary processes.

Once the configuration is complete, the following commands will run the application locally:

$ go get github.com/mattn/goreman
$ goreman start
$ open http://localhost:5000

Setup & Running introspected tunnels to localhost (client/resolver)

A ~/.hermes.config.json file is used to load configuration options for the client application – .hermes.config.json is available as an sample.

Once the configuration is complete, the following commands will run the application locally:

$ go run main.go client

License

MIT License © Ewerton Assis