Gateway – the gateway for message transmission
A gateway has the task of enabling communication between different network protocols and thus connecting different types of networks with each other. Messages are transferred from one computer network to another. Therefore, a gateway can also be regarded as a program converter.
Tasks and working methods in the gateway
In order for two different network protocols to communicate with each other, the information must be converted. This task is performed by the gateway, which either consists of special hardware or can also be software-based. The gateway is positioned on the smallest common layer that connects two networks. In the area of communication protocols, the so-called OSI reference model is often relevant, which consists of a total of seven layers. Layer seven is the application layer – in some cases, this layer can be regarded as the lowest common denominator. The gateway always works according to the same principle. It is recognized as a controllable node in both networks and is capable of recognizing all incoming data and information and converting it into a form that can be understood by the other network.
What does the gateway transform?
The primary goal of the gateway is to make different networks understand each other. To this end, the data arriving at the network node is converted. This concerns, for example, the addresses, formats, encodings, but also the intermediate buffering of incoming data packets, packet acknowledgement and flow control. The latter controls the adjustment of the speed of the data rate and ensures loss-free transmission. As far as conversion is concerned, a gateway may do anything to enable understanding. Depending on the requirements, information can be neglected if the target network would not understand it anyway.
Not all gateways are the same
Today’s classic Internet user usually has a different idea of the term gateway: he equates the router with the gateway. Basically, however, the gateway does not perform any translation tasks, since today almost all networks communicate via the uniform IP protocol and conversion of the data packets has become superfluous. Another form is the VPN gateway, which enables secure access to a closed network via the Internet. Access to the various services, for example of a company network, is made possible via a tunneled and thus sealed-off connection. The term gateway is also used in telecommunications to describe an interface between two networks for digital transcoding.
