Background

1. We use a fake domain name (ihe-europe.net) for our Joint Connectathon. Particpant systems are assigned more or more host names (e.g., acme2) and the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) for that host would be acme2.ihe-europe.net
2. The Gazelle Test Management System ("Gazelle") is hosted at https:https://gazelle.iheusa.org
3. Some other tools such as the Gazelle Security Suite are hosted at gazelle.ihe.net.
4. The server gazelle.ihe.net also hosts other content such as documentation.
5. Prior to the connectathon, these two systems live outside of the Connectathon test room and have public IP addresses:
1. https://gazelle.iheusa.org
2. gazelle.ihe.net
6. During the event:
1. The full server https://gazelle.iheusa.org.
2. The tooling part of gazelle.ihe.net is linked at the bottom of https://gazelle.iheusa.org and lives on the private network.
3. Other content (documentation) remains on the original gazelle.ihe.net
7. The Gazelle Test Management software records URL's that link to items inside the https://gazelle.ihe.net system or inside the gazelle.ihe.net system. The software works best if you use the fully qualified domain name in the URL rather than trying to use an IP address or just "gazelle"
8. In previous years, we have seen evidence that DNS "stuff" from offsite locations such as your hotel might be cached in your system and interfere with your work in the testing area. We have advice below on how to manage that.

What Does This Mean for You?

Manual Network Configuration (i.e., Fixed IP Address)

1. Make sure you set the Search Domain to: ihe-europe.net.
1. That means if someone tells you their hostname is acme2 and you try to connect to acme2, your underlying system software should try a DNS lookup on acme2.ihe-europe.net and things should just work.
2. For DNS servers, use only the server we supply: 10.250.50.71
1. If you use a different DNS server, you will not be able to resolve IP addresses for your partner systems.
2. You will also get redirected to the public IP address of some of the resources listed above, and that will cause a (large) mess.

What Else Should You Do?

1. When you return to your hotel room and decide you need to do more work, you can still connect to gazelle.ihe.net. Your hotel DNS should give you the public IP address of those systems at home, and you will be redirected.
1. When you are in the Convention Center and you use the public IP address for either of those resources, your connection goes out the firewal to the server at home and then gets redirected back through the firewall. The round trip traffic just puts more load on the network for no benefit.
2. Resist the temptation to enter a fixed IP address when you browse to Gazelle Test Management or to the other tools at gazelle.ihe.net.

What If?

• You might have a link to documentation that starts with https://gazelle.ihe.net. That should still work inside the Convention Center through redirects. If you have problems getting to such documentation, use this prefix: https://gazelle.ihe-europe.net. That URL points to the IHE Europe server back in Rennes and should not have any redirect issues.
• Do not use this link for anything other than documentation.
• Do not use this link for any tools