BitTorrent: Bypass any Firewall or Throttling ISP with SSH

Written by Ernesto on October 14, 2007 

On some networks it’s impossible to use BitTorrent. For example, if you’re at work, school, or connected to Comcast or a public hotspot. But there’s an easy solution to overcome this problem. By using a secure connection (SSH), you can bypass almost every firewall or traffic shaping application.

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Here’s a relatively simple 3-step guide that will show you how to set it up.

I wouldn’t recommend BitTorrent over SSH as a permanent solution since it will cripple the servers of the SSH providers. If you’re looking for a long term solution check out a VPN service such as Relakks.

1. Get an SSH account.

You need an SSH account in order to get this working. You can try one of these free shell providers from this list. I currently use silenceisdefeat which requires a small $1 donation. However, the account is immediately activated and works fine for me.

2. Download, Install and Configure Putty

Download Putty, store it somewhere on your computer and run it. In the session screen enter the host name (I use ssh.silenceisdefeat.org), the port number (22), and tick the connection type box (SSH).

ssh putty tunnels

Next, go to SSH –> Tunnels, enter a source port and tick the dynamic box. I’m using port 23456, but you are free to choose any post you like as long as it’s available.

ssh

When you’re done, it might be a good idea to save the session so you don’t have to enter the info next time you run Putty. If you’re ready, hit the “open” button in the session screen. A command-line interface will pop-up so enter your username and password that you received from your shell-provider, and you’re done.

3. Configure your BitTorrent client.

The last step is to configure your BitTorrent client. I will show you how it’s done in uTorrent and Azureus but other BitTorrent clients use a similar setup.

uTorrent: go to Options > Preferences > Connection. Enter your port number (I use 23456), socks 4 or 5 as type, and localhost in the proxy field.

Azureus: go to Tools > Options > Connection > Proxy Options. Tick the “Enable proxying of tracker communications” and “I have a SOCKS proxy” box. Next, enter your port number in the port field (I use 23456) and localhost in the host field.

utorrent ssh configuration

When you’re done, restart your BitTorrent client and you’re ready to go. BitTorrent over SSH tends to be a bit slower than your normal connection, but it’s a great solution when BitTorrent connections are blocked or throttled.

For those on a Mac OSX, please check out this great tutorial (which in part inspired this article) for more details. It includes instructions on how to do this on a Mac, using Azureus.

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189 Responses

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126 Oct 22, 2007 at 08:00 by Hippo

Turns out I was not completely correct by stating that UDP is the main protocol. I guess I got confused between bittorrent and another service I tunnel via PPTP.

Regardless, by monitoring the traffic, you will still see that none of it goes over the tunnel. UDP was just a sign since some of my peers are UDP from what I could tell from Wireshark.

127 Oct 22, 2007 at 12:42 by Logie

Sandvine wasn’t affecting my comcast until this past week.. Tunneling appeared to work, but when I was looking at the packets I noticed it all still was going through my connection as opposed to through the tunnel.

I connected to my work VPN and set all traffic to go through that — at which point my port forward was out the drain (resolved my forwarded port to the PIX at work which denied it)..

So.. Not really sure how to get around this.

128 Oct 23, 2007 at 18:10 by xtidix

[quote comment="187455"]Confirmed, working ;-) This also works great as a browser proxy ;)[/quote]
Works as a proxy?
Really?

How?

129 Oct 25, 2007 at 08:56 by Anonymous

p2p users:

or you could buy a rapidshare.com premium account for 5/month and max ur net speed :D

btw anyone know how to get around packet inspection? it’s like novell..and they don’t allow ssh :S

130 Oct 28, 2007 at 21:53 by Anonymous

Goto DreamHost.com. They’re having a huge sale. One year for 10$. Get a great website with lots bandwidth for SSH.

131 Oct 29, 2007 at 02:44 by Palo

I called in yesterday to see why my SSH was sometimes working and sometimes being throttled based on what I read here on DSLreports. The kind rep over the phone was not sure what I was talking about it, so I mentioned the exact link to this post. He goes on hold for a few minutes and comes back later and I am now speaking to someone who works in the Technical support department who just finnished completing a ticket for the issue, thanking me for reporting this undocumented loophole. The last thing he said before he got off the phone is that Bypassing throttling is against TOS and this will be closed up real soon. I guess the hype was short lived.

132 Oct 31, 2007 at 20:17 by Anonymous

metropipe…

133 Nov 02, 2007 at 19:02 by bigbadbruno

I’ve got Comcast and I ran through all these steps perfectly. It still says I am not connected , that port 23456 is not forwarded. Do I need to do something with my router? What do I do? I am losing seed ration tremendously because of this. Thanks.

134 Nov 02, 2007 at 19:06 by bigbadbruno

I’ve got Comcast and I ran through all these steps perfectly. It still says I am not connected , that port 23456 is not forwarded. Do I need to do something with my router? What do I do? I am losing seed ratio tremendously because of this. Thanks.

135 Nov 08, 2007 at 04:23 by Anonymous

http://www.freebsdcluster.dk/~lasse/sshazureustunnel/

136 Nov 08, 2007 at 04:24 by Anonymous

freebsdcluster.dk/~lasse/sshazureustunnel/

137 Nov 09, 2007 at 05:11 by big

how can i keep putty active?

138 Nov 10, 2007 at 16:17 by Anonymous

Connection - Seconds between keepalives - 1

Enable tcp keepalives

SSH - Kex - Max minutes before rekey - 1

139 Nov 12, 2007 at 20:00 by PB

For a USA VPN provider with no limit on bandwidth try http://www.strongvpn.com I was able to get much better download speeds then the other VPN account providers.

140 Nov 13, 2007 at 07:50 by Anonymous

ziv_r

141 Nov 13, 2007 at 21:17 by Anonymous

is the site died?

142 Nov 17, 2007 at 06:55 by Anonymous Coward

You are a douchebag for posting a link to a US based shell provider for this…

143 Nov 18, 2007 at 14:20 by Ceri

Also doesn’t help the poor suckers with unfair usage caps. Ok I admit the ISPs do have some reasons for having caps here in Australia but still doesn’t make them particularly far when you hit your quota within a day.

144 Nov 20, 2007 at 22:00 by jackass

you guys suck balls

145 Nov 20, 2007 at 22:02 by jackass

fuckers

146 Nov 20, 2007 at 22:03 by jackass

bitches

147 Nov 20, 2007 at 22:04 by jackass

people who have read this are prostitutes

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