Secure traffic to a service with the gcloud CLI

This page shows you how to deploy an API on API Gateway to secure traffic to a backend service.

Use the following steps to deploy a new API to access a backend service on Cloud Run functions using the Google Cloud CLI. This quickstart also describes how to use an API key to protect your backend from unauthorized access.

Before you begin

In the Google Cloud console, go to the Dashboard page and select or create a Google Cloud project.
Go to Dashboard

Note: If you don't plan to keep the resources you create in this quickstart, create a new project instead of selecting an existing project. After you finish these steps, you can delete the project, removing all resources associated with the project.
Confirm that billing is enabled for your project.
Enable billing
Ensure that the Google Cloud CLI is downloaded and installed on your machine.
Download the gcloud CLI
Update gcloudcomponents:
```
gcloud components update
```
Set the default project. Replace PROJECT_ID with your Google Cloud project ID.
```
gcloud config set project PROJECT_ID
```

Enabling required services

API Gateway requires that you enable the following Google services:

Name	Title
`apigateway.googleapis.com`	API Gateway API
`servicemanagement.googleapis.com`	Service Management API
`servicecontrol.googleapis.com`	Service Control API

To confirm that the required services are enabled:

gcloud services list

If you do not see the required services listed, enable them:

gcloud services enable apigateway.googleapis.com
gcloud services enable servicemanagement.googleapis.com
gcloud services enable servicecontrol.googleapis.com

For more information about the gcloud services, see gcloud services.

Deploying an API backend

API Gateway sits in front of a deployed backend service and handles all incoming requests. In this quickstart, API Gateway routes incoming calls to a Cloud Run function backend named helloGET that contains the following function:

/**
 * HTTP Cloud Function.
 * This function is exported by index.js, and is executed when
 * you make an HTTP request to the deployed function's endpoint.
 *
 * @param {Object} req Cloud Function request context.
 *                     More info: https://expressjs.com/en/api.html#req
 * @param {Object} res Cloud Function response context.
 *                     More info: https://expressjs.com/en/api.html#res
 */

exports.helloGET = (req, res) => {
  res.send('Hello World!');
};

Follow the steps in Quickstart: Using the Google Cloud CLI to download the sample Cloud Run functions code and deploy the Cloud Run function backend service.

Creating an API

Now you are ready to create your API on API Gateway.

Enter the following command, where:
- API_ID specifies the name of your API. See API ID requirements for API naming guidelines.
- PROJECT_ID specifies the name of your Google Cloud project.
```
gcloud api-gateway apis create API_ID --project=PROJECT_ID
```
For example:
```
gcloud api-gateway apis create my-api --project=my-project
```

On successful completion, you can use the following command to view details about the new API:

gcloud api-gateway apis describe API_ID --project=PROJECT_ID

For example:

gcloud api-gateway apis describe my-api --project=my-project

This command returns the following:

  createTime: '2020-02-29T21:52:20.297426875Z'
  displayName: my-api
  managedService: my-api-123abc456def1.apigateway.my-project.cloud.goog
  name: projects/my-project/locations/global/apis/my-api
  state: ACTIVE
  updateTime: '2020-02-29T21:52:20.647923711Z'

Note the value of the managedService property. This value is used to enable your API in a subsequent step.

Creating an API config

Before API Gateway can be used to manage traffic to your deployed API backend, it needs an API config.

You can create an API config using an OpenAPI spec that contains specialized annotations to define the chosen API Gateway behavior. The OpenAPI spec used for this quickstart contains routing instructions to our Cloud Run function backend:

# openapi2-functions.yaml
swagger: '2.0'
info:
  title: API_ID optional-string
  description: Sample API on API Gateway with a Google Cloud Functions backend
  version: 1.0.0
schemes:
  - https
produces:
  - application/json
paths:
  /hello:
    get:
      summary: Greet a user
      operationId: hello
      x-google-backend:
        address: https://GCP_REGION-PROJECT_ID.cloudfunctions.net/helloGET
      responses:
        '200':
          description: A successful response
          schema:
            type: string

To upload this OpenAPI spec and create an API config using the gcloud CLI:

