Different types of client connection to wingate server.

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Hi,
I came to know that Wingate Server accept many type of client connection.

1. Network Address Translation (NAT)
2. Wingate Internet Client (WGIC)
3. Proxy Connection
4. Socks Connection

What are the differences between these.What are the benefits of using WGIC.

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NAT is very simple, but reliable and widely compatible connection method in which the source IP/Port is modified before forwarding a packet to the internet. This enables internet hosts to send packets back to clients behind routers. This is the most common connection method in use worldwide as it is supported by every major OS and is used on (almost) all internet modem/routers. You can't go wrong with NAT.

The WGIC is a legacy connection method for WinGate, remnant from the days before WinGate supported NAT. However it still has a couple of major features that NAT misses out on. Because the WGIC is an application level connection method, it is able to identify the source application of internet connections. This enables WinGate to control what applications on the clients are allowed internet access, or even run. It also has convenient authentication capabilities independant of protocol. However, we only recommend the WGIC in scenarios where it's features are required. NAT is preferable.

Proxies are essentially on a different level than NAT and WGIC, so it's hard to compare directly. Proxies are service designed to handle specific types of connections. E.g. a WWW Proxy Service will handle HTTP/HTTPS traffic, but nothing else. However, because the proxy only needs to support a specific type of internet conenction, it is able to provide great control over that traffic. If you want to control your users web browsing, then you will want to use the WWW Proxy service. However, this doesn't mean that you can't use NAT or WGIC as well to support other types of internet activity.