[erlang-questions] Sending messages between erlang nodes (across firewall boundary)

[Kenji Rikitake]

If you are not demanding something versatile like the rpc module, the
ssh module is worth trying.  At least you can run a dedicated SSH server
from Erlang shell, either in interactive or as a remote command, using
SSH "exec" protocol.  You can even write a dedicated SSH subsystem.

inet_ssl_dist is non-trivial, but if your environment allows it, it's
also worth trying, though it does NOT encrypt epmd communication.

Kenji Rikitake

In the message <65871.49596.qm@REDACTED>
dated Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 07:37:37PM -0700,
Yogish Baliga <yogishb@REDACTED> writes:
>   I am working on setting up the Erlang nodes across multiple data centers. I do not want to send the data across the data centers in clear text. 
> 
>   Within the data centers, I did a simple setup for 2  Erlang nodes on 2 physical boxes. Captured the tcp traffic while sending the messages between these 2 nodes. Raw TCP packets do not show the text being sent in clear text. Is it because by default the messages are encrypted using the cookie or something? Do I need to specify the proto_dist as inet_ssl in order to setup the Erlang node grid across data center?
> 
>   Ideally I don't want to setup the SSL communication between nodes. If that is what is absolutely required in-order to make sure that the communication is encrypted, I will do that.
> 
> Thanx,
> -- baliga