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TR7Enterprise Application Delivery & Security Platform
What is Gateway Mode; what is the difference between Standalone Application, Portal and Portal Application?
Short answer
Gateway Mode determines whether an AGS-enabled vService opens the session with its own flow or takes it over from a portal. Standalone Application (default) protects a single application with its own login flow and accepts only the session it has issued itself. Portal is the common entry point where users log in once, and it publishes the applications in the Portal Applications list. Portal Application does not run its own login flow; it takes over the session from the portal in the Trusted Portals list and redirects the user who has no session to the portal.
How Does It Work?
- Standalone Application: The user who has no session enters the Flowchart flow of this vService; the requests with a session go to the Backend Services.
- Portal: The user who has no session enters the flow of the portal. The user with a session moves from the portal page to the published applications; according to the selected Access Mode, the application traffic is tunneled over the portal to the vService of the application or is received at the application's own address.
- Portal Application: The user who has no session is redirected to the first portal in the Trusted Portals list for which the Portal URL value is defined, and returns with the session opened at the portal; the requests with a session go to the Backend Services.
Comparison
| Standalone Application | Portal | Portal Application | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where the session is opened | The flow of this vService | The flow of this vService | The trusted portal |
| The Start box in the Flowchart | Present | Present | Absent |
| Accepted session | Only its own | Only its own | Its own and those of the portals in the Trusted Portals list |
| A request with a session that does not match the Conditional Backend Services rules | Default Backend Services | The portal page (AGS engine) | Default Backend Services |
| Mode-specific fields | None | Portal URL, Private Tunnel Domain, Portal Applications | Trusted Portals |
| Typical use | Protecting a single application | A common login for several applications | An application published by the portal |
Gateway Mode in TR7
- The mode is selected in the Gateway Mode section of the General Settings window on the Flowchart tab of the AGS-enabled vService; the same field is also on the AGS Management tab.
- When the mode is changed, the fields that are not valid in the new mode are removed from the record; Cookie Domain, Cookie Name Prefix, the policies and the Backend SSO selection are preserved (mode change).
- In Portal Application mode, only the vServices in Portal mode can be selected in the Trusted Portals list, and the list cannot be left empty.
- The mode appears with a badge in the Flowchart and in the Gateway Mode column of the AGS-Enabled vService List screen.
Common Misconceptions
- "Turning on Portal mode brings SSO to the applications by itself." If AGS is on in the vService of the application, this vService is additionally put into Portal Application mode and the portal is selected in the Trusted Portals list; the two sides are configured separately (What is the Portal; how do users reach several applications with a single sign-in?).
- "A vService in Standalone Application mode accepts the session of the portal." This mode accepts only the session it has issued itself; for the vService to accept the portal session, it is put into Portal Application mode.
- "In Portal Application mode, the flow steps are deleted." The steps left from the previous mode stay in the record, but since there is no Start box, the user is not directed to these steps.
How it is done in the documentation
