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SSH Tunnel is possible to encrypt most insecure TCP connections with the SSH port forwarding technique.

Other than security feature of SSH Tunnel, network administrators can also simplify firewall rules configuration by opening only port 22 (legacy TCP port of SSH protocol) to the public networks.
With the only TCP port 22 opened, the general public can utilize SSH port forwarding technique to remote access the servers in data centre (internal network) via Windows Remote Desktop protocol (RDP or port 3389), VNC protocol (RFB or Remote Frame Buffer protocol), Telnet protocol (port 23), FTP protocol (port 20 & port 21), etc.
How to setup Remote Desktop Connection with SSH port forwarding in Windows Vista Ultimate via Putty SSH client?
As the office Checkpoint Firewall only allows SSH traffic, I’ve to use SSH port forwarding technique to remote access Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition in data centre from my home Desktop that running on Windows Vista Ultimate
Open Putty Configuration dialog box, click the Session menu on the Category pane, specify the remote SSH server hostname / IP address, the SSH port number, and the SSH protocol.

In this example, only the RedhatSSH server is accessible from Internet via SSH protocol
Click the Tunnels menu in the Category tree, specify a free TCP port in the local system (the Vista Ultimate home Desktop), the Remote Desktop service host (the Windows Server 2003 in data centre) and the Remote Desktop service listening port (default to TCP port 3389) for the SSH Local Port Forwarding setting. Click the Add button to add them to the Forwarded Ports text-box.
To find out an unused (free) TCP port in Windows Vista, randomly select a port number (say 9999) and type netstat -ant | find “9999″ in an elevated privilege Vista Command Prompt window. The command will show empty output if the TCP port is free or unused!

Specify to use local TCP port 9999, Win2003 as the hostname of Windows Server 2003 and 3389 as the Remote Desktop service listening port. In order Vista Ultimate able to resolve the Win2003 hostname, edit %windir%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts file and add the IP-Hostname entry accordingly
As with X Window or Real VNC connection, Remote Desktop might be showing less responsive graphical interface when connecting over a slow network connection, such as dial-up modem or low-bandwidth ADSL broadband connection. For better graphical connection performance, click the SSH menu in the Category tree and tick “Enable Compression” check-box to turn on the SSH compression feature.

Turn on SSH compression feature for better performance when connecting SSH server over a slow network connection, such as dial-up modem or low bandwidth ADSL broadband.
Click the Session menu in Category tree again follow by the Open button to attempt SSH connection to RedhatSSH server. Once the SSH authentication passed successfully, SSH Tunnel shall be established via the local port forwarding technique. Execute netstat -ant | find "9999" again will shows something similar to this:
C:\>netstat -ant | find “9977″
TCP 127.0.0.1:9977 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING InHost
Now, it’s ready to bypass Checkpoint Firewall restriction and connect to the forbidden Remote Desktop service from my Vista Ultimate PC at home, using the SSH port forwarding trick!
Click the Vista Orb, type Remote Desktop in Start Search (Vista Instant Search text box), click the Remote Desktop Connection in the Program list, specify 127.0.0.1:9999 in the Computer text-box and click the Connect button.

Connect to Windows Server 2003 Remote Desktop service via SSH Local Port Forwarding technique.
When the Windows Security dialog box pop up, enter the Remote Desktop logon credential as prompt.

After the Remote Desktop log on credentials, an alert dialog box might pop up that says the Windows Vista Remote Desktop cannot verify the identity of the computer you want to connect to. Just click Yes to continue. As seen in the alert dialog box, this problem might caused by the remote computer is running a version of Windows that is earlier than Windows Vista or the remote computer is configured to support only the RDP security layer.


Source:Setup Remote Desktop Port Forwarding In Windows Vista - Walker News