**Introduction of an SSH Jump Server.
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a Jump Host also known as SSH Jump Server and In recent times, there is an increasing need for organizations to give employees access to their IT facilities due to the ongoing Covid restrictions ( such as work from home ) in place and in other cases grant access to external parties like clients, vendors who wants to troubleshoot and fix issues with the IT Infrastructure remotely.
More so, is the need for multiple manage SSH access to the company’s Linux servers, Routers, Switches, while meeting regulatory and security compliance.
This need led to the emergence of the SSH Jump Server concept. It is a secure intermediary server where all your system administrators would login in first via SSH before getting to access the remote devices such as Linux instance, Routers, Switches etc. SSH Jump server is also known by the name SSH Jump Box, SSH Jump Host & SSH Gateway.
SSH Jump Server Also Known by...
Jump Host: Jump Host is an intermediary host or an SSH gateway to a remote network, through which a connection can be made to another host in a dissimilar security zone, for example a demilitarized zone (DMZ). It bridges two dissimilar security zones and offers controlled access between them.
Bastion Host: Special-purpose computer on a network specifically designed and configured to withstand attacks. The computer generally hosts a single application or process, for example, a proxy server or load balancer, and all other services are removed
Jump Server: Jump Server, Jump Host or Jump Box is a system on a network used to access and manage devices in a separate security zone. A jump server is a hardened and monitored device that spans two dissimilar security zones and provides a controlled means of access be
What is an SSH Jump Server?
An SSH Jump Server is simply a single, hardened server that you “Jump” through in order to access other servers or devices on the inner network. Sometimes called a SSH Jump host , or SSH Jump server or SSH Bastion Host or a relay host, it’s simply a server that all of your users can log into and use as a relay server to connect to other Linux servers, Routers, Switches and more. Therefore, a jump server is a server inside a secure zone, which can be accessed from a less secure zone. It is then possible to jump from this host to greater security zones.
In other words, it is an intermediary host or an SSH gateway to a remote network, through which a connection can be made to another host in a dissimilar security zone, for example a demilitarized zone (DMZ2). In short it is intended to breach the gap between two security zones. This is done with the purpose of establishing a gateway to access something inside of the security zone, from the DMZ
The SSH Jump Box bridges two dissimilar security zones and offers controlled and monitored access between them.
For users accessing your secure network over the internet, the jump host provides a highly secured and monitored environment especially when it spans a private network and a DMZ with servers providing services to users on the internet.
Furthermore, a classic scenario is connecting from your desktop or laptop from inside your company’s internal network, which is highly secured with firewalls to a DMZ. In order to easily manage a server in a DMZ, you may access it via a jump host.
Therefore, a jump host is a server inside a secure zone, which can be accessed from a less secure zone. It is then possible to jump from this host to greater security zones. An example would be a high security zone inside a corporation. The policy guide states that this zone cannot be accessed directly from a normal user zone. Hence, in a DMZ off the firewall protecting this zone you have a jump host.
Connections are permitted to the ssh jump host from the user zone, and access to the secure zone are permitted from the jump host.
More often, there is a separate authentication method for the jump host fortified with multi factor authentication, Single Sign On ( SSO ) , Radius & more.
**Why do you need an SSH Jump Server Solution to Manage SSH Access?
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The OpenSSH based jump server is clearly not enough to meet the modern day requirements of an IT enterprise. The challenges for the enterprise are constantly changing and dynamic . On day , it could be from maintaining security, granting ssh access to the users to designated server and that too for particular time and on another day it could be the security compliances that needs to be met at the time of a Linux servers infrastructure audit.
The modern day SSH Jump host solutions are designed to address the challenges faced by an IT enterprise when it comes to security and to meet various security compliances like PCI DSS, NIST, ISO 27001 and more.
The modern day ssh jump server software has the following features and more.
- Identity and Access management (IAM)
- Privileged Access management (PAM),
- Role Based Access Control to delegate access to Linux servers and Network devices.
- Two factor authentication methods like Google Authenticator, DUO Security 2FA, & Yubikey in SSH.
- Integrates with Windows Active Directory, OpenLDAP, Redhat IDM.
- Supports SAML for Single Sign On.
- Support RADIUS Authentication to access network devices such as Routers and Switches
- Password Manager
- SSH key rotation,
- Automated root password management
**CONCLUSION
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IT Enterprises that use a SSH Jump Server solution in improving security of their critical IT asset and in meeting various mandatory security compliances (which would otherwise prove very costly in case of a breach), are more likely to succeed due to the improved operational efficiency, digital security, hence more successful business for the company’s end customers.
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