Summary:
Azure Application Gateway is a web traffic load balancer that enables you to manage traffic to your web applications. As a part of Microsoft Azure’s networking service, it provides various application delivery controller (ADC) features, such as SSL termination, URL-based routing, and session affinity. Azure Application Gateway is designed to optimize web application server farms' scalability and security by distributing incoming traffic among healthy service instances. This service is especially beneficial for enterprises hosting large-scale or multiple web applications, requiring advanced routing, load balancing, and security features to ensure the smooth and secure operation of their services.
Key Features:
- SSL Termination: Offloads the SSL processing from the web servers, improving performance and simplifying SSL certificate management.
- URL-based Routing: Routes traffic to different web pages within your application based on URL paths.
- Web Application Firewall (WAF): Provides centralized, inbound protection for your web applications from common exploits and vulnerabilities.
- Session Affinity: Ensures a user session remains on the same web application server for the duration of the session (cookie-based session affinity).
- Auto-scaling: Automatically scales the Application Gateway and its instances based on the incoming web traffic load.
Partner Link:
Tangible Benefits:
- Improved Web Application Performance:
- Quantification Path: Measure the response times and throughput of web applications before and after implementing Azure Application Gateway. Track the improvement in load times and server response times to quantify performance enhancements.
- Enhanced Security and Reduced Threat Incidents:
- Quantification Path: Compare the number and severity of security incidents (such as web attacks or exploits) targeted at web applications before and after deploying the Application Gateway with WAF. Quantify the reduction in successful attacks.
- Cost Efficiency in Web Application Scalability and Maintenance:
- Quantification Path: Assess cost savings by evaluating the reduction in operational overhead (such as SSL certificate management, load balancing setup, and security management) and the efficiency gained from auto-scaling capabilities.