Choosing a Physical Location

The bastion host needs to be in a location that is physically secure.[1] There are two reasons for this:

Never underestimate the power of human stupidity. Even if you don't believe that it's worth anyone's time and trouble to get physical access to the machine in order to break into it, secure it to prevent well-meaning people within your organization from inadvertently making it insecure or nonfunctional.

Your bastion hosts should be in a locked room, with adequate air conditioning and ventilation. If you provide uninterruptible power for your Internet connection, be sure to provide it for all critical bastion hosts as well.



[1] Practical UNIX & Internet Security by Simson Garfinkel and Gene Spafford (second edition, O'Reilly & Associates, 1996) contains an excellent and extensive discussion of physical security.