SecureTunnel Command Line

About

  • The SecureTunnel executable is available in form of a command-line utility and a desktop application.

    The command-line utility is helpful when you need to automate the tunnel start and stop.

  • The utility works on Windows, Linux and Mac OS systems.

  • It works with both HTTP and HTTPS traffic.

  • The utility is resource friendly. It doesn’t have any specific requirements and can run on almost any machine, even on a “weak” one.

  • For details of the tunnel functioning, see SecureTunnel.

1. Set up the SecureTunnel command-line utility

  • You can download the tunnel desktop app from the product UI.

    1. Log in to BitBar and click Secure Tunnel in the toolbar.

    2. In the subsequent dialog box, click the link on the Desktop tab page to download the SecureTunnel executable (SBSecureTunnel.exe):

      Download the desktop Tunnel application

      Note

      BitBar automatically provides the package that matches your operating system: Windows, Linux, or MacOS.

That’s all. You can run the downloaded executable as it is. Depending on the security settings, the operating system may ask your permission to run it. Grant the permission.

2. Start the tunnel

In general case, you can start the tunnel from the BitBar website or on your computer (see Secure Tunnel Desktop App). Using the command-line utility implies that you start the tunnel from your computer. Open the command line window and enter the command like this:

SBSecureTunnel.exe --username "[email protected]" --authkey aaabbbXXXXXNNNNccc --acceptAllCerts

Here, --username is your BitBar account (email address), and --authkey is your authentication key (also called API key). --acceptAllCerts commands the tunnel to accept security certificates. For detailed information on supported command-line parameters, see below.

Tip

You can get the needed command line at any time on the BitBar website: open the Secure Tunnel dialog box and select the needed options on the Command Line tab. The dialog will update the sample command line respectively:

Configure command line

Important

The tunnel connects to the geo.tunnel.smartbear.com server through port 443. It is important that proxies and firewalls running in your network allow connection to this URL and port.

3. Run your tests

After the tunnel is up and running, you can create or run your tests as you regularly do. For details, see the following links:

go.gifLive (or Manual) Testing

go.gifAutomated Testing

4. Close the tunnel

Regardless of the way you started the tunnel, you can close it on the BitBar website: open the Secure Tunnel dialog box and click Disconnect.

Close the tunnel

Click the image to enlarge it.

You can also close the tunnel from the command line by using the --kill parameter. See below.

Command-line syntax

The utility supports special parameters to enable you to configure every aspect of tunnel functioning. The parameters can be organized into the following logical groups:

SBSecureTunnel.exe <required-params> <working-mode-params> <additional-params>

Required parameters

By using the SBSecureTunnel command-line utility, you can start SecureTunnel in various configurations. In every call, you should specify these parameters:

SBSecureTunnel.exe --username your-account --authkey auth-key
  • --username is the name of your BitBar account (for example, [email protected]).

  • --authkey is your authentication key (also called API key).

Recommended parameters

In most cases, you will run the utility with the following parameters:

SBSecureTunnel.exe --username your-account --authkey auth-key --acceptAllCerts

This call initiates the tunnel of the Internal Websites type with the the Accept all SSL certificates and Bypass tunnel for public URLs settings enabled (for more information on them, see Tunnel Settings).

Note that the Internal Websites mode is used by default and doesn’t require any command-line argument for activation. The same is with the Bypass … setting.

Run in Proxy Server mode

To run the tunnel in the Tunnel Settings mode, add the --proxyIp and --proxyPort parameters to the command line:

SBSecureTunnel.exe --username your-account --authkey auth-key --proxyIp ip-address --proxyPort proxy-port-number

Run in Local HTML Files mode

Currently, BitBar doesn’t support this mode.

Bypass tunnel for public URLs

By default, the Bypass tunnel for public URLs setting is on and you don’t need to add anything to the command line to activate it.

If you need to disable the setting, add --bypass false to the command line:

SBSecureTunnel.exe --username your-account --authkey auth-key --bypass false

Accept all SSL certificates

To enable the Accept all SSL certificates setting, add --acceptAllCerts to the command line. If this parameter is absent, the setting is off:

SBSecureTunnel.exe --username your-account --authkey auth-key --acceptAllCerts

Additional options

--kill file-name

Commands the tunnel executable to monitor the specified file. Once the file appears, the tunnel executable shuts down. The file format and contents don’t matter. It can be an empty file. The SecureTunnel utility checks only the file presence. See also Using Tunnels in Automated Tests.

Note

If the file name contains spaces, enclose it in quotes.

--ready file-name

Commands the tunnel executable to create the specified file after the tunnel connection has been set up successfully (the created file is empty). Your automation framework can check the presence of this file to determine if the tunnel is ready or not. See also Using Tunnels in Automated Tests.

Note

If the file name contains spaces, enclose it in quotes.

--verbose

When this parameter is used in the command line, the SecureTunnel utility posts messages about its work to the command-line window. This diagnose issues when the tunnel fails to start. By default, the verbose mode is off.

See Also

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