I'll add it to suggestions, although I'm not sure whether it's technologically feasible for us.
Btw I just tried setting up tunnel with Putty (using this tutorial
http://www.howtoforge.com/secure_mysql_ ... ssh_tunnel) and it works like magic. I'm connecting to localhost:8600 in Rapid PHP and I'm able to access everything. Are you sure you're not being blocked by some firewall software?