IBM bluemix secure gateway service not working on the internet

Question

I have setup IBM bluemix secure gateway service to invoke REST service hosted on company intranet. The secure gateway service works on the company intranet. But when I try to use it over the internet, it clocks for a long time and thereafter consistently gives a connection refused.

Isn't this the whole purpose of the secure gateway service, to be able to access an on-premise service behind company firewall from the internet? I am just using HTTP to access both the secure gateway and the intranet REST service. Is this what I am doing wrong? Should I set up and use either HTTPS or TLS to access from internet?

Answer 1

Yes, Secure Gateway enables you to connect to on-premises services behind a company firewall.

It sounds like you have created an HTTP destination and are trying to connect to it. To do this please make sure you have:

1. Created a gateway and connected it with the docker client. The system where the client is running must be able to access the REST API.
2. Create a destination with the host and port of the REST API.
3. Attempt to connect to the cloud host and port provided when the destination was created.

If this is not working for you, please give more details as to what you are attempting.

Answer 2

I think you also have to be sure you check your company's policy on using the Secure Gateway on-premises, there could be company security and governance issues. Having done that and followed Alex's suggestions, if it still does not work check the following:

1. Ensure any company firewall you currently have allows outbound access on ports 22 and 443.
2. Ensure there are no iptable or SELinux issues on the hosting machine, since the hosting machine will be runnnig the Docker container this could affect your connectivity.