Old Khazad-dûm, later called Moria, had two gates: a West-gate that opened onto Eregion, and an East-gate that opened into the valley of Nanduhirion. The term 'Gates of Moria' could in principle refer to either of these gates, or both, but in practice this rare term is used only of the western gate, the one patterned with ithildin that would be used by the Fellowship of the Ring to gain entry into Moria.
Long, long before the Fellowship entered Moria (specifically, in II 1697, nearly five thousand years earlier) the Gates of Moria had been shut against the forces of Sauron invading Eriador. The fact that they could not be breached by an entire army of Orcs shows how strong (and strongly enchanted) they were. It was the holding of the Gates by the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm that engendered the deep enmity between the Dwarves and Orcs that would have profound consequences in later history.
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