How to Configure SSH Port Forwarding on Linux

Local port forwarding over SSH (also known as SSH Tunneling) maps a local port on the client system to a remote port on the server system. This configuration enables you to access services on the remote system that are otherwise inaccessible because the services might be running behind a firewall or might not be listening on a public network interface.

You can use an ssh connection from a client to the server you want to forward a port from by using the -L option with the following syntax:

# ssh -L [bind_address:]port:host:hostport user@ssh_server

For instance, to forward the Cockpit service running on an Oracle Linux 8 server using port 9090, run this command on your SSH client: