http tunneling between devices, behind firewalls

Question

Here's what we want to achieve. we have a http server running on a mobile device (yes, really). We'd like to connect to it via a browser. both mobile device and browser may be behind a firewall.

Obviously we need a third server sitting between the browser and the mobile device. this seems like a common problem (in general), so I am wondering if there are pre-built solutions?

Answer 1

There is actually two parts to the solution. first, "ssh reverse port forwarding" can be used to open a connection from a cloud server to a device behind a firewall. essentially, a local port on the cloud server is forwarded to the firewalled device.

As the cloud server is well, in the cloud and not behind a firewall, any device / browser with outbound access can connect to the firewalled device, by connecting to the cloud server.

Answer 2

The only term I've heard for this is "Hole Punching":

http://www.h-online.com/security/features/How-Skype-Co-get-round-firewalls-747197.html