Share Sisense web application externally

[intapiuser]

Sisense dashboards can be shared easily within the same private network, but the Sisense web application is not configured to be publicly accessible by default. This page details the steps and best practices to make your Sisense instance accessible to anyone on the internet, so that dashboards can be shared with users outside of your organization and Sisense can be accessed by users not on the same local network as the Sisense server.

* Note: These settings make your Sisense web application publicly accessible. Users will still need to authenticate and be shared on a dashboard to access Sisense content.

Implementation Steps

• To access Sisense using the Sisense server's IP address (for example, "192.0.2.0"), confirm that the server has a static public IP address. Consult your IT professional, internet service provider (ISP), or hosting service for more details.
• To access Sisense using a subdomain/domain name (for example, "analytics.example.com"), update your DNS to point to the machine's IP. You must own and control the domain name you wish to use. Sisense does not manage or assist with domain names or their configuration.
• Open the inbound TCP port in your firewall. This port is 8081 by default but configurable in the installation process (https://docs.sisense.com/win/SisenseWin/installing-sisense.htm#CustomizingtheInstallation). Nominally, this can be controlled in Windows Firewall with Advanced Security, but many customers have superseding rules from their organization or hosting service. If Sisense is still not accessible over your port after opening it in Windows Firewall, confirm with your IT department whether firewall rules may be in place elsewhere.
• Implement a security layer using SSL to ensure that all network traffic between your Sisense server and client machines is encrypted. For steps to do so, see here: https://docs.sisense.com/win/SisenseWin/setting-up-ssl-for-sisense-windows.htm. After implementing SSL, ensure the port used (typically 443) is also open for inbound TCP connections.

Once these settings are implemented, external users will be able to access Sisense by entering the Sisense DNS/IP address and port (for example, "192.0.2.0:8081" or "analytics.example.com:8081").

* Note: If you don't want users to have to enter a port (for example, "192.0.2.0" or "analytics.example"), use port 80 for http communication and 443 for https communication, as these ports will be hidden from the URL.

Troubleshooting

If a user is unable to connect remotely after the settings were applied, you can test the communication between the machines to understand the source of the connectivity failure by doing the following:

1. Confirm the Sisense web application is running and accessible locally on the server
2. Use the 'nslookup' command in the Windows Command Prompt (cmd.exe) to confirm your domain/subdomain points to the correct IP address for your Sisense server. For example, 'nslookup example.com'.
3. Try pinging the machine's IP address in the command prompt. This will show if there is communication available between both machines. For example, 'ping 192.0.2.0'.
4. If you are able to ping the machine, use the telnet command to ensure you are able to communicate through the required port. For example, 'telnet 192.0.2.0 8081'

Further troubleshooting or review may require your IT team's assistance.

Further Reading

More information is available here: https://docs.sisense.com/win/SisenseWin/setting-up-your-production-environment.htm. 

Helpful general information about web applications and security is available from Mozilla: 

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Apps
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Security