Protocols

The Britive Bridge sits between your users and your target systems. Instead of giving people standing credentials and direct network access, the Bridge brokers each connection: a user checks out access, the Bridge connects to the target on their behalf, and the whole session is recorded.

Each kind of system the Bridge can broker is called a protocol - SSH for Linux servers, RDP for Windows desktops, MySQL for a database, and so on. This section explains every protocol the Bridge supports, how to turn it on, and the options you can tune.

The two-mode model

Most protocols can be offered in two different ways. You choose one or both per protocol.

Native mode lets people connect using the tools they already know. The Bridge opens a listening port (a numbered “door” on the Bridge’s network address) for that protocol. Your users point their normal client at that port - the ssh command, the mysql CLI, Microsoft Remote Desktop, a database GUI like DBeaver - exactly as if they were connecting to the real server. The Bridge quietly stands in the middle, applies the access policy, and records everything. Nothing about the user’s workflow changes except the address they connect to.

Browser mode runs the entire session inside the Bridge web interface. There is nothing to install and no client to configure - the user clicks their checkout and a terminal, remote desktop, or query window opens right in the web page. The Bridge renders the session for them in the browser. This is the easiest option for users and works from any device with a web browser.

You can enable native mode, browser mode, or both for the same protocol. They are independent.

Everything is off by default

For security, every protocol is disabled when the Bridge first starts. You turn on exactly the protocols you need, and within each protocol you turn on native mode, browser mode, or both. A Bridge with nothing enabled will refuse to start - at least one protocol must be on.

A minimal configuration looks like this:

ssh:
  browser:
    enabled: true   # in-browser SSH terminals, nothing else turned on

Idle timeout

Every protocol has an idle timeout - how long a session can sit with no activity before the Bridge automatically closes it. This protects against forgotten, unattended sessions. The default is 30m (30 minutes). You can set it per protocol.

ssh:
  idle_timeout: 15m   # close idle SSH sessions after 15 minutes
  browser:
    enabled: true

Durations are written as a number plus a unit: s seconds, m minutes, h hours. For example 90s, 30m, 2h.

The in-browser SQL client

For databases, browser mode means a built-in query window where users can run SQL and see results without installing anything. You do not turn this client on separately - it is enabled automatically whenever any database protocol has browser mode on (MySQL, PostgreSQL, CockroachDB, SQL Server, Redis, MongoDB, or Cassandra). See Databases for details.

All protocols at a glance

Explore each protocol