Accessing behind a router

Scenario

In this scenario, Alpana Server is installed in the local network on a machine with IP address 192.168.0.1, and you wish to reach it from a public network through a router with external IP address 88.88.88.88.

Configuring

*Note : for this configuration to work, the external IP address 88.88.88.88 must be reachable from the internal network 192.168.0.1. This is the case with an Internet router for example.

Step 1 : Install locally

First, let’s make a simple local installation, in order to define a local address where Alpana Server will respond to the router.

During installation of Alpana Server, configure with the local address 192.168.0.1 and some ports for the Backend and Frontend.
In our example, we configured :

• port 80 for the frontend (http://192.168.0.1:80)
• port 8080 for the backend (http://192.168.0.1:8080).
  

Step 2 : Configure router

Define which router ports you want to open for talking to the FrontEnd and BackEnd sites from the outside network.
In our example, we chose:

• port 123 for the FrontEnd. So incoming requests on http://88.88.88.88:123 are redirected to http://192.168.0.1:80
• port 456 for the BackEnd. So incoming requests on http://88.88.88.88:456 are redirected to http://192.168.0.1:8080
  

Step 3 : Configure authorizations for local access

Let’s configure Alpana Server to accept requests from the local addresses that will be requested by the router.

In the CORS whitelist, create exceptions for :

• the local address and port for the FrontEnd : http://192.168.0.1:80
• the local address and port for the BackEnd : http://192.168.0.1:8080
  

Step 4 : Re-configure with public address

In order to reconfigure the address where Alpana Server is responding, you will have to uninstall/reinstall.
This is fast and doesn’t delete your configuration and dashboards.

Un-install

Un-install Alpana Server.

Install with public address

Install again Alpana Server.
During installation of Alpana Server, configure with the public address 88.88.88.88 and the correct router ports for the Backend and Frontend.
In our example, we configured :

• frontend : http://88.88.88.88:123
• backend : http://88.88.88.88:456
  

Step 5 : Configure to respond locally

Finally, let’s configure IIs to accept the queries to local addresses from the router.

Open the IIS Management Console (run inetmgr).
For both websites Alpana3App and Alpana3Client, right-click to Edit Bindings, add a new binding and define the local address (192.168.0.1) and ports (80 and 8080)

*Now Alpana should work on the public address http://88.88.88.88:123

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