> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://infisical.com/docs/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Private network access > How Infisical reaches systems that aren't directly accessible from its own network. Gateways, gateway pools, relays, and the network architecture that connects them to Infisical. Infisical uses gateways and relays to reach systems that aren't directly accessible from its own network. A gateway is a process that runs inside a customer network and forwards requests from Infisical to systems on the same network, such as an internal database or an on-premises certificate authority. A relay is a component that connects a gateway to Infisical when a direct network connection between the two isn't possible. Gateways are required when Infisical needs to access a system that isn't exposed to the public internet, such as a database inside a private cloud VPC, a Kubernetes cluster in an air-gapped environment, or a device management server behind a corporate firewall.