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Using an SSH tunnel to step debug through a firewall

In a previous post I covered how to set up PHP step debugging in Zend Studio. But if that doesn’t work there may be a firewall in between the server and the debugging client, or IDE, preventing the connection. Here is a possible way to get around that.

Note: Of course there is no way to avoid the firewall, but this post assumes a connection to the server using SSH is possible. What we’ll do is allow communications from the server to the client using the Zend Studio default debugging port (10137) forwarded through an SSH tunnel which uses port 22 by default. For this to work an SSH connection must be possible from the client to the server.

While it is possible to do this using command line from Linux or Mac, or using PuTTY on Windows, this example will use the built-in SSH capabilities of Zend Studio 13. For older versions of Zend Studio I recommend using command line or PuTTY linked above.

Assuming step debugging in Zend Studio was already set up as outlined in my previous post we will continue using that setup, but enhance it with an SSH tunnel.

In Zend Studio open the preferences. (Windows|Preferences) With the preferences open, expand the PHP node to get to Servers. Highlight the server configuration to work with, and click Edit.

When the Edit Server dialog opens select the SSH Tunneling tab. Check the box to Enable SSH Tunneling, and populate the desired Username and Password. If your server requires the use of an SSH Private Key in order to login, please supply that.

Now that the SSH connection is set up we need to add the Port Forwarding for the debugging port. Do this by clicking the Add button in the Port Forwarding section.

NOTE: The SSH command would look like this:

$ ssh -R 10137:127.0.0.1:10137 [email protected]: -p 22

Select ‘remote’ to specify which side of the tunnel will be sending communication on the forwarded port, enter the local address the remote side (server) will use and port number to send to. Then enter the port number on the receiving end (the client). Now click Finish to apply the setup, and click finish to exit the preferences.

In the PHP Servers view (Windows|Show View|PHP Servers) right-click the server we just added SSH Tunneling support to and select Open SSH Tunnel. You should then see a brief dialog letting you know the connection was made.

We are ready to debug!

Since I was using Zend Server in this example I have Z-Ray available, and while on a page I wished to debug I could simply click on the debug icon and select any of the debugging options.

This will cause Zend Debugger to contact Zend Studio for debugging, which in turn will ask the user if they wish to open the debugging perspective.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Debugging over an SSH tunnel is not fast. Therefore you may notice a lag between initiating the debug session and your IDE reacting. After that things speed up, but the initial connection is slow on many networks.

If Yes is selected the IDE is now ready to perform any debugging the user desires.

Happy debugging!!!

This post is one in a series on debugging. For others click below:

PhpStorm and debugging issue
Setting up step debugging in Zend Studio
Setting up local debugging with PhpStorm

Setting up remote step debugging with Zend Studio

Recently I was helping someone set up step debugging of PHP in Zend Studio to debug a remote site, and had some difficulties. So I decided to create this post to remind me later, and perhaps help others get it set up.

I was doing this on an Ubuntu laptop, so while menus may vary slightly the process should be very similar regardless of OS. Also, I did this using a local VirtualBox virtual machine, using Bridged networking mode to simulate a remote server. In Zend Studio I had a project created with the Zend Framework Skeleton Application, and created a virtualhost in the virtual environment that mirrored that.

NOTE: If the desire is to use a local server the setup is much simpler.

Server setup

While this post doesn’t cover how to install Zend Debugger or Xdebug, ensure one of these are set up correctly. Also, ensure the debugger of choice “knows” where to find the IDE to be debugging from. Zend Debugger can try to do this automatically, or an IP can be manually specified within Zend Debugger or Xdebug. Also, if using Zend Debugger ensure the IP of the client is added to the whitelist. More on how to verify this IP from the client later.

Aiming at the server

The first step, assuming you already have a project created in Zend Studio, is to add a server to the project configuration. Do this in the preferences. (Windows|Preferences) With the preferences open, expand the PHP node to get to Servers.

From there click “New”, and follow the wizard for setup. The first step is to specify the type of server. In my case I was using an install of Zend Debugger that comes with Zend Server, so selected Remote Zend Server. Alternatively I could have easily selected Generic PHP Server to arrive at the same endpoint later.

Next, after giving this server a name and URL (ensure the URL actually hits the server), I am prompted for the Zend Server login credentials to gain access to the Zend Server Web API.

Entering the user and password authorizes Zend Studio to pull down an API key for interacting directly with Zend Server if I desired to later. (This creates a new Zend Server Web API Key on the server specifically for this client.) Alternatively it is possible to click Cancel and enter the credentials manually.

Again, this is not really required for simply debugging, but I’m including it for completeness sake.

At this point a test can be run to ensure we are hitting the server as expected by clicking the Test button.

NOTE: If this doesn’t end in a success you may have some network issues to overcome. See my post on using an SSH Tunnel if you need to.

After a success, click OK and then Finish the wizard. If you had troubles, please see my post for using an SSH tunnel.

Enable debugging for the project

With the server set up it is now possible to set up debugging for the Zend Studio project.

In the Preferences (Windows|Preferences) click on the Debug within the PHP node.

Though it is possible to specify the PHP Server globally from the resulting option screen I prefer to set up preferences for each project, since most of my projects may be different in any way. So I click Configure Project Specific Settings… link at the top of the dialog and am prompted to specify which project I desire to configure.

