Gateways

In Vendor Privileged Access Management (VPAM), Gateways serve as an access point to your network and systems. Gateways direct traffic from vendor representatives that log in to the VPAM server to provide support. The Gateways software system is accessible by administrative users of your VPAM server and they are housed in your Local Area Network (LAN), on a server that you and your team manage. When you install a Gateway, you are also installing a Gatekeeper for that Gateway.

The difference between a Gateway and a Gatekeeper is the function of each of them. A Gateway functions as a secure entry point for vendor representatives to access remotely to applications that do not require built-in services. On the other hand, a Gatekeeper provides built-in services to vendor representatives that access a single application in your systems.

In other words, Gateways provide access to your systems while Gatekeepers provide services for vendor reps to provide support.

In this page you will find the steps to create a Gateway, install the Gatekeeper software for the Gateway, and register the Gateway to start hosting applications.

Gateway Instances

VPAM Gateways have one or more Gateway Instances, which are used to automatically load balance the connections form your vendor reps. Each Gateway Instance will need to have the Gatekeeper software installed on it and its registration key entered for it to function correctly.

When you create a new Gateway Instance, you can choose its type:

  • Pooled: Connections will be balanced across the online Pooled instances.

  • Fail Over: Fail Over instances will only handle connections if there are no Pooled instances online.

New connections will be handled by the Pooled Instance with the least connections. If there are no Pooled Instances online, the Fail Over Instance with the least connections will be used instead. This means the Pooled Instances will be used normally but if all of them are offline, the Fail Over Instances will be used instead.

Create a Gateway

To create a new Gateway, you must have administrator privileges or a role with enough permissions to create it. Then:

  1. Open the Applications page from your VPAM server Administrator Console.

  2. Click Gateway List from the menu.
    The system displays a list of all the Gateways in your VPAM server.

  3. Click Add New Gateway.
    The system prompts you to provide a Gateway Name. Ensure that you use a unique name for your new Gateway.

  4. Click Save.
    The system displays the installation instructions.

Read the instructions from your VPAM Administrator Console or read the following section.

Install the Gateway's Gatekeeper

The Gateway system requires that you install its Gatekeeper on a dedicated system that will route the vendor rep traffic to you applications. After you save the Gateway and the instructions page opens, you can download the Gatekeeper directly or share the Gatekeeper download page to the system where you want to install it.

IMPORTANT:
Each Gateway and Gatekeeper pairing is unique. Follow one of the processes below to ensure that the Gateway and Gatekeeper you install match, otherwise, the installation will not be successful.

To install the Gateway's Gatekeeper in the system you used to create the Gateway:

  1. Copy and safe-keep the registration code.
    This registration code is essential for the next process!

  2. Locate the distribution you want to use: Windows or Linux.

    • For Windows, your browser downloads an installation wizard that you can run and install automatically.

    • For Linux, the Linux installation instructions open on another tab.

  3. Complete the installation and continue to the register process.

To install the Gateway's Gatekeeper on a different system:

  1. Copy and safe-keep the registration code.
    This registration code is essential for the next process!

  2. Copy the link to the downloads page.

  3. Share the link to the computer where you want to install the Gateway.

  4. Follow the download and installation process for the current system.

Register the Gateway

After you install your Gateway's Gatekeeper in the target computer:

  1. Open your preferred browser.

  2. Open the following address: localhost:4680

  3. Paste the registration code.

  4. Select Allow registration to self-signed servers.

  5. Submit the registration code.

Troubleshooting

If you encounter an issue during the download, installation, and registry process , consider the following:

If you did not safe-keep your Gateway's Gatekeeper registration code, consider the following:

  1. Open the Gateway you just created.

  2. Select the instance that you need to register.

  3. Copy the registration code.
    If the registration code does not appear, select Reset. The system provides a new registration code for the Gateway's Gatekeeper.

  4. Open the localhost:4680 address on the system where you installed the Gateway.

  5. Submit the new registration code.
    Remember to select Allow registration to self-signed servers.

If you followed the installation and registration processes, but your Gateway's Gatekeeper appears offline, do the following:

  1. From the localhost:4680 address, click Help.

  2. Select Connectivity Test.

  3. Run the Connectivity Test.

If the Gateway's Gatekeeper is still offline:

  1. From the localhost:4680 address, click Settings.

  2. In the Enable Backup Pruning section, click Advanced Settings.

  3. Click Reset Gatekeeper Registration.

These steps effectively disconnect the Gateway's Gatekeeper. Then, from the Administrator Console:

  1. Open the Gateway you just reset.

  2. Select Reset.
    The system provides a new registration code for the Gateway's Gatekeeper.

  3. Re-open the localhost:4680 address on the system where you installed the Gateway.

  4. Submit the new registration code.
    Remember to select Allow registration to self-signed servers.