Suboptimal endpoint conditions, such as high CPU usage or system load, can negatively impact network response time measurements and lead to a suboptimal gateway selection. GlobalProtect® introduces the Best Gateway Selection Criteria to solve this challenge. This capability ensures reliable network discovery results by preventing local endpoint conditions from skewing the measurement of available gateway options.

The selection process evaluates criteria such as gateway priority, load, and response time to determine the best available gateway. When you select Response Time as the primary criteria, GlobalProtect measures the duration of a successful TCP handshake to establish the external gateway connection. Measuring the TCP handshake provides a highly accurate network latency reading because it isolates network connection time from processing delays on the endpoint itself. This isolation guarantees that endpoints connect to the gateway with the highest priority and shortest actual network response time, improving user experience and network efficiency.