Azure Site-to-Site Networking - windows

I'm a little stuck when trying to configure an Azure site-to-site network. I'm using this to connect from Azure into another site for remote management of multiple devices there.
Currently, I believe the majority of the set up to be completed but I now need to secure public IP address for the external site so that they can add these to their firewall rules. Does anyone know how I am meant to acquire the public IP of the VM (which changes each time it is shut down and restarted) or the sites public IP connection to the external site?
Alternatively, what's the best way of doing this? I feel like a site-to-site network doesn't quite fit in with what I'm trying to do but I'm only being offered this solution from the external site (not necessarily just using Azure, though).

You can assign a static IP to your VM:
http://azure.microsoft.com/blog/2014/04/22/static-internal-ip-address-for-virtual-machines/

Related

Site-to-site VPN vs point-to-site VPN

I have a scenario where I have a Windows VM in windows Azure that needs to connect to an external customer network (and connect to a database that is not in Azure).
This traffic is uni-directional in that it is only my VM that needs to connect to the customer's databases and not the other way around. Site to site is managed on Azure, which I cannot really test locally.
Conceptually, connecting to the customer's network via a point-to-site VPN seems more suitable (by creating the VPN connection in Windows itself via the network config).
The customer prefers site-to-site even though they don't need to connect to my VM. Am I missing something?
In point-to-site, you have to connect to the network you want to access manually. Usually, if you log-off or restart the workstation it loses connection, and you have to reconnect every time. It's common to use this type of VPN when we are working remotely, and we need to access our company assets. The channel is bi-directional, but it's 1-to-many.
Site-to-site is used when you want to connect two networks and keep the communication up all the time. It's also bi-directional, but it's many-to-many and stays up no matter if your server/workstation is running or not because the connection is established through a network gateway and not from the computer operating system.
In Azure, the Virtual Network Gateway is the platform providing both functionalities. You can configure site-to-site to connect to your customer network. If this network is not running in Azure, they usually have an appliance to establish dedicated tunnels. As long as it supports IPsec IKE, you are good to go.
If you are using the VM in Azure as a workstation, then point-to-site may be enough, but if your application needs to get data from the customer database automatically with or without someone logged in the VM, then site-to-site is a better approach.
A better explanation can be found here

Access REST API on Windows Azure Virtual Machine via IP

I currently have a SQL Database and REST API residing on an in house development server. When on the premises my Mac uses a Reverse Proxy (in Apache) to connect and use the REST API on the in house development server. This is to avoid CORS issues. The reverse proxy looks like the following:
ProxyPass /api/ http://192.168.1.250:80/
I wish to move the in house SQL Database and REST API to a Windows Azure Virtual Machine.
Is it possible to do this/is this a viable solution to accessing the REST API remotely? When publishing a website in IIS on a Windows Azure VM access is allowed via a cloudapp.net domain. Is it possible to access the site via an IP address?
I have looked into setting up a VM with a static IP but I am unsure if this would actually solve the above problem - so before spending any more time on this it would be great if someone better versed in this area could chime in!
Any help and guidance is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Rich

Hosting dns nameserver on windows azure (VM)

I'd like to host my own DNS name server to have total control on the DNS settings.
Is it a good idea to create a Windows 2012 VM (Iaas) on Windows Azure and use it as a DNS name server?
Problems I forsee:
Windows Azure SLA requires at least two instances? Not really a problem if the VM is down for < 20min since DNS should be cached downstream.
Azure VM Size? Extra small should do.
Changing IPs? Once you have the VM set up, Azure should not change your IP address unless you delete it.
Reverse DNS? I don't think hosting a nameserver requires a reverse IP DNS lookup.
Anything else? not really knowledgeable about hosting a DNS server, but I think it should work!
What am I missing?
Azure IaaS VMs have an SLA with a single instance, so you wouldn't need to worry about that.
Don't use extra-small for anything except development and testing. Network performance is erratic, ranging from very poor to non-existent.
The IP address will remain constant while the VM is deployed, yes.
However...
Are you talking about an internal DNS server, or a public nameserver? If the latter, hosting in a cloud datacenter is probably not the best approach. You'd be better off using a dedicated DNS provider like Zerigo.

Map my domain name with my own server

Hi I am having my own domain mydomain.ac.in and i am having my own server (windows 2008) and a Public static IP.
Now i want to host my site in my own server.
Please give me the step by step information to get it done.
Thanks.
You need to register your domain with some DNS hosting service (DNS provider), there is such an astronomic number of these on the web that I do not want to spam the site. Google.
Also, collocation center where you keep this server (and from where you have probably obtained that public IP) may also provide DNS services.
From the other side, any computer can be configured as the name server but this will probably not work Internet wide and can be used inside the local network only (combined with DHCP service). If there is an easy way to make this Internet wide, I would also be very interested in, but I doubt.
Your operating system is not much relevant to this question.
I registered my domain already in ernet by indian Government and I got my Public Static IP from BSNL India. I hosted my site already and i am able to access my site already using the ip. Now i want to map my domain with the server that i have so that i can access my domain using a domain name.
I tried the steps in http://www.hosting.com/support/dedicated/dns/setdns#additional.. But when i add the name server information it says cannot resolve hostname??? that s why i want to know where i am making mistake..
I once again tried the steps at http://www.hosting.com/support/dedicated/dns/setdns and got it right..Now i have updated the name server info at my domain registrar ernet and waiting for it to be updated. Thanks fo the people helped me

HIding behind a proxy did not seem to work?

I often visit various sites and like to do so anonymously from behind a proxy. However, it seems as if some websites are still able to detect my real IP address. I know this because they use the IP address to attempt to geolocate me for services.
How did they actually get my real IP Address if I am using a proxy?
How can I truly hide myself?
Most proxies you'll find online are so-called 'transparant proxies'. This means they identify themselves as proxy and even give your real IP-address to the site.
These proxies are commonly used to load pages on the proxy-server instead of your PC.
IP proxies won't protect you at all, to be honest.
What you need are VPN's (Virtual Private Networks) a.k.a. Network Tunnel.
VPN's allow you to do everything online via an external PC inside that network. You'll get that PC's IP and all loading etc happens on that PC.
Not all VPN's are undetected. If you always want to browse the web anonymously, you'll need to find some HQ VPN's (barely for free) and you'll need to change VPN frequently.
Try searching on HideMyAss, SecurityKISS, ... or maybe even the TOR-network

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