Application Gateway

intermediate
networking
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Definition

Azure web traffic load balancer with application-level routing and security. Like a smart bouncer that directs different types of visitors to appropriate areas.

Real-World Example

E-commerce sites use Application Gateway to route product searches to one service and payment processing to another.

Cloud Provider Equivalencies

All provide Layer 7 (HTTP/HTTPS) load balancing with host/path-based routing. Azure Application Gateway uniquely integrates tightly with Azure Web Application Firewall (WAF) policies and supports features like cookie-based affinity and end-to-end TLS options. AWS ALB and GCP HTTP(S) Load Balancing are the closest functional matches for application-layer routing; OCI’s Load Balancer supports HTTP load balancing and routing/policies, though feature parity varies by capability and configuration.

AWS
AWS Application Load Balancer (ALB)
AZ
Azure Application Gateway
GCP
Google Cloud HTTP(S) Load Balancing
OCI
OCI Load Balancer (Layer 7 features via flexible shapes and policies)

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