---
title: Use a SOCKS5 Proxy to Access the Kubernetes API
content_type: task
weight: 42
min-kubernetes-server-version: v1.24
---
<!-- overview -->

{{< feature-state for_k8s_version="v1.24" state="stable" >}}

This page shows how to use a SOCKS5 proxy to access the API of a remote Kubernetes cluster.
This is useful when the cluster you want to access does not expose its API directly on the public internet.

## {{% heading "prerequisites" %}}

{{< include "task-tutorial-prereqs.md" >}} {{< version-check >}}

You need SSH client software (the `ssh` tool), and an SSH service running on the remote server.
You must be able to log in to the SSH service on the remote server.

<!-- steps -->

## Task context

{{< note >}}
This example tunnels traffic using SSH, with the SSH client and server acting as a SOCKS proxy.
You can instead use any other kind of [SOCKS5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SOCKS#SOCKS5) proxies.
{{</ note >}}

Figure 1 represents what you're going to achieve in this task.

* You have a client computer, referred to as local in the steps ahead, from where you're going to create requests to talk to the Kubernetes API.
* The Kubernetes server/API is hosted on a remote server.
* You will use SSH client and server software to create a secure SOCKS5 tunnel between the local and
  the remote server. The HTTPS traffic between the client and the Kubernetes API will flow over the SOCKS5
  tunnel, which is itself tunnelled over SSH.

{{< mermaid >}}
graph LR;

  subgraph local[Local client machine]
  client([client])-. local <br> traffic .->  local_ssh[Local SSH <br> SOCKS5 proxy];
  end
  local_ssh[SSH <br>SOCKS5 <br> proxy]-- SSH Tunnel -->sshd
  
  subgraph remote[Remote server]
  sshd[SSH <br> server]-- local traffic -->service1;
  end
  client([client])-. proxied HTTPs traffic <br> going through the proxy .->service1[Kubernetes API];

  classDef plain fill:#ddd,stroke:#fff,stroke-width:4px,color:#000;
  classDef k8s fill:#326ce5,stroke:#fff,stroke-width:4px,color:#fff;
  classDef cluster fill:#fff,stroke:#bbb,stroke-width:2px,color:#326ce5;
  class ingress,service1,service2,pod1,pod2,pod3,pod4 k8s;
  class client plain;
  class cluster cluster;
{{</ mermaid >}}
Figure 1. SOCKS5 tutorial components

## Using ssh to create a SOCKS5 proxy

The following command starts a SOCKS5 proxy between your client machine and the remote SOCKS server:

```shell
# The SSH tunnel continues running in the foreground after you run this
ssh -D 1080 -q -N username@kubernetes-remote-server.example
```

The SOCKS5 proxy lets you connect to your cluster's API server based on the following configuration: 
* `-D 1080`: opens a SOCKS proxy on local port :1080.
* `-q`: quiet mode. Causes most warning and diagnostic messages to be suppressed.
* `-N`: Do not execute a remote command. Useful for just forwarding ports.
* `username@kubernetes-remote-server.example`: the remote SSH server behind which the Kubernetes cluster 
  is running (eg: a bastion host).

## Client configuration

To access the Kubernetes API server through the proxy you must instruct `kubectl` to send queries through