Initializing help system before first use

Accessing Insight 5 across a Network

Xpress Insight 5 can be configured to permit access across a network. Before configuring Insight to be accessed over a network, review the following section Securing Xpress Insight 5.

Insight can only be accessed on the URL configured in the setting insight.server.system.url. Access via any other URL, such as the servers IP address or an alternative host name, is denied. This prevents a type of attack known as a Host Header Attack.

Exposing the Insight 5 Server on the Network

After installation, the Xpress Insight 5 server is available on the host machine localhost URL by default. This can be changed to allow users to access the server across a network. To allow a user to browse to a different network address and access Insight, complete the following:
  1. Open the server application.properties file and review the following lines: 
    insight.server.system.url=https://server1.domain.com
    Note This file is located in the <SERVER_CONFIG_DIR>. For more on <SERVER_CONFIG_DIR> and <WORKER_CONFIG_DIR>, see Important Note about this Guide.
  2. Update server1.domain.com with the network address.
  3. Configure which IP addresses the Insight Server will be available on by amending the following lines in the server application.properties file: 
    # The IP address this server will bind to.
# Comment this out to bind to all of the host's IP addresses.
server.address=139.0.0.1
    By default, Insight is available on localhost (127.0.0.1), preventing access over a network. For example, to make the server available on http://server.domain.com:8081, use the following settings: 
    server.address=139.0.0.1
server.port=8081
insight.server.system.allowed-hostnames=https://server.domain.com

Configuring a Remote Execution Worker

By default an execution worker will accept jobs from the Insight server running on localhost.

To configure an execution worker to accept jobs from Insight 5 running on another server, perform the following steps:
  1. Open the worker application.properties file and review the following lines:
    Note This file is located in the <WORKER_CONFIG_DIR> 
    # The IP address this execution worker will bind to.
# Comment this out to bind to all of the host's IP addresses.
server.address=127.0.0.1

# The http port this execution worker will bind to.
server.port=9080

## Accept requests on these hostnames only. 'localhost' is always
## allowed. Set to * to allow accept requests on all hostnames.
#insight.worker.system.allowed-hostnames=
    Note For example, to make the worker available on http://remote-worker-1.domain.com:9999 use the following settings: 
    #server.address=127.0.0.1
server.port=9999
insight.worker.system.allowed-hostnames=remote-worker1.domain.com
  2. Configure the worker to authenticate requests from the server.

    Execution workers authenticate requests from their server to verify the execution requests originate from an authorized source.

    The worker uses an execution authentication certificate to verify the signature of the request. This certificate is available in the <SERVER_CONFIG_DIR> and must be copied to the worker, enabling the worker to trust requests from that server.
    1. Locate the insight-execution-jwt.cert file in the <SERVER_CONFIG_DIR> directory.
    2. Copy the insight-execution-jwt.cert and paste into the <WORKER_CONFIG_DIR>.
  3. Restart the worker.
  4. Configure Insight to use this execution worker.
    1. Log in to Xpress Insight 5 using the web client and click the ADMIN tab.
    2. In the panel on the left, select EXECUTION > Execution Services.
    3. Click NEW EXECUTION WORKER. In the dialog, enter a Name, and the URL of the new remote worker. For more, see the section on Administering Execution Workers and Services in the Xpress Insight 5 Administrator Guide.
    4. Click SAVE.
Note An execution worker will only accept jobs from one Insight 5 server. This enables the Insight 5 Server to manage and control the number of jobs that are running on its workers.
Parent Topic Insight 5 Installation Guide