[sf-lug] sending mail through SSH port forwarding

[Jeff Tchang]

> This seems to be working, but I had a few general questions:
>
> a)  Is the above setup actually sending everything encrypted (safe
>    to use over unsecured public wifi networks)?

Data within the tunnel is encrypted. For all intensive purposes this
is enough to foil someone's attempt at sniffing your outgoing mail.

> b)  I notice that the SSH port forwarding remains persistent across
>    disconnecting & reconnecting the DSL connection. Are there any
>    potential disadvantages to leaving this up? Is there a way to stop
>    the process other than killing it by PID? Would it make sense
>    to issue the above ssh command when booting ( /etc/init.d/ )?

Exactly what do you mean by disconnecting and reconnecting the DSL
connection? You mean the connection on the remote host?
In general the tunnel will go down when you disconnect your SSH
session cleanly. If you don't do it cleanly the open socket will
linger a while until the TCP timeout is reached.