Create an ssh tunnel to a postgres db server

postgresql-tunnel.pl

#!/usr/bin/perl

# PostgreSQL Tunnel Tool for Mac OS X and Linux
# Copyright (c) 2010 Linode, LLC
# Author: Philip C. Paradis <pparadis@linode.com>
# Usage: postgresql-tunnel.pl [start|stop]
# Access a PostgreSQL database server via an SSH tunnel.

$local_ip    = "127.0.0.1";
$local_port  = "5433";
$remote_port = "5432";
$remote_user = "my_username";
$remote_host = "myhost.example.com";

$a = shift;
$a =~ s/^\s+//;
$a =~ s/\s+$//;

$pid=`ps ax|grep ssh|grep $local_port|grep $remote_port`;
$pid =~ s/^\s+//;
@pids = split(/\n/,$pid);

foreach $pid (@pids)
{
    if ($pid =~ /ps ax/) { next; }
    split(/ /,$pid);
}

if (lc($a) eq "start")
{
    if ($_[0]) { print "Tunnel already running.\n"; exit 1; }
    else
    {
        system "ssh -f -L $local_port:$local_ip:$remote_port $remote_user\@$remote_host -N";
        exit 0;
    }
}
elsif (lc($a) eq "stop")
{
    if ($_[0]) { kill 9,$_[0]; exit 0; }
    else { exit 1; }
}
else
{
    print "Usage: postgresql-tunnel.pl [start|stop]\n";
    exit 1;
}