Using URL maps

This guide shows you how to configure Google Cloud URL maps. Before following this guide, familiarize yourself with URL map concepts.

Note: This page describes how to create a specific load balancer component before or after you've already created a load balancer. Working with specific components is useful for advanced configurations and necessary for some configuration options. Before using the information on this page, know the type of Google Cloud load balancer that you need. To get started quickly with your load balancer configuration, we recommend that you follow an end-to-end configuration example.

URL maps are used with the following Google Cloud products:

• External HTTP(S) Load Balancing
• Internal HTTP(S) Load Balancing
• Traffic Director

Internal HTTP(S) Load Balancing and Traffic Director support advanced traffic management use cases. For more information, see:

• Traffic management overview for internal HTTP(S) load balancers
• Traffic management overview for Traffic Director

Configuring URL maps

You can add backend services and backend buckets to a URL map.

Backend buckets are supported with external HTTP(S) load balancers only.

Important: If you originally set up your load balancer in the Cloud Console, the URL map name is the same as your load balancer's name.

Adding a URL map

Console

To add a URL map using the Cloud Console, perform the following steps:

1. Go to the Load balancing page.

   Go to the Load balancing page

2. Click the Name of a load balancer.
3. On the Load Balancer Details screen, click Edit for the selected load balancer.
4. Select Host and path rules.
5. Click Add host and path rule.
6. Fill in the Host field, Paths field, or both, and select a backend service or backend bucket.
7. Look for the blue checkmark to the left of Host and