title: Connecting/Tunneling to remote server to bypass firewall
body: <p>I want to try out some of the MySQL software, like Workbench, on the MySQL Db I develop on at work. After many failed attempts to make the connection, I finally asked one of the server admins if I was doing something wrong and was informed that the Db is behind firewall. So I can use phpMyAdmin, since it's installed server-side, but not Excel, Workbench, etc (from my machine).</p>
  
  <p>So I would like to know if there is a fairly standard way to make a VPN-like connection to the server. Currently I use an SSH client to connect with no problem. But obviously that's not linking my local apps to the server. So can I make the connection in such a way that my whole system (so to speak) is considered signed on to the server? VPN is the closest analogy I can make, but that's not an option.</p>
  
  <p>And....</p>
  
  <p>Is that considered fairly "black hat" or is just something I don't know how to do but all the cool kids are doing it legitimately?</p>
  
  <p>Thanks</p>