After selecting the appropriate project I can then appoint the server I just added above, and then specify the Base Path and ensure the Auto-generated Base URL is correct in the lower section.

After approving and closing the Preferences, we are ready to debug!!!

Test: If the following step doesn’t work it may be because the debugger on the server cannot find the IDE. In a browser check what ports the IDE is listening on by entering the following URL to hit Zend Studio’s built in web server.

If the debug_host doesn’t show an IP address reachable by the server then it may be necessary to manually specify the IP in Zend Studio by altering the server configuration we created previously.

If the IP address should be reachable by the server the issue may be in the configuration on the servers end, or perhaps a firewall or load balancer in between is limiting. Please see my post on how to get around this with an SSH tunnel.

Since I was using Zend Server in this example I have Z-Ray available, and while on a page I wished to debug I could simply click on the debug icon and select any of the debugging options.

This will cause Zend Debugger to contact Zend Studio for debugging, which in turn will ask the user if they wish to open the debugging perspective.

If Yes is selected the IDE is now ready to perform any debugging the user desires.

I hope this helps others. Happy debugging!!!

This post is one in a series on debugging. For others click below:

PhpStorm and debugging issue
Using an SSH tunnel to step debug through a firewall
Setting up local step debugging with PhpStorm

Add items to Ubuntu 12.04 Unity Launcher (quicklaunch)

The recent upgrade to Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin left me somewhat hanging when it comes to creating launchers on the desktop, and also in the Unity Launcher (also called quicklaunch in some places) for Zend Studio and PHPStorm. In Gnome prior to Unity in Ubuntu it was easy to right click the desktop and select Create Launcher to create icons on the desktop to launch applications or scripts, but in 12.04 that options is gone. So here is how I solved some of the issues.

I will cover adding Eclipse to the launcher, adding Zend Studio to the launcher, and PHPStorm to the launcher.

Method 1 (easiest)

For Netbeans and Eclipse based editors like Zend Studio or Aptana it is not too bad. I created a {name}.desktop files for each one and put it in the /home/{username}/.local/share/applications/ directory. Here is how I created a zendstudio.desktop file:

Note: If you want this option to be available for all users you can alternatively create the file in the /usr/share/applications/ directory, but that requires superuser permissions.

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Name=Zend Studio
Comment=PHP IDE for PHP development
Type=Application
Categories=Development;IDE;
Exec=/home/{username}/Zend/ZendStudio/ZendStudio
Terminal=false
StartupNotify=true
Icon=/home/{username}/Zend/ZendStudio/icon.xpm
Name[en_US]=Zend Studio

After creating the file above I rebooted. Following the reboot I was able to click the Unity Dash Home button, type “Zend” in the search field, then drag and drop the Zend Studio icon to the launcher where I wanted it to be. Now the application stays in the Unity Launcher.

For PHPStorm see method 3 below.

Method 2

Another method I found was to install the ‘gnome-panel’ package. (Actually it was already installed on my system for some reason.)

sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends gnome-panel

With the gnome-panel I was now able to create a launcher on the desktop using the command below.

gnome-desktop-item-edit ~/Desktop/ --create-new

In the create launcher dialog I filled it out as follows:
Type: Application
Name: PhpStorm
Command: /bin/bash /home/username/PhpStorm/PhpStorm-117.257/bin/phpstorm.sh

NOTE: You could use /bin/sh or whatever shell you use. I use bash so that is why I put /bin/bash.

To create a shortcut in the Unity Launcher I double clicked the new desktop launcher I created above. (NOTE: If you start PHPStorm by executing the phpstorm.sh you do not get any options at all when right clicking the icon in the Unity Launcher.) Then when PHPStorm was running I was then able to right click on the icon in the Unity Launcher and selected “Lock to Launcher”. Voila! Now I have phpstorm on the Unity Launcher.

Method 3

This option is built right into PHPStorm. The wonderful people at JetBrains created a handy item in Tools to automatically create a menu item for you. Simply click on Tools->Create Desktop entry…and now you can Lock to Launcher the next time you run it. Start the JetBrains PhpStorm IDE from the Unity Dash you can then right click on the icon that shows up in the Unity Launcher and select “Lock to Launcher”. The icon now stays there, even after a reboot/logout.

Update:

Method 4

See comment to this post below by Shinybird on using Ubuntu Tweak. (Not sure if it works, but it sounds good.)

Enjoy!!!

Zend Studio IDE knowledge nuggets!

I recently realized a few things that I didn’t know about the Zend Studio IDE. As many know I have used the Zend Studio IDE for PHP development for some time. All along I have been using the templates built into the IDE, and never realized that they could be changed since I had no need. My coding standard for years has been the same as the default templates built into the Zend Studio. However, my new employer has a large percentage of coders using Vi who had a different standard in relation to white space than I did, and they were not open to changing their coding standard to meet my Zend Studio preference.

So I had a dilemma. How could I continue to produce speedy PHP using the IDE if I had to type out functions, classes, and “if” statements 100%? (I feel that I save a significant amount of time using the template auto complete shortcuts.) The alternative was to continually edit these constructs after allowing the code completion to insert them.

Continue reading Zend Studio IDE knowledge nuggets!