AWS Landscape 11: Remote Connectivity

Secure remote connectivity is critical for SAP administrators and development teams to manage workloads in AWS. This design ensures least-privilege access, auditability, and compliance by combining Bastion Hosts, VPN access, and Active Directory integration.

Key benefits:

• Controlled and auditable remote access to private SAP workloads.
• Redundant access paths (Bastion hosts + VPN).
• Integration with AD for authentication and role-based access.

Objective:

• Provide secure, controlled, and auditable remote access for administrators and SAP teams by:
• Using Bastion Hosts and AWS Client VPN for connectivity.
• Enforcing MFA and least-privilege access.
• Logging all sessions for compliance.

Design Overview:

Bastion Hosts (Jump Servers):

• Located in public subnets across AZs for HA.
• Allow SSH/RDP access to private EC2 instances.

VPN Access:

• AWS Client VPN for secure connectivity to private subnets.
• Supports AD integration for authentication.

Security Measures:

• MFA required for all users.
• Security Groups restrict access to necessary resources only.
• CloudWatch logging captures all activity.

Active Directory Integration:

• AD credentials used for authentication.
• Role-based access enforced for SAP workloads.

Technical Steps for Remote Connectivity

Step 1: Deploy Bastion Hosts
Launch EC2 instances in public subnet per AZ for HA.
Configure Security Groups:

• Allow inbound SSH (22) or RDP (3389) only from corporate IP ranges.
• Enable CloudWatch Agent for session logging.

Step 2: Configure VPN Access
Navigate to AWS Client VPN → Create Client VPN Endpoint.
Configure Authentication:

• AD integration or certificate-based.
• Associate VPN endpoint with private subnets of workload VPC.
• Download VPN configuration for users.
• Choose split-tunnel or full-tunnel routing based on requirements.

Step 3: Configure Security

• Limit access to only required VPC resources using Security Groups.
• Implement IAM policies for session auditing and resource control.

Step 4: Enable Monitoring

• Enable CloudWatch logs for VPN connections and Bastion sessions.
• Optional: Use AWS Systems Manager Session Manager for audit-friendly remote access without exposing SSH/RDP.

Diagram – Remote Connectivity

Diagram Notes:

• Users access private resources through Bastion hosts or VPN only.
• Security Groups and firewall rules restrict connectivity.
• Centralized logging ensures audit compliance.

Notes 

• Least privilege access minimizes the attack surface.
• Bastion hosts + VPN provide redundant remote access paths.
• AD integration allows single sign-on (SSO) and centralized user management.
• Optional Session Manager removes need for open inbound SSH/RDP ports, improving security posture.