An application-level gateway (ALG) is a tool or software program program that gives a safe and environment friendly solution to join purposes to a community. ALGs function on the software layer of the OSI mannequin, which is the very best layer of the mannequin and is answerable for offering application-specific performance. This enables ALGs to grasp the precise wants of every software and to offer the required providers to help these wants.
ALGs are usually used to offer safety, load balancing, and protocol translation providers. Security measures supplied by ALGs embody firewall safety, intrusion detection, and encryption. Load balancing options supplied by ALGs embody the flexibility to distribute visitors throughout a number of servers and to offer failover help. Protocol translation options supplied by ALGs embody the flexibility to transform between totally different community protocols, reminiscent of TCP and UDP.