Prerequisite Knowledge
Before we start with the understanding of what is Microsoft Azure Application Gateway, we should have:
Background
In this article we will explore the Microsoft Azure Application Gateway and its major services. Before we look in to what Microsoft Azure Cloud Application Gateway is, let's understand,
- Web site traffic is the most critical factor to consider serving the request by processing on the server.
- For business, more traffic on the site means more business opportunities.
- Sometimes, if our resources are not capable to execute and process the request then the web site may crash.
- It is generally happening when so many users are visiting the web site which increases the traffic or amount of data sent and received over the site.
- Hence, it is very important to think about the application load balancing mechanism while designing the application.
Introduction of Microsoft Azure Application Gateway
- Azure Application Gateway is a web traffic load balancer that enables us to manage traffic to your web applications.
- Usually traffic load balancer routes the users request (traffic) based on the source IP and port to destination using transport layer TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and UDP (User Datagram Protocol).
- Azure Application gateway has an added advantage on top of this, like we can route the request based on additional parameters like HTTP request and its URI path. This type of routing is known as application layer (OSI layer 7) load balancing.
- Azure application gateway supports SSL/TLS termination at the gateway. It allows for optional choice for additional overhead of encryption and decryption of the request. However, if we are implementing secured application then it is not recommended.
Azure application gateway features
- Azure application gateway has the ability to automatically scale the resources up and down based on the traffic and load patterns.
- Static VIP – It supports static VIP type over the lifetime of the gateway.
- We can route the requests based on the URL and its rules.
- Single application gateway can be utilized for one or more applications.
- Azure application gateway can deploy on the multiple availability zones which helps in fault resiliency. It also avoids the additional provision of gateway for each zone.
- Application Gateway provides native support for the WebSocket and HTTP/2 protocols.
- Connection draining – it helps you achieve graceful removal of backend pool members during planned service updates.
- We can create our own custom error page rather than displaying the default error page to the users.
- We can rewrite the HTTP headers using this gateway. It supports adding, removing or updating the HTTP request as well as response.
- The Application Gateway Standard is currently offered in three sizes: Small, Medium, and Large.
- Application Gateway is integrated with several Azure services.
- We can direct web traffic with Azure Application Gateway using Azure portal, Azure PowerShell, Azure CLI.
Reference Links
- https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/services/application-gateway/
- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/application-gateway/overview
- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/application-gateway/application-gateway-faq
- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/application-gateway/
- https://blog.halfabubbleout.com/blog/why-is-website-traffic-important-to-my-business
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_traffic
- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/application-gateway/quick-create-portal
- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/application-gateway/quick-create-powershell
- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/application-gateway/quick-create-cli
Conclusion
In this article we have learned the overview of Microsoft Azure Application Gateway and its service.
Keep Learning!