Tunneling to your local development computer

network.yml

development:
  tunnel:
    public_host_username: root
    public_host: [IP OF YOUR PUBLIC SERVER]
    public_port: 3000
    local_port: 3000
    ssh_port: 22
    server_alive_interval: 0

tunnel.rake

namespace :network do
  
  tunnel_ns = namespace :tunnel do 
    # Courtesy of Christopher Haupt
    # http://www.BuildingWebApps.com
    # http://www.LearningRails.com
    desc "Create a reverse ssh tunnel from a public server to a private development server." 
    task :start => [ :environment, :config ] do  
      puts @notification 
      system @ssh_command
    end 

    desc "Create a reverse ssh tunnel in the background. Requires ssh keys to be setup." 
    task :background_start => [ :environment, :config ] do  
      puts @notification 
      system "#{@ssh_command} > /dev/null 2>&1 &" 
    end 
    
    # Adapted from Evan Weaver: http://blog.evanweaver.com/articles/2007/07/13/developing-a-facebook-app-locally/ 
    desc "Check if reverse tunnel is running"
    task :status => [ :environment, :config ] do
     if `ssh #{@public_host} -l #{@public_host_username} netstat -an | egrep "tcp.*:#{@public_port}.*LISTEN" | wc`.to_i > 0
       puts "Seems ok"
     else
       puts "Down"
     end
    end

    task :config => :environment do 
     fb_config = YAML.load(ERB.new(File.read(File.join(RAILS_ROOT, 'config', 'network.yml'))).result)[RAILS_ENV]
     @public_host_username = fb_config['tunnel']['public_host_username'] 
     @public_host = fb_config['tunnel']['public_host'] 
     @public_port = fb_config['tunnel']['public_port'] 
     @local_port = fb_config['tunnel']['local_port'] 
     @ssh_port = fb_config['tunnel']['ssh_port'] || 22
     @server_alive_interval = fb_config['tunnel']['server_alive_interval'] || 0
     @notification = "Starting tunnel #{@public_host}:#{@public_port} to 0.0.0.0:#{@local_port}"
     @notification << " using SSH port #{@ssh_port}" unless @ssh_port == 22
     # "GatewayPorts yes" needs to be enabled in the remote's sshd config
     @ssh_command = %Q[ssh -v -p #{@ssh_port} -nNT4 -o "ServerAliveInterval #{@server_alive_interval}" -R *:#{@public_port}:127.0.0.1:#{@local_port} #{@public_host_username}@#{@public_host}]
    end
  end  
  desc "Create a reverse ssh tunnel from a public server to a private development server."
  task :tunnel => tunnel_ns[:start]
  
end