Connect to Appian On Premise Web Server From Mobile

RE: Connect to Appian On Premise Web Server From Mobile

juergeng393 — Fri, 21 Jun 2019 15:23:02 GMT

I glanced through the documentation: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/security/vpn_client/anyconnect/anyconnect41/administration/guide/b_AnyConnect_Administrator_Guide_4-1/anyconnect-mobile-devices.html

and I think it is possible to establish a VPN tunnel for the Appian native app. There will be a managed environment necessary to do so according to the documentation:

AnyConnect allows the set of apps defined by the administrator on the headend. This list is defined using the ASA Custom Attributes mechanism. This list is sent to the AnyConnect client, and enforced on the device. For all other apps, data is sent outside of the tunnel or in the clear.

On Apple iOS, a managed environment is required to run in this mode

You might reach out to your network folks to verify the details.

RE: Connect to Appian On Premise Web Server From Mobile

hiteshd — Fri, 21 Jun 2019 13:46:45 GMT

Thanks for the quick response. I would start with the above points and explore further.

One more question: We connect to the Client VPN using 'Cisco Any Connect' from the desktop and access the appian web url.

We have a mobile version of 'Cisco Any Connect' as well. Can this be actually used to access the on premise server via Appian Mobile App as well by some means? This may be an invalid question but just a doubt:)

Thanks.

Hitesh

RE: Connect to Appian On Premise Web Server From Mobile

juergeng393 — Fri, 21 Jun 2019 13:23:14 GMT

Hi,

First: it is possible and working.
But .. it depends what components are used in your infrastructure. I assume you have a DMZ zone and internal network.
To be more specific in an answer, we need to know, in which zone is the Appian Platform located, where are the web servers / load balancer
and what kind of authentication method is used (form based, SSO with SAML and Identity Provider).
To clarify how you secure the access is one of the important steps for such an implementation. Do you plan with Form Based Authentication securing
with 2-factor authentication or does your company already has an Identity Manager Provider in place? Or are you going to wrap the native Appian app with Blueberry or Maas360 to tunnel into the internal network?

Those questions have to be elaborated first prior to selecting software products.

Hope that helps as a starting point.