Re: How does networking (communication) work when in the cloud

By definition, a LAN is "local"...so asking for your LAN to be in a remote
data center is a bit naive. :)

By definition, a LAN is "local"...so asking for your LAN to be in a remote
data center is a bit naive. :)

​To reword my original answer...

No the traffic doesn't have to come through your office as long as the data
center is willing to allow it not to; at a price you're willing to pay.

You'd need to tell the data center you want the Windows server on a DMZ
segment of their network.

Charles



On Thu, Jul 31, 2014 at 12:42 PM, Jeff Crosby <jlcrosby@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

The salespeople currently don't need to start a VPN to get to
blahblah.dilgardfoods.com.

I guess the crux of my question is does any and all access to the servers
in the data center need to come through our office router to get there?

What made me think about this was anticipating a power outage at our
office. It would be great in that the salespeople could continue to send
orders and receive results as if there were no outage, because the

servers

in the data center would still be humming along. Workstations in our
office, however, would have a problem. :) If the outage was extended,

we

could physically move our office printers and whatever workstations we

want

to some other location with internet access. *That* location would need
VPN access to the data center. The problem is what if
blahblah.dilgardfoods.com is pointing to an IP address at our office
instead of the data center?

I guess what I think I want is that my company's LAN is actually in the
data center, not here. But it could be accessed from anywhere by using a
PTP VPN.

Am I making sense or am I being naive?



On Thu, Jul 31, 2014 at 9:47 AM, Charles Wilt <charles.wilt@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

It depends :)

I'd certainly push for having the Windows Servers in the same data

center

as the IBM i.

If not, I'd want a direct VPN between them. Can that be done? Sure.

Will

both data centers be willing to do it and how much will it cost are the
questions.

Same thing goes for the sales people's laptops. You say that currently
"The
order gets sent from the laptop over the internet
to a Windows server in our office
​" Which to me means that the Windows server is in your DMZ and is
publically accessible ​with the right credentials. A data center

should

be

able to provide the same DMZ; though in my
experience
​ having a DMZ server at data center​ costs more than having
just private servers.

Now if your salespeople currently have to connect via VPN to your

office

before they can send the order to your windows server; then your

windows

server is private. There's no technical reason why the sales people
couldn't VPN direct to the data center without needing to go through

your

office. Again it's a question of what the data center is willing to do

and

for how much.

The data center might not be willing to allow the direct VPN given the
added complexity. Remember, unlike a VPN to your office where the

remote

device usually has full access to the network in your build. A VPN

direct

to the data center has to be carefully set up so that the remote

devices

can only see your servers.

Charles


On Wed, Jul 30, 2014 at 3:21 PM, Jeff Crosby <

jlcrosby@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

wrote:

All,

Bear with me as it will take a bit to explain what I'm asking.

We're considering putting all our servers (IBM i and Windows) in the

cloud

in a data center(s). Ideally (and our definite preference) the IBM i

and

Windows would be in the same data center, but it's conceivable they

would

be split into different data centers because the same provider may

not

be

able to do both.

Here's the example. Our billing and invoicing is done on the IBM i.

We

use a 3rd party ordering app for our outside salesreps to take and

place

orders on laptops. The order gets sent from the laptop over the

internet

to a Windows server in our office, which FTPs it to the IBM i, the

IBM

i

processes the order and FTPs the results back to the Windows server.

The

Windows server then passes this on to the laptop. This happens in

seconds.

So the flow looks like this:

Laptop --> Dilgard router --> Windows server --> IBM i --> Windows

server

-->Dilgard router --> laptop

It goes from the laptop to our office and back. The laptops

connection

for

sending orders is DNS aware: blahblah.dilgardfoods.com. When the

sales

rep clicks the option to send an order, the software connects, sends

it,

and waits for the results.

When in a data center, there is a PTP VPN set up between our office

and

the

data center. I assumed that once the servers are in a data center,

when

a

salesrep sends an order the flow would be the same, except it would

go

directly from the laptop to the data center and back. (This assumes

we

changed blahblah.dilgardfoods.com to point to the data center

instead

of

our office.) There is no need at that point for it even to come to

our

router in our office.

Something I was told however leads me to believe it does come through

our

router, like this:

Laptop --> router at Dilgard --> router at data center --> data

center

Windows server --> data center IBM i --> data center Windows server

-->

router at data center --> router at Dilgard --> laptop.

coming through our office twice, even though it doesn't "do anything"

while

here. And if the Windows and IBM i servers are in different data

centers,

it's even worse:

Laptop --> router at Dilgard --> router at Windows data center -->

data

center 1 Windows server --> router at Windows data center --> router

at

Dilgard --> router at IBM i data center --> data center IBM i -->

router

at

IBM i data center --> router at Dilgard --> router at Windows data

center

--> data center Windows server --> router at Windows data center -->

router

at Dilgard --> laptop

It goes through our office *4* times, each time doing nothing but

being

routed back out. IOW there is no internet access provided at the

data

center (so to speak), the only access to the data center is via the

PTP

VPN, which means everything has to come through our office.


Which way is it? Does it depend on the data center? If there is an

online

document that explains how it works please point me to it. I

evidently

can't come up with the right search words. The older I get, the

dumber I

feel.

Thanks.


--
Jeff Crosby
VP Information Systems
UniPro FoodService/Dilgard
P.O. Box 13369
Ft. Wayne, IN 46868-3369
260-422-7531
www.dilgardfoods.com

The opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily the opinion of

my

company. Unless I say so.
--
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--
Jeff Crosby
VP Information Systems
UniPro FoodService/Dilgard
P.O. Box 13369
Ft. Wayne, IN 46868-3369
260-422-7531
www.dilgardfoods.com

The opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily the opinion of my
company. Unless I say so.
--
This is the Midrange Systems Technical Discussion (MIDRANGE-L) mailing

list

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visit: http://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/midrange-l
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