What is a network gateway?

How does a network gateway work?

The network gateway is an intermediary between different networks to allow data exchange. As a network entry and exit point, it sets the data through correct routing paths, much like a router.

Each network gateway joins two networks allowing data exchange between them by translating the protocols between different networks. In the internal network, a router, a node, or a server could act as a gateway. It can be implemented as hardware or software but is always at the network's edge. For larger organizations, servers are one of the most frequently used gateway types, as they can simultaneously handle huge amounts of incoming connections.

Gateways are a popular way to secure entrance into an organization's network. For this reason, they are often combined with additional security tools like firewalls. Most routers are gateways with built-in firewalls and other security features to control open systems interconnection.

Types of network gateways

Since the core function is protocol translation, a gateway can take many specialized forms depending on the traffic it's designed to handle. Think of it as specialized doorways for different kinds of network traffic. Here are a few common types:

• Protocol gateways: These are classic gateways designed to translate between two incompatible protocols,allowing, for example, a local proprietary network to communicate with a standard internet protocol.
• API gateways: Used in modern application development, these manage and route all API calls from clients to backend services. They handle tasks like authentication, rate limiting, and analytics.
• E-mail gateways: These sit between an organization's email server and the public internet. They manage incoming and outgoing mail, often adding security features like spam filtering, malware detection, and encryption enforcement.
• VoIP gateways: These devices translate between Voice over IP (VoIP) network protocols and traditional telephony protocols, allowing VoIP users to call standard landlines.
• Secure web gateways (SWG): These act as a checkpoint for all internet-bound network traffic. They enforce security policies, provide URL filtering, and prevent users from accessing malicious websites, securing a company's web activity.
• IoT Gateway: A crucial component for the Internet of Things, this type of gateway aggregates data from various sensors and devices, translating their lightweight protocols into a standard format before sending the information to the cloud or a central server.

Network gateway features and capabilities

Although the technology isn't that novel, it's still widely used to make connectivity possible. Its application includes everything from cloud storage gateway security to proxy server management. Here are the most important features and capabilities of network gateways.

Security

Being the main portal for entering an enterprise's network, gateways function as the first frontier of security. It will be a go-to location to deploy various cybersecurity technologies like firewalls. Even their cloud counterparts - secure internet gateways, retain the same core functionality, ensuring a level of security when converting network protocols.

Multiprotocol

Most gateways are fluent in a variety of network protocols. Therefore, they can effortlessly communicate with various devices and systems. Due to this capability, the gateways are flexible enough to provide good interconnectivity while at the same time retaining the needed high-security standard - whether via a wireless gateway or over the WAN.

Visibility

As the main entry into the network, the gateway is also useful for monitoring. Every connected device can be tracked. This can be very helpful for network administrators overseeing large networks with many unmanaged devices. Network gateway helps to bring more order into the network and protect it from cyber threats.

Analytics

As a side effect, every device connecting in and out leaves a lot of data and logs behind. This can be applied to study various patterns of how the users act on the network. For cybersecurity teams, this data is invaluable as this can help to build a predictive model and track when there are deviations. This is usually the time when the network is breached. So, harnessing network gateway analytics is one of the key things to benefit from.

Network gateways use cases

The primary function of a network gateway is enabling cross-network connectivity. Usually, it's its sole function. However, due to its role as the gatekeeper, a network gateway is frequently combined with various additional features, however, you shouldn't expect all of them to be included by default.

Connectivity facilitation

Laptops and other portable devices use network interface cards that interact with various gateways they encounter. It's one of the founding technologies that allows internet service and seamless data sharing.

Internet of Things (IoT)

IoT devices rely on a great variety of various protocols for communication. As they vary greatly regarding used protocols and processing capabilities, the network gateway enables it to function on the same network layer. This allows connecting IoT devices with cloud networks and user applications.

Cloud storage

You may not realize this, but storing files in the cloud isn't possible without a secure web gateway. Storage service API must be converted into block-based storage protocols or file storage interfaces that multi-cloud applications need. All of these conversions will happen through a secure web gateway.

Application access

Some applications may need specialized pathways to ensure seamless connectivity. A secure web gateway must ensure that other business digital assets function as intended. Whether you're accessing a local network or a cloud network, in both examples, the network gateway is the component that makes it work.

Network gateway vs. router

While both devices are critical to your network and work together to get data where it needs to go, their main jobs are distinctly different. Think of a router as a traffic cop and a gateway as a language translator at a border crossing.

A router's core function is about direction. It operates within a single network or between networks using the same protocol, reading the destination address in a data packet and choosing the most efficient path for it to travel. It only cares about where the packet needs to go next and sends it along.

A network gateway, however, has a more complex job: translation. It sits at the absolute edge of your local network, acting as the bridge to an entirely different network (like the internet).

Because the protocol (the language) used on the internet is different from the one used on your local network, the gateway steps in. It receives data packets from one network, completely unpacks them, converts the internal protocol into the external one (or vice versa), and then repacks the data so the receiving network can understand it. If two networks speak the same "language," a router can pass traffic between them easily. If they speak different languages, you need a gateway to translate at the boundary.

For this reason,many modern routers have gateway functionality built-in, especially for small businesses and homes, blurring the lines of what you might call a single device in your network infrastructure.

Network gateway vs. firewall

While they're frequently combined, network gateways and firewalls have nothing else in common. While network gateways transit traffic between the networks, firewalls are network filters with rulesets to allow or deny specific connections.

Therefore, it's one of the reasons why it's so frequently bundled into one unit. All connections must go through the web gateway, so it only makes sense to set up a traffic filter on the destination all the connections will be going through.

Network gateway vs. switch

Although they may sound like they perform very similar functions, both network gateway and switch do entirely different things. While the network gateway connects multiple networks, a switch allows networked devices to talk to each other. Therefore, the gateway is a checkpoint where connections end up before being routed. Meanwhile, the switch receives information from a source and routes the connection to its intended destination with MAC addresses.

Network gateway vs. bridge

Network gateways and bridges are alike because they are designed to connect two different networks. However, the difference is that while network gateways can translate protocols into one that would be understandable on the network, bridges only connect identical protocols. They could link up two LAN networks, assuming they use the same protocols.

Common examples of network gateways

Gateways are everywhere, often built into devices you use every day without realizing it. They are the essential link that enables your devices to talk to the rest of the world.

• Wireless router (in your home/office): This is the most common example. It acts as both a router (directing traffic within your home network) and a gateway (translating the local network protocol to the internet protocol). It's the device that lets your smartphone send a request to a server halfway across the globe.
• Email security gateway: This is a key tool for businesses. It sits in the path of all incoming and outgoing email, scanning for malware, spam, and phishing attempts before the messages ever reach your users' inboxes.
• Web application firewall (WAF): Often considered a type of security gateway, a WAF filters and monitors HTTP network traffic between a web application and the internet. It protects applications from common web-based attacks like SQL injection.
• IoT gateway: This specialized IoT gateway serves as an intermediary between the small, low-power devices (like smart thermometers or inventory sensors) and the cloud. It manages the connection, compresses data, and translates the many simple protocols into one standard, secure protocol for centralized cloud analysis.

Summary

Network gateways are incredibly useful when joining two networks together. They facilitate the exchange process, making it unnoticeable to a casual user. They also have additional uses for increasing network security, visibility, and analytics. However, it's important to emphasize that these additions may not always come with your network gateway setup by default.

As the central portal of entry into the organization's network gateway can also be supplemented with additional tools and software to make your entry better prepared against various online threats.