r/CloudFlare: Add SMB Application to Cloudflare Access

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This article archives a conversation, which took place in a subreddit post (original source linked below) and to which I contributed a solution or answer (with the u/MasterofSynapse handle), in a Q&A format.

Original Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/CloudFlare/comments/1050u2d/add_smb_application_to_cloudflare_access/

Question

I just started setting up Cloudflare Zero Trust.

I know that I can connect to a SMB Share via my tunnel and this works without a problem. However, I was wondering if I can add an Application that is started through SMB (like if you would do start "" \\server\share\somewhere\start.exe) to my Cloudflare Access Page? So that my user simply can click the Icon on the Cloudflare Access Page and it starts like it would if you double clicked it in explorer.

In the docs I found this arbitary tcp https://developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-one/applications/non-http/arbitrary-tcp/ However, I am not completely sure that I get it. Do I need to start a completely new tunnel? Can't I reuse my old tunnel somehow?

Thanks a lot!

Answer

The only two ways to connect to SMB via Cloudflare Tunnels is described in this doc page: https://developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-one/connections/connect-apps/use_cases/smb/

There is no functionality to achieve a one-click connect out-of-the-box which you are hoping for. A custom developed app responding to a web browser would obviously work.