Is anybody considering this? So that people can write program which access
a database via the Internet. What I'm getting at is that we have
applications which run on our Intranet. They query and update
databases. There is interest in a work at home solution. Since the company
has multiple T1 Internet connections, they are interested in allowing
people to use their home ISP to connect. We are looking at a VPN solution
as well, but they all seem to have a "per seat" or "concurrent
use" restriction. The more users, the higher the cost. Also, some ISPs
have stated that using a VPN over their facility is forbidden and will
result in termination of the service. Another possibility is to simply
use a secure Web server and rewrite the applications as CGI's or something
similiar.

More of a curiousity question at present,
John


Fri, 25 Aug 2000 12:56:24 -0500 (CDT)
John McKown <jmckown@prodigy.net>
Access PostgreSQL server via SSL/Internet
> Is anybody considering this? So that people can write program which access
> a database via the Internet. What I'm getting at is that we have
> applications which run on our Intranet. They query and update
> databases. There is interest in a work at home solution. Since the company
> has multiple T1 Internet connections, they are interested in allowing
> people to use their home ISP to connect. We are looking at a VPN solution
> as well, but they all seem to have a "per seat" or "concurrent
> use" restriction. The more users, the higher the cost. Also, some ISPs
> have stated that using a VPN over their facility is forbidden and will
> result in termination of the service. Another possibility is to simply
> use a secure Web server and rewrite the applications as CGI's or something
> similiar.

It is trivial to connect clients and servers across an ssh-piped
connection. I'm not sure of the details as far as getting things set up
to be automated for turnkey installations.

                       - Thomas

Sat, 26 Aug 2000 07:04:44 +0000
Thomas Lockhart <lockhart@alumni.caltech.edu>
Re: Access PostgreSQL server via SSL/Internet
> 
> It is trivial to connect clients and servers across an ssh-piped
> connection. I'm not sure of the details as far as getting things set up
> to be automated for turnkey installations.
> 

OTOH, people using ssh-piped connections need actual accounts on 
the database server, opposed to just database accounts.  That's
something that isn't necessarily a good idea.  Also, ssh-piped 
connections are decent to setup, but you must always ssh in before
you want to do anything else.


Sat, 26 Aug 2000 09:39:37 -0500
Andrew Selle <aselle@upl.cs.wisc.edu>
Re: Access PostgreSQL server via SSL/Internet
On Sat, 26 Aug 2000, Thomas Lockhart wrote:

> > have stated that using a VPN over their facility is forbidden and will
> > result in termination of the service. Another possibility is to simply
> > use a secure Web server and rewrite the applications as CGI's or something
> > similiar.
> 
> It is trivial to connect clients and servers across an ssh-piped
> connection. I'm not sure of the details as far as getting things set up
> to be automated for turnkey installations.
> 

Thomas,

Thanks for the thought. I just found something called "stunnel" which may
do the trick.

John


Sat, 26 Aug 2000 09:50:10 -0500 (CDT)
John McKown <jmckown@prodigy.net>
Re: Access PostgreSQL server via SSL/Internet
On Sat, 26 Aug 2000, John McKown wrote:

> On Sat, 26 Aug 2000, Thomas Lockhart wrote:
> 
> > It is trivial to connect clients and servers across an ssh-piped
> > connection. I'm not sure of the details as far as getting things set up
> > to be automated for turnkey installations.
> > 
> 
> Thomas,
> 
> Thanks for the thought. I just found something called "stunnel" which may
> do the trick.

Also look into "vpnd" - we're using it for a project for a client until I
can get the SSL connection stuff working properly... (Hint, hint... It
would be nice if it was better documented :)

http://sunsite.auc.dk/vpnd/

-- 
Dominic J. Eidson
                                        "Baruk Khazad! Khazad ai-menu!" - Gimli
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.the-infinite.org/              http://www.the-infinite.org/~dominic/


Sat, 26 Aug 2000 10:39:55 -0500 (CDT)
"Dominic J. Eidson" <sauron@the-infinite.org>
Re: Access PostgreSQL server via SSL/Internet
* Andrew Selle <aselle@upl.cs.wisc.edu> [000826 07:50] wrote:
> > 
> > It is trivial to connect clients and servers across an ssh-piped
> > connection. I'm not sure of the details as far as getting things set up
> > to be automated for turnkey installations.
> > 
> 
> OTOH, people using ssh-piped connections need actual accounts on 
> the database server, opposed to just database accounts.  That's
> something that isn't necessarily a good idea.  Also, ssh-piped 
> connections are decent to setup, but you must always ssh in before
> you want to do anything else.

Actually I'm pretty sure you can get around this problem with 
host keys, but I haven't tried that.


-- 
-Alfred Perlstein - [bright@wintelcom.net|alfred@freebsd.org]
"I have the heart of a child; I keep it in a jar on my desk."

Sat, 26 Aug 2000 14:01:51 -0700
Alfred Perlstein <bright@wintelcom.net>
Re: Access PostgreSQL server via SSL/Internet