Port Forward yum Around Draconian Firewall Restrictions

Problem:

A webserver, running linux (fedora core), with inbound ssh and www access. A very well configured firewall guards this server, so the only traffic in is ssh and www, and the only traffic out is from those externally initiated sessions. Specifically, no outgoing ssh, www, ftp, etc. once you're on the box.

Assume:

1. a running server with inbound and outbound ssh access
2. a running squid/proxy server, reachable from the above server

Solution:

• add to the /etc/yum.conf on the protected server:

    proxy=http://127.0.0.1:3128

• from the server with normal inbound/outbound ssh access:

    ssh -R 3128:squid.server:3128 user@protected.server

• yum update