Google Talk Over SSH

Introduction

As people have been anticipating all week, Google has just launched a new instant messaging application. It uses the open source/open standard Jabber protocols, has its own built-in voice protocol, and uses Google accounts (i.e., Gmail accounts) for login information. Smart choices all around -- and a very reasonable business play.

A year or two ago I wrote about how to use AIM over SSH and AIM over SSH for Windows -- two popular guides for IM users behind firewalls.

This is a quick guide on how to connect to Google Talk over SSH for Windows, Linux, and Mac OSX.

SSH Shell Account

Unlike AOL's AIM protocol, which requires two sockets to be opened (the server calls back to the client on a dynamically selected port), the Jabber protocol seems to work over a single socket. (Not including voice.) This is good -- it means that you don't need to set up a more complicated socks server to make it work.

All you need is a shell account on a machine somewhere outside your firewall. One list of places that offer free shell accounts can be found here:

http://www.ductape.net/~mitja/freeunix.shtml

Client SSH Setup (Linux, Mac OSX)

Next, you are going to use the ssh client to open a socket on your local machine that connects to the sshd daemon on your server and forwards all the packets over to Google.

Fortunately, this is incredibly easy. This technique works on Linux, BSD, or Mac OSX. Read the next section if you are on Windows.

When you are ready, run:

$ ssh -g -L 5223:talk.google.com:5223 -N you@yourserver.com

If you don't have ssh public/private keys enabled for that account, you will be prompted for the password on your ssh server. Go ahead and enter that now.

If things are working, it should simply connect and sit there doing nothing. Next, send the ssh process into the background. (This may differ from shell to shell.)

^Z zsh: pid suspended ssh -g -L 5223:talk.google.com:5223 -N you@yourserver.com $ bg [1] + continued ssh -g -L 5223:talk.google.com:5223 -N you@yourserver.com $ disown

Now, test that the packets are being forwarded by telnetting to localhost on port 5223. If you do it right, it should read:

$ telnet localhost 5223 Trying 127.0.0.1... Connected to localhost. Escape character is '^]'.

Hit ^]^D (that's control-"]" and control-"D") to exit back to the prompt, as it will just wait there for you to type something if everything is working.

Client SSH Setup (Windows)

On Windows you will need to download a free SSH client such as Putty.

To configure Putty, launch the application and go to the configuration screen (it should be the first thing you see) and navigate to category Connection->SSH->Tunnels.

Enter the following values under Add new forwarded port::

• Source port: "5223"
• Destination: "talk.google.com:5223"

This should look like:

Be sure to click on Add when you are done. If you did it right, it should now look like:

Next, navigate to the category Connection->SSH and enter the following values:

• Don't allocate a pseudo-terminal: [checked]
• Don't start a shell or command at all: [checked]

This should look like:

Next, navigate to the category Session/code> and enter the following values:

• Hostname: yourserver.com
• Saved Sessions: something like "Google Talk SSH"

Now hit Save to remember this session.

This should look like:

Finally, double click on the new saved session (or click on it, hit Load then Open), and you should see a window appear that is connecting to your server. Enter your SSH server username and password. You can now minimize this window and put it in the background.

Now you need to configure your IM client.

Google Talk Client (Windows)

Download the Google Talk client installer from talk.google.com and install the client. Next, open the Google Talk client (it may do so automatically), and click on the link for Settings. Navigate to the Connection tab and enter the following values:

• Use the following proxy:: [selected]
• Host: localhost
• Port: 5223

This should look like:

Click on Okay to return to the login screen. Next, enter your username and password:

• Username:: "your Gmail username@gmail.com"
• Password: your Gmail password

This should look like:

Finally, click Sign In and you should be logged into Google Talk.

iChat (Mac OSX)

In iChat go to iChat->Preferences->Accounts, and click the "+" sign for a new account. Choose the following options:

• Account Type: "Jabber Account"
• Jabber ID: "your Gmail username@gmail.com"
• Password: "your Gmail password"
• Server: "localhost"
• Description: something like "Google Talk"

This should look like:

Now, go ahead and log in. Just pull the drop down in your "Jabber List" window to "Available." It will pop up a dialog saying your password will be passed insecurely -- go ahead and accept that for now. I will try and find a fix around as soon as I can. If all works, you should see the familiar iChat screen:

Gaim (Linux, Windows, Mac OSX)

Open Gaim and go to Tools->Accounts. Click on Add to create a new account. Choose the following options (you will need to open up the "Show more options" tab):

• Protocol: "Jabber"
• Screen Name: "your Gmail username"
• Server: "gmail.com"
• Resouce: "Gaim"
• Password: "your Gmail password"
• Alias: your real name
• Use TLS if available: [checked]
• Force old SSL: [checked]
• Allow plaintext over unencrypted streams: [checked]
• Port: "5223"
• Connect server: "localhost"
• Proxy type: "No Proxy"

This should look like:

[Apparently this may also work by using port 5222 instead of 5223 (both SSH and in the Gaim configuration) , and not selecting "Force old SSL" or "Allow plaintext over unencrypted streams". Please let me know if you try this approach.]

Now, go ahead and log in by either clicking on the "Online" checkbox in the account list or by using the main Gaim login screen.

Conclusion

You should now be up and running. Please feel free to send me a test IM message if these instructions helped you get started with Google Talk.

Enjoy!