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DNS Views and Medulla Relay in the DMZ

In a Medulla architecture, arelay can be placed in the DMZ to allow external workstations to access the platform without directly exposing the internal Medulla server if you do not have a VPN.

 

Since the Medulla agent configuration is unique across the entire network, it supports only a single domain name. To allow machines to reach the server from both the private network and the outside via this single address, you must use a single domain name combined with Split-Horizon DNS or a Round-Robin configuration.

DNS Views

Principle

A DNS view allows different responses to be returned for the same name depending on the origin of the request.

  • Internal workstations → internal Medulla server
  • External workstations → Medulla relay in the DMZ

Benefits

  • Only one DNS name to configure
  • No difference in configuration on the workstations side
  • The internal Medulla server is not exposed
  • Clear and secure architecture

 

Key takeaways

DNS views automatically route workstations to the correct Medulla access point, while maintaining a unique name and simple configuration.

Reference article on Bind9: https://kb.isc.org/docs/aa-00851

Round-Robin

Additionally, if you do not wish to configure DNS Views, you can opt for an alternative solution by setting up a Round-Robin mechanism. This mechanism distributes requests among multiple IP addresses associated with the same domain name, thereby ensuring a balanced distribution of connections.

To do this, you need to follow two steps:

  1. Define the internal IP address of the primary Medulla server.
  2. Define the public IP address of the DMZ relay server.