combo unix ssh port forwarding + iChatAV + Bonjour question
I don't know which forum is best for this question, so thought I'd try here first.
I've been tossing around the idea of picking up a couple of iSights and running iChatAV. Problem is, if I understand this correctly, iChatAV uses a couple of ports for connections to third-party servers: AOL buddy server or Jabber server, a port for something called snatmap, a port for SIP, and some other stuff. Plus, it requires that you open up nearly 20 ports on your network for the AV traffic! (I get nervous just having my non-standard ports for smtp and ssh open, and my imaps port open (which is another issue -- anybody know how to change imaps port 993 to a non-standard port if running uw-imap server?) It doesn't look like iChatAV can, normally, operate by "calling up" an IP address or hostname...it always has to set up calls using AOL or Jabber...unless, perhaps, the destination iSight/iChatAV is on your own Bonjour-capable subnet.
So, I'm thinking, what if a calling party created a ssh tunnel and port-forwarded the dozens of UDP and couple of TCP ports over a ssh tunnel, as a lengthy list of port forward options like "-L 5297:localhost:5297 -L ...", (assuming that the forwarding host, to whom the caller ssh's, is the same computer that is running iChatAV, hence, the remote host specification in the "-L" option of "localhost"). Would the caller then be able to treat the connection like Bonjour networking and when he calls localhost on his end of the circuit, it "bonjours" to the called hostname's localhost and thus a peer-to-peer connection would be made?
Or perhaps a reverse port forward tunnel ("-R" options) could be set up in advance by the "to-be-called" party, and then the calling party initiates a iChatAV call as a "same-subnet-as-calling-computer-via-Bonjour" type of call?
I'm just kicking around some thoughts here; I don't know enough about the intricacies of iChatAV and Bonjour (and ssh) to really know all the "gotchas" and I'd like to get the planning done with a high degree of confidence of success before I plunk out $300 on two iSights.
If the general concensus of the group moderator and others on this forum is that this question should be posted in another forum, I apologize, and I'll move, but I thought that the ssh tunneling nature of my inquiry (and my unrelated side question about how to change 993 to a non-standard port) made this forum the obvious, and best, choice.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts on these issues!
2001 Quicksilver G4 Mac OS X (10.4.5)
I've been tossing around the idea of picking up a couple of iSights and running iChatAV. Problem is, if I understand this correctly, iChatAV uses a couple of ports for connections to third-party servers: AOL buddy server or Jabber server, a port for something called snatmap, a port for SIP, and some other stuff. Plus, it requires that you open up nearly 20 ports on your network for the AV traffic! (I get nervous just having my non-standard ports for smtp and ssh open, and my imaps port open (which is another issue -- anybody know how to change imaps port 993 to a non-standard port if running uw-imap server?) It doesn't look like iChatAV can, normally, operate by "calling up" an IP address or hostname...it always has to set up calls using AOL or Jabber...unless, perhaps, the destination iSight/iChatAV is on your own Bonjour-capable subnet.
So, I'm thinking, what if a calling party created a ssh tunnel and port-forwarded the dozens of UDP and couple of TCP ports over a ssh tunnel, as a lengthy list of port forward options like "-L 5297:localhost:5297 -L ...", (assuming that the forwarding host, to whom the caller ssh's, is the same computer that is running iChatAV, hence, the remote host specification in the "-L" option of "localhost"). Would the caller then be able to treat the connection like Bonjour networking and when he calls localhost on his end of the circuit, it "bonjours" to the called hostname's localhost and thus a peer-to-peer connection would be made?
Or perhaps a reverse port forward tunnel ("-R" options) could be set up in advance by the "to-be-called" party, and then the calling party initiates a iChatAV call as a "same-subnet-as-calling-computer-via-Bonjour" type of call?
I'm just kicking around some thoughts here; I don't know enough about the intricacies of iChatAV and Bonjour (and ssh) to really know all the "gotchas" and I'd like to get the planning done with a high degree of confidence of success before I plunk out $300 on two iSights.
If the general concensus of the group moderator and others on this forum is that this question should be posted in another forum, I apologize, and I'll move, but I thought that the ssh tunneling nature of my inquiry (and my unrelated side question about how to change 993 to a non-standard port) made this forum the obvious, and best, choice.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts on these issues!
2001 Quicksilver G4 Mac OS X (10.4.5)