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remote tunnel to a web server ​

This document describes how to use Microsoft Dev tunnels to connect to a web server running on a remote machine.

Imagine this scenario: you are working on a web application that is running on your local machine, and you want to show it to a friend or a colleague. You can use this feature to share your local web server with them.

In order to do that, you first need to have a Microsoft or a GitHub account. In this document, I am using a Microsoft account.

Let's get started!

step 1 - Install devtunnel CLI ​

Run the following command to install the devtunnel CLI:

bash
curl -sL https://aka.ms/DevTunnelCliInstall | bash

See Install the DevTunnel CLI for more information.

step 2 - Start a web server on your local machine ​

In this example, I am using a simple web server that serves a static HTML page. You can use any web server you want.

bash
# Create a simple HTML page that says "Hello World"
echo "Hello World" > index.html

# Start a simple web server that serves the index.html file
python3 -m http.server 8080

step 3 - Create a devtunnel to the web server ​

  • Login to your Microsoft account using device code authentication:

    bash
    devtunnel user login -d

  • Create a temporary devtunnel to the web server on port 8080, and allow anonymous access:

    bash
    devtunnel host -p 8080 --allow-anonymous

Step 4 - Access the web server from the browser ​

  • Open your browser and navigate to the URL that was printed in the previous step.
  • You should see the "Hello World" page.