I'm trying to set up a Windows computer to always have two SSH tunnels to my Linux server.
Currently, I'm using PuTTY to open the two SSH tunnels: I log in to the server in PuTTY, leave it minimized, and never touch it. This works well, except when the SSH connection drops: PuTTY displays an error message, and I need to manually close the error and reconnect to the server.
What I'd like to do is have an application that can set up the two SSH tunnels, and can automatically reconnect, without needing to manually do anything, including enter a password. The data I'm sending across the two tunnels is VNC connections, so I often won't be at the machine to clear errors and enter passwords. The two tunnels are one local tunnel, and one remote tunnel.
(Yes, I am aware of the hazards of automatically logging in to SSH. I'm planning on making a dedicated user with no privileges and not allowed to interactively log in, and use that.)
I did find this question: How to reliably keep an SSH tunnel open?, but that's using Linux as the SSH client, and I'm using Windows.
Best Answer
Try Bitvise Tunnelier - it works for me. I set it to establish SSH tunnels while only being visible as a tray icon. It establishes the SSH connection on startup and re-establishes it as soon as connectivity is restored after a cut or after the system went to sleep. I still prefer the looks of the Putty console, so I keep using it - but for keeping tunnels up I now use Tunnelier. The only major downside I have found is the lack of IPv6 support, which Putty provides with no user action needed.