Question 583 - N10-008 discussion

One possible reason why users are unable to reach the site after the security team updated the web server to require https:// in the URL is that the firewall rules are blocking the traffic to port 443. Port 443 is the default port for HTTPS, which is the protocol that encrypts and secures the web communication. If the firewall rules do not allow inbound traffic to port 443, then users will not be able to access the web server using HTTPS12.

To troubleshoot this issue, the security team should configure inbound firewall rules to allow traffic to port 443. This can be done by using the firewall-cmd command on RHEL 8.2, which is a tool that manages firewalld, the default firewall service on RHEL. The command to add a rule to allow traffic to port 443 is:

firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=443/tcp

The --permanent option makes the rule persistent across reboots, and the --add-port option specifies the port number and protocol (TCP) to allow. After adding the rule, the security team should reload the firewalld service to apply the changes:

firewall-cmd --reload

The security team can verify that the rule is active by using this command:

firewall-cmd --list-ports

The output should show 443/tcp among the ports that are allowed34.

The other options are not relevant to troubleshooting this issue. Configuring the switch port with the correct VLAN may help with network segmentation or isolation, but it will not affect the HTTPS protocol or port. Configuring the router to include the subnet of the server may help with network routing or connectivity, but it will not enable HTTPS communication. Configuring the server with a default route may help with network access or reachability, but it will not allow HTTPS traffic.