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Where I work (Squiz.net), we have a lot of servers with IP restrictions for different parts of our network. For example, in order to connect to some client servers, I have to SSH to a server in our Sydney office (from Hobart) before connecting.

I found it difficult to keep track of which hosts allowed direct connections, which didn’t, combined with having to remember which hosts can be bounced through.

I wrote this script that reads a configuration file and bounces you through hosts in a “behind the scenes” manner, using the -t option of SSH which allows you to run commands on the host without attaching to the local TTY.

(For example, `ssh -t foo ssh bar’ allows you to SSH to host “bar” without ever really seeing that you’re going through “foo”. Obviously, you must use key authentication)

The script reads a configuration file which looks like this:

intranet
cooee:delta,intranet
bob:delta,intranet
deltaex:alpha

It contains a list of hosts on newlines, which in turn has a list of hosts that need to be bounced through in order to get there. You can also specify a “default bouncehost” (at the top of the script), which means any hosts in the configuration file that don’t have bounce hosts specified will use the default one.

Whenever I find a host that I can’t SSH directly, I add it in the configuration file, and voila! I never have to think about it again.

The script has many other features, such as doing local lookups of the hosts first in your /etc/hosts file, and then translating them to IP addresses for the bounce hosts. This allows you specify quick “aliases” to use for hosts that don’t have a simple hostname, or one at all, eg: `ssh int’ where ‘int’ is defined in your hosts file.

Check it out (literally) here:

SVN: svn co http://dans.im/svn/sshbounce/

UPDATE: Now an even better solution — scrobble tracks straight from your iPhone to last.fm, as you play them: http://www.installerapps.com/2007/11/30/mobilescrobbler/

If you are obsessed with ensuring that your Last.fm profile is up-to-date with the most accurate music statistics for you, then you would be disappointed to discover that iScrobbler (the alternative Last.fm client for OS X that allows scrobbling tracks from your iPod) doesn’t support the iPhone or iPod Touch!

The problem is that the iPhone and iPod Touch no longer use the “volume mounting” method in iTunes (that is, where iTunes reads information from the iPod_Control folder on your iPod volume). This means iScrobbler is currently unable to detect when an iPhone or iPod touch has been plugged in.

There is a workaround described on the iScrobbler discussion forums, which involves mounting a DMG image that is a “Fake iPod” to fire the event in iTunes that allows iScrobbler to read the playlist and scrobble the tracks that you’ve listened to.

Unfortunately, this workaround means you have to load the DMG and unload it manually when you plug in or eject your device, so I wrote a shell script that detects the insertion of an iPhone (using iPhuc — sorry iPod Touch users, I don’t think this will work for you) and automatically mounts the iPod DMG to allow iScrobbler to do it’s magic.

http://www.spockboy.com/iscrobbler-iphone-automount/
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