HBase : Zookeeper serves Internal IP to Remote client (Java API)

[#1]

I am running a very basic HBase connection program from a remote server.
Reading the server logs, I see Zookeeper acknowledge the request, but then serves to the Client the internal IP of HBase Master, which is of no use from the outside world.

I know where the master is and what its public IP is but I do not know how to effectively connect to HBase remotely using the Java API. Any Ideas ?

I've seen some people advice to mess up with the /etc/hosts file but that's an ugly and inelegant solution, and it breaks other parts of the ecosystem.

    String zookeeperHost = "public.ip.address";
    Configuration hconfig = HBaseConfiguration.create();
    hconfig.set("hbase.zookeeper.quorum",zookeeperHost);
    hconfig.set("hbase.zookeeper.property.clientPort", "2181");
    hconfig.set("zookeeper.znode.parent", "/hbase-unsecure");
    HBaseAdmin.available(hconfig);

org.apache.hadoop.hbase.MasterNotRunningException:
com.google.protobuf.ServiceException:
java.net.UnknownHostException: unknown host: ip-xx-xx-xx-xx.eu-west-1.compute.internal

[#2]

Running over a public IP may not be a good idea if it is open to the internet. Consider using a VPC?

That said, you can point HBase Master and RegionServer to use the address from a specific interface name (eth0, eth1, etc.) and/or a specific DNS resolver (IP or name that can answer to a dns:// resolving call) via advanced config properties:

hbase.master.dns.interface
hbase.master.dns.nameserver

hbase.regionserver.dns.interface
hbase.regionserver.dns.nameserver

By default the services will use whatever is the host's default name and resolving address: getent hosts $(hostname -f) and publish this to clients.