From the command line, create a new file named openapi2-functions.yaml.
Copy and paste the contents of the OpenAPI spec shown above into the newly created file.
Edit the file as follows:
1. In the title field, replace API_ID with the name of your API and replace optional-string with a brief description of your choosing. The value of this field is used when minting API keys that grant access to this API.
2. In the address field, replace GCP_REGION with the Google Cloud region of the deployed function and PROJECT_ID with the name of your Google Cloud project.
Enter the following command, where:
- CONFIG_ID specifies the name of your API config.
- API_ID specifies the name of your API.
- API_DEFINITION specifies the filename of the OpenAPI spec.
- PROJECT_ID specifies the name of your Google Cloud project.
- SERVICE_ACCOUNT_EMAIL specifies the service account used to sign tokens for backends with authentication configured. For more information, see Configuring a service account.
  Note: The service account used to create an API config for a Cloud Run functions backend must have the cloudfunctions.invoker role assigned.
```
gcloud api-gateway api-configs create CONFIG_ID \
  --api=API_ID --openapi-spec=API_DEFINITION \
  --project=PROJECT_ID --backend-auth-service-account=SERVICE_ACCOUNT_EMAIL
```
For example:
```
gcloud api-gateway api-configs create my-config \
  --api=my-api --openapi-spec=openapi2-functions.yaml \
  --project=my-project --backend-auth-service-account=0000000000000-compute@developer.gserviceaccount.com
```
This operation may take several minutes to complete as the API config is propagated to downstream systems. Creating a complex API config could take up to ten minutes to complete successfully.

Note: If you run this command and receive an error in the form FAILED_PRECONDITION: Service Account ... does not exist, see Configuring a service account to ensure that a service account is enabled for your project.
Note: Only one API config at a time may be created for a given API. Wait until the config creation finishes before attempting to create a new config for the same API.

After the API config is created, you can view its details by running this command:

gcloud api-gateway api-configs describe CONFIG_ID \
  --api=API_ID --project=PROJECT_ID

For example:

gcloud api-gateway api-configs describe my-config \
  --api=my-api --project=my-project

The output shows your API config details, including name and state, as shown in the following example:

createTime: '2020-02-07T18:17:01.839180746Z'
displayName: my-config
gatewayConfig:
backendConfig:
  googleServiceAccount: 0000000000000-compute@developer.gserviceaccount.com
name: projects/my-project/locations/global/apis/my-api/configs/my-config
serviceRollout:
rolloutId: 2020-02-07r0
state: ACTIVE
updateTime: '2020-02-07T18:17:02.173778118Z'

Creating a gateway

Now deploy the API config on a gateway. Deploying an API config on a gateway defines an external URL that API clients can use to access your API.

Run the following command to deploy the API config you just created to API Gateway:

gcloud api-gateway gateways create GATEWAY_ID \
  --api=API_ID --api-config=CONFIG_ID \
  --location=GCP_REGION --project=PROJECT_ID

where:

GATEWAY_ID specifies the name of the gateway.
API_ID specifies the name of the API Gateway API associated with this gateway.
CONFIG_ID specifies the name of the API config deployed to the gateway.
GCP_REGION is the Google Cloud region for the deployed gateway.
Note:
Allowed values are:
- asia-northeast1
- australia-southeast1
- europe-west1
- europe-west2
- us-east1
- us-east4
- us-central1
- us-west2
- us-west3
- us-west4
PROJECT_ID specifies the name of your Google Cloud project.

For example:

gcloud api-gateway gateways create my-gateway \
  --api=my-api --api-config=my-config \
  --location=us-central1 --project=my-project

On successful completion, use the following command to view details about the gateway:

gcloud api-gateway gateways describe GATEWAY_ID \
  --location=GCP_REGION --project=PROJECT_ID

For example:

gcloud api-gateway gateways describe my-gateway \
  --location=us-central1 --project=my-project

This command returns the following:

apiConfig: projects/my-project/locations/global/apis/my-api/configs/my-config
createTime: '2020-02-05T13:44:12.997862831Z'
defaultHostname: my-gateway-a12bcd345e67f89g0h.uc.gateway.dev
displayName: my-gateway
name: projects/my-project/locations/us-central1/gateways/my-gateway
serviceAccount:
      email: 0000000000000-compute@developer.gserviceaccount.com
state: ACTIVE
updateTime: '2020-02-05T13:45:00.844705087Z'

Note the value of the defaultHostname property. This is the hostname portion of the gateway URL you use to test your deployment in the next step.

Testing your API deployment

Now you can send requests to your API using the URL generated upon deployment of your gateway.

Enter the following curl command, where:

DEFAULT_HOSTNAME specifies the hostname portion of your deployed gateway URL.
hello is the path specified in your API config.

curl https://DEFAULT_HOSTNAME/hello

For example:

curl https://my-gateway-a12bcd345e67f89g0h.uc.gateway.dev/hello

The output is:

Hello World!

You have successfully created and deployed an API Gateway!

Securing access by using an API key

To secure access to your API backend, generate an API key associated with your project and grant that key access to call your API. See Restricting API access with API keys for more information.

If you don't already have an API key associated with the Google Cloud project you are using in this quickstart, you can add one by following the steps at Creating an API Key.

To secure access to your gateway using an API key:

Enable API key support for your service. Enter the following command, where:
- MANAGED_SERVICE_NAME specifies the name of the managed service created when you deployed the API. This can be viewed in the Managed Service property listed with the gcloud apigee-gateway apis describe command.
- PROJECT_ID specifies the name of your Google Cloud project.
```
gcloud services enable MANAGED_SERVICE_NAME.apigateway.PROJECT_ID.cloud.goog
```
For example:
```
gcloud services enable my-api-123abc456def1.apigateway.my-project.cloud.goog
```

Modify the OpenAPI spec used to create your API config to include instructions to enforce an API key validation security policy on all traffic. Add the security type and securityDefinitions as shown:

  # openapi2-functions.yaml
  swagger: '2.0'
  info:
    title: API_ID optional-string
    description: Sample API on API Gateway with a Google Cloud Functions backend
    version: 1.0.0
  schemes:
    - https
  produces:
    - application/json
  paths:
    /hello:
      get:
        summary: Greet a user
        operationId: hello
        x-google-backend:
          address: https://GCP_REGION-PROJECT_ID.cloudfunctions.net/helloGET
        security:
        - api_key: []
        responses:
          '200':
            description: A successful response
            schema:
              type: string
  securityDefinitions:
    # This section configures basic authentication with an API key.
    api_key:
      type: "apiKey"
      name: "key"
      in: "query"

The securityDefinition configures your API to require an API key passed as a query parameter named key when requesting access to all paths defined in the spec.

Create a new API config with the modified OpenAPI spec using the following command:

gcloud api-gateway api-configs create NEW_CONFIG_ID \
--api=API_ID --openapi-spec=NEW_API_DEFINITION \
--project=PROJECT_ID --backend-auth-service-account=SERVICE_ACCOUNT_EMAIL

For example:

gcloud api-gateway api-configs create my-config-key \
  --api=my-api --openapi-spec=openapi2-functions.yaml \
  --project=my-project --backend-auth-service-account=0000000000000compute@developer.gserviceaccount.com

Run the following command to update your existing gateway with the new API config:

gcloud api-gateway gateways update GATEWAY_ID \
  --api=API_ID --api-config=NEW_CONFIG_ID \
  --location=GCP_REGION --project=PROJECT_ID

For example:

gcloud api-gateway gateways update my-gateway \
  --api=my-api --api-config=my-config-key \
  --location=us-central1 --project=my-project

Testing your API key

Once you have created and deployed the modified API, try making a request to it.

Enter the following curl command, where:

DEFAULT_HOSTNAME specifies the hostname portion of your deployed gateway URL.
hello is the path specified in your API config.

curl https://DEFAULT_HOSTNAME/hello

For example:

curl https://my-gateway-a12bcd345e67f89g0h.uc.gateway.dev/hello

This should result in the following error:

UNAUTHENTICATED:Method doesn't allow unregistered callers (callers without established identity). Please use API Key or other form of API consumer identity to call this API.

Now, enter the following curl command where:

DEFAULT_HOSTNAME specifies the hostname portion of your deployed gateway URL.
hello is the path specified in your API config.
API_KEY specifies the API key you created in the previous step.

curl https://DEFAULT_HOSTNAME/hello?key=API_KEY

Now you should see Hello World! in the response from your API.

Congratulations! You have successfully protected your API backend with an API Gateway. Now you can start onboarding new API clients by generating additional API keys.

Clean up

To avoid incurring charges to your Google Cloud account for the resources used in this quickstart, you can:

Alternatively, you can also delete the Google Cloud project used for this tutorial.

What's next

Learn more About API Gateway
Walk through Configuring the development environment
Learn about Authentication between services