---
title: "Port Forwarding with ngrok"
description: "Make your local server accessible from the internet"
summary: "Make your local server accessible from the internet"
date: 2023-09-15T07:37:05+07:00
draft: false
author: "Hiiruki" # ["Me", "You"] # multiple authors
tags: ["ngrok", "port-forwarding", "linux", "ssh", "tutorial", "server", "tcp"]
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---

## Introduction

[Port forwarding](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_forwarding "Port forwarding @ Wikipedia") is a technique that allows external devices to access a device that is behind a firewall, NAT, or private network. It is commonly used to make a local server accessible from the internet.

[ngrok](https://ngrok.com/ "ngrok") is a tool that creates a secure tunnel to your local server. It is free to use, but you can also buy a paid plan to get more features. ngrok is available for Windows, macOS, Linux, Docker, FreeBSD, etc.


## Steps

### 1. Download ngrok

Download [ngrok](https://ngrok.com/download "Download ngrok") from the official website.

You can also use `wget` to download ngrok directly to your server. This is useful if you want to use ngrok on a server that does not have a GUI.

> **Note:** Install `wget` if it is not installed on your server. For Debian/Ubuntu, you can install it with `sudo apt install wget`. For CentOS/RHEL, you can install it with `sudo yum install wget`.

{{< figure src="./images/step1.webp" caption="Install `wget` on CentOS" align="center" alt="Install wget on CentOS" >}}

Download ngrok with this command:

```bash
wget https://bin.equinox.io/c/bNyj1mQVY4c/ngrok-v3-stable-linux-amd64.tgz --no-check-certificate
```

`--no-check-certificate` is used to bypass the SSL certificate check. This is useful if you are using a self-signed certificate.

{{< figure src="./images/step1-2.webp" caption="ngrok download" align="center" alt="ngrok download" >}}

### 2. Extract ngrok

Extract it to a directory of your choice. I will use `/usr/local/bin` in this example.

```bash
tar -xzf ngrok-v3-stable-linux-amd64.tgz -C /usr/local/bin
```

![ngrok extract](./images/step2.webp#center "ngrok extract")

That command will extract the `ngrok` binary to `/usr/local/bin`. You can check if it is installed correctly by running `ngrok --version`

![ngrok version](./images/step2-2.webp#center "ngrok version")

### 3. Create an account

Create an account on [ngrok](https://dashboard.ngrok.com/signup "Sign up for ngrok") and get your auth token from the [dashboard](https://dashboard.ngrok.com/get-started/your-authtoken "Your authtoken @ ngrok dashboard").

![ngrok dashboard](./images/step3.webp#center "ngrok auth token")

### 4. Connect your account

Connect your account by running `ngrok authtoken <your_auth_token>`. Replace `<your_auth_token>` with your auth token.

or

`ngrok config add-authtoken <your_auth_token>`

![ngrok connect](./images/step4.webp#center "ngrok connect")

### 5. Start ngrok

In this example, I want to make my local SSH server accessible from the internet. So, I will use port 22 for this example.

Run `ngrok tcp 22` to start ngrok.

![ngrok start](./images/step5.webp#center "ngrok start")

### 6. Connect to your server

Connect to your server with the ngrok URL.

Domain: **0.tcp.ap.ngrok.io**<br>
Port: **11507**

So the full command will be `ssh username@0.tcp.ap.ngrok.io -p 11507`

{{< figure src="./images/step6.webp" caption="Remote SSH the **CentOS 7** using **Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS (WSL)** with ngrok" align="center" alt="Install wget on CentOS" >}}

> **Note:** The ngrok URL will change every time you start ngrok. So, you need to update the URL every time you start ngrok.

## Conclusion

That's it! Now you can make your local server accessible from the internet with ngrok. You can also use ngrok to make your local website accessible from the internet. Just use the right tunnel type for your server.

For example, if you want to make your local website accessible from the internet, you can use `ngrok http 80` to start ngrok. Then you can access your website with the ngrok URL. You can also use ngrok to make your local SSH server accessible from the internet. Just use `ngrok tcp 22` to start ngrok. Then you can connect to your server with the ngrok URL.

Further reading: [ngrok Tunnels](https://ngrok.com/docs/secure-tunnels/tunnels/ "ngrok Tunnels")

## References

- [ngrok documentation](https://ngrok.com/docs "ngrok Documentation")
- [Port forwarding - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_forwarding "Port forwarding - Wikipedia")
- [ngrok Tunnels](https://ngrok.com/docs/secure-tunnels/tunnels/ "ngrok Tunnels")