Transparent sessions
This feature requires HCP Boundary or Boundary Enterprise
Beta feature
Beta functionality is stable, but possibly incomplete and subject to change. We strongly discourage using beta features in production deployments of Boundary.
Transparent sessions shift Boundary from an active connection model to a passive connection model. Boundary operates in the background instead of requiring you to remember specific resource IDs or ephemeral ports to connect to targets.
As long as Boundary authenticates a user and the user is authorized to access the target, Boundary intercepts the DNS call and routes traffic through a session automatically.
Transparent sessions require aliases and the Boundary Client Agent.
The Boundary Desktop client facilitates quick target discovery and session establishment using your preferred client. If you configure aliases for your targets, install the Boundary Client Agent, and ensure you are authenticated to the cluster, connections are transparent to the user. Boundary provides OS notifications to make it clear when you connect to a target using a transparent session.
Boundary supports Windows and MacOS for the transparent sessions public beta.
Refer to the Configure transparent sessions page to get started.
Known issues
Refer to the following table for known issues that may affect the public beta:
| Issue | Description |
|---|---|
| Connection is reset when trying to reconnect | If you use an SSH transparent session and then cancel the connection, you may have trouble reconnecting until Boundary cleans up the session. |
| SSH connection fails with man-in-the-middle warning | On Ubuntu systems, the initial transparent session may be successful, but any subsequent connections prompt a warning that you may be experiencing a man-in-the-middle attack. |
| Boundary Client Agent authentication does not persist across restarts | When you reboot, you are required to re-authenticate to the Client Agent before you can use transparent sessions. |
| Windows shortcuts are mandatory | The Windows installer always installs Desktop and Start menu shortcuts. This is a known issue. Shortcuts will be optional in a future version of the installer. |
| Windows installer prompts for restart | When you install Boundary, the Windows installer occasionally prompts you to restart your computer, however it is not necessary. |
| Boundary Client Agent resumes on reboot | If the Client Agent is paused and the machine is rebooted, the Client Agent will be resumed after the reboot. |
| Single-word aliases do not work on Windows | If you create an alias consisting of a single word without a dot (.), the alias will not work on Windows. |
| Windows installer does not support partial installations | The Windows installer fails to start the Client Agent if the Desktop client is not installed at the same time. |
| Alias connection failures inside containers/VMs | Using transparent sessions rely on network access to the local network of the computer the Client Agent is running on. Network enclaves such as those created by Docker containers and VMs cannot reach this network. |
More information
Refer to the following topics for more information: