Brief on Gateways?

A gateway enables communication between different networks.  

In networking, the need to pair two or more networks together arise every now and then. A gateway is a device or a node that makes this possible by facilitating data connection and routing between them. 

Gateway like a bridge or a router that connects: 

• Two or more local area networks (LANs) 
• A LAN to a wide area network (WAN) 
• A LAN to the internet 

Some of the things a Gateway does in a network include routing, address translation and protocol conversion. 

Routing is forwarding data packets between networks. Address translation is about translating IP addresses between networks. Protocol conversion involves converting data formats between networks. 

Some common types of gateways are:  

• Network gateway: Connects multiple networks. 
• Internet gateway: Connects a network to the internet. 
• VPN gateway: Encrypts and decrypts data for virtual private networks (VPNs). 
• Default gateway: The primary gateway used by devices on a network to access external networks. 

Gateway Transit

Gateway Transit is an approach that enables peered virtual networks to share a gateway, access to resources and communicate directly. 

Simple Architecture: Setting up your peered networks to share a common gateway can simplify your network architecture by reducing the complexity of managing multiple gateways. Routing is also streamlined as traffic flow through a single gateway.  

Scalability: You can add networks to an already existing peering arrangement without deploying additional gateways as the shared gateway can handle increased traffic from multiple networks. And individual networks can be scaled independently without affecting the resources or performance of the shared gateway.  

Better connectivity: Peered networks can communicate directly reducing latency and improving performance. Resources in one network are accessible from other peered networks without need for complex routing. And single-entry point in Gateway Transit can reduce connectivity issues.