Ensuring the Privacy of a Private Network
Private Network Advantages
A private network may not seem available to the entire public, as its name implies — but other users still have access to it. It’s actually possible to see unwanted traffic hitting a private IP address. Believe it or not, it’s not unheard of.
With that concern in mind, I’ll detail the advantages behind using a private network, and give some tips on how to secure it.
What is the Private Network?
Just as the global internet connects computers across the world to transfer information, a private network connects all computers within a single datacenter. Communicating over the private network yields much quicker speeds than the public internet simply because clustered servers and hardware are in closer proximity with each other.
A Private Network is extremely useful if you have multiple servers working together, such as a web server on one host and a database running on another, both communicating together.
Fortunately, at Linode you aren’t charged for any file transfer done between two Linodes in the same datacenter over a private network. (All you have to do is ensure that your transfer is done with the correct IP addresses and that the Linodes aren’t using public internet, so it won’t count against your transfer quota.)
Protecting the Private Network
Don’t let the name fool you — the private network still needs to be protected. Just as all users are in charge of their own security, all precautions you take for your public IPv4 address should apply to your private IP as well. Granted the activity to your private IP will be next to nothing compared to the public internet, but it’s still best practice to prepare for anything.
So, get prepared. Look into setting up proper iptables rules for your private IP. Then, make sure SSH access is restricted to the server as well as from unknown private IP addresses. You can find many additional tips on securing your private network servers by referencing our Docs & Tutorials website: https://www.linode.com/docs/security/securing-your-server
While a private network can bring upon some cool benefits, it’s not required in every infrastructure. If that’s the case, you can remove it from the Remote Access tab on the Linode Manager. There’s no better means of security than a network not existing at all.
Properly following all instructions from the securing your server guides above, you should not have any issues with configuring a private network. But if you do, feel free to tweet us, @Linode, or contact our 24/7 support: http://linode.com/support.
