Abstract: At a security gateway residing within a trusted computer network, a service request is obtained from an external client and is authenticated. In response, one instance of a plurality of available application instances is identified. The instances are hosted on a plurality of hosts having a plurality of firewalls, and the firewalls and the hosts reside within the network. The firewalls have been initially defaulted to block external access to all instances. A corresponding one of the hosts, within the trusted computer network, and corresponding to the identified one of the plurality of available application instances, is instructed to open a corresponding one of the firewalls to a network address corresponding to the external client. The external client is advised of a destination identifier and port corresponding to the opening of the firewall, to facilitate the external client communicating with the corresponding one of the hosts.

Abstract: At a security gateway residing within a trusted computer network, a service request is obtained from an external client and is authenticated. In response, one instance of a plurality of available application instances is identified. The instances are hosted on a plurality of hosts having a plurality of firewalls, and the firewalls and the hosts reside within the network. The firewalls have been initially defaulted to block external access to all instances. A corresponding one of the hosts, within the trusted computer network, and corresponding to the identified one of the plurality of available application instances, is instructed to open a corresponding one of the firewalls to a network address corresponding to the external client. The external client is advised of a destination identifier and port corresponding to the opening of the firewall, to facilitate the external client communicating with the corresponding one of the hosts.