Re: Webservice behind VPN

Hello Thomas,

Am 26.10.2022 um 20:04 schrieb tgarvey@xxxxxxxxxx:

I'm working on a web service that will allow users of our software to check
if they have the latest version of our software. It's running in test on one
of our IBM i servers but that server can only be reached via a VPN.

I'm admitting my ignorance here (as usual) but I need advice on how to
expose this web service to the world without requiring VPN connectivity but
still maintaining full protection of other resources on this server.
Advice, counsel, or direction on informative reading materials on this
subject are welcome.

As hinted elsewhere, I also would propose utilizing a reverse proxy. This can be a properly configured Apache, or Nginx server running on Linux. There are numerous sources on the internet how to configure this stuff properly.

Two benefits above NAT (which is *NOT* a proxy!):
- Some checking for adherance to htt protocol is done by Apache/Nginx,
- You can use a different ssl certificate for external access and thus exploit Letsencrypt to have automatically update your certificate when it's about to expire. And Letsencrypt is free.

:wq! PoC