Secure Remote Access to Your Ubuntu PC with SSH and Cloudflare Tunnel

Sometimes you want to access your Ubuntu machine remotely, but you don’t have a static IP. That was my case recently. I wanted to set up a secure SSH tunnel, and I managed to do it using OpenSSH along with Cloudflare Tunnel. Here’s how I did it.

Step 1: Install OpenSSH

On my Ubuntu machine, I first installed OpenSSH:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install openssh-server -y
sudo systemctl enable ssh
sudo systemctl start ssh

This ensured that the SSH service was running and ready to accept connections.

Step 2: Check SSH Status

You can confirm that SSH is running with:

sudo systemctl status ssh

The default SSH port is 22, so I could access my machine locally via:

ssh username@localhost

Step 3: Handle Dynamic IP with Cloudflare Tunnel

Since my PC didn’t have a static IP, I used Cloudflare Tunnel to expose my localhost securely to the internet. This way, I could connect from anywhere without worrying about IP changes.

Steps:

1. Install Cloudflare Tunnel on Ubuntu.
2. Authenticate with your Cloudflare account.
3. Create a tunnel that points to localhost:22.

Now the tunnel forwards traffic from the internet to my local SSH port.

Step 4: Add SSH Key to Authorized Keys

1. Generate SSH Key (if you don’t have one) On your local machine (Ubuntu, Mac, or Windows with Git Bash/WSL):

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "your_email@example.com"

Press Enter to accept default file location (~/.ssh/id_rsa). Optionally set a passphrase for extra security.

This creates:

• id_rsa → private key (keep safe, never share)
• id_rsa.pub → public key (this is what you share with the server)

2. Copy Public Key to Remote Server

ssh-copy-id username@localhost

If using Cloudflare Tunnel, first do it locally on the server:

cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

Make sure the permissions are correct:

chmod 700 ~/.ssh
chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

3. Test Local SSH Connection

ssh username@localhost

You should now log in without a password if using key-based authentication.

Step 5: Connect Remotely

Once the Cloudflare tunnel was up, I could connect to my Ubuntu machine from anywhere:

ssh username@<cloudflare-tunnel-address>

The traffic is routed securely via the tunnel, giving me the flexibility of remote access without a static IP.

Conclusion

Using OpenSSH along with Cloudflare Tunnel is a simple yet powerful solution for remote access when you don’t have a static IP. It’s secure, fast, and reliable.

What’s even more exciting is that the same SSH tunnel lets me access my PC’s terminal directly from my mobile!