ButConnect in Direct Mode

ButConnect solves the situation when there's no remote access endpoint in the target network.
But it's still useful if there is ...

The main purpose of ButConnect is to provide a way to access distant computers and to perform maintenance and service for hosts that would not be accessable otherwise because they're not in the local network, there's no VPN connection to or because other tools to connect are not used for some reason (privacy, license, cost, ...).

In a long term customer liaison, quite often some kind of access to their network is available:

• Of course, if there's a VPN connection, it can (and should) be used.
• If there's an SSH server available, it allows extensive and secure possibilities to access hosts in the remote network, too. It would be advisable to use the port forwarding capabilities that are provided by the secure shell protocol.

Here, ButConnect comes into play: Since ButConnect is already based on the SSH port forwarding mechanism in its default mode, it is obvious to utilize these facilities for its direct mode, too. The complexity of port forwarding SSH connections can be reduced dramatically by using ButConnect.

It turned out that ButConnect is even more useful and turns into a universal and fully-fledged remote service tool when used in this direct mode as well as in its original mode — at least when an SSH server is available.

With both modes, ButConnect can replace all those well known and widely used remote support tools at once.

With ButConnect, all the different connections to various hosts and services can be controlled and configured in an easy and clear way: After choosing a connection, only the passphrase for the SSH key needs to be entered and the appropriate tools and utilities (VNC, RDP, PuTTY, native or Cygwin command line tools, browser, ..., whatever) are started automatically with adequate parameters.