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.

Follow the steps below to deploy a new API to access a backend service on Cloud 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

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

    Go to the Dashboard page

  2. Confirm that billing is enabled for your project.

    Learn how to enable billing

  3. Ensure that the Google Cloud CLI is downloaded and installed on your machine.

    Download the gcloud CLI

  4. Update gcloudcomponents:

    gcloud components update
  5. 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 Function backend named helloGET that contains the function shown below:

/**
 * 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 Functions code and deploy the Cloud Function backend service.

Creating an API

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

  1. 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
  2. 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 desired API Gateway behavior. The OpenAPI spec used for this quickstart contains routing instructions to our Cloud 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:

  1. From the command line, create a new file named openapi2-functions.yaml.

  2. Copy and paste the contents of the OpenAPI spec shown above into the newly created file.

  3. 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 GCP region of the deployed function and PROJECT_ID with the name of your Google Cloud project.
  4. 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.
    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. Creation of a complex API config could take up to ten minutes to complete successfully.

  5. 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 example below:

    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.

  • 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 do not 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:

  1. 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
  2. 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 below:
      # 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.
  3. 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
  4. 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