Yahoo and HTTP Tunneling..

7 10 2006

This started around 9 AM in the morning. As usual when i started up Gaim to connect to Yahoo from my SuSE 10.1 Box, It won’t connect after 10 to 15mins. Then i started the debug mode using : gaim -d
And here is the error :
dns[some_number]: nobody needs me… =( proxy: Connected. proxy: getsockopt SO_ERROR check: Connection timed out
I thought something is wrong with my settings. So I did all sort of permutation combination with the proxy settings etc. After having messed up everything finally I deleted the preferences : /home/arun/.gaim
Start everything afresh..Still the same error
It appeared something is wrong with linux (my firewall settings) etc. So i tried Gaim in my friend’s Windows Box. Hmm still the same error. But Yahoo Messenger working fine.
That meant something is wrong with Gaim.
Next thing was to see the default ports Gaim connects through : 5050. And I checked the ports open by Yahoo in that Windows Box using :
netstat -b

Here i get the output that Yahoo is using HTTPS protocol (surprise !! I am not yet sure if Yahoo has this tunneling feature enabled..do enlighten me if you’ve any idea) But that meant that something was wrong with the default ports. And a quick nmap on the “Gateway” of my internet connection revealed that port 5050 is closed. Infact only port 80 and someothers are open !!

Now time for Google, search for tunneling begins !! Most of the apps available for Http Tunneling needed access to another Unix system which is freely visible to Outside World so that they would tunnel my port 5050 access through that machine. Here are some good papers (articles) i came across, these would make a nice 15 to 20mins reading :
http://stormwolf.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/proxyjail_background.html
http://www.geocities.com/smart031279/ip_tunneling.htm
http://sebsauvage.net/punching/
http://proxytunnel.sourceforge.net/paper.php

The last link did the trick..I got this app Torr
Download the source..build it and put the settings file. Now start the app and change the proxy settings for Gaim. And i could get in

Kudos to the Torr developers out there
Don’t ask me at what time i finished this whole experiment

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Date : 7 October 2006
Categories : Internet

4 responses to “Yahoo and HTTP Tunneling..”

4 02 2007: Kunal (16:18:36) :

Torr works indeed! There’s a noticeable delay over YM, but I’m not complaining. Thanks for pointing to it. I am tempted to use it for torrents as well, but I want to be a good citizen of the community so will refrain from doing that Cheers.
4 02 2007: arun (17:11:54) :

Thats nice
Tor is awesome..these days I use it for IRC And i guess YM now supports connection through port 80 using gaim..
7 02 2007: Kunal (19:36:39) :

I use Adium, which can’t connect to YM network via port 80. It’s based on libgaim. And yes, IRC at work is a welcome addition too Cheers.
11 03 2007: saio (15:35:36) :

tor was a real good god-level find.
tanx a lot.

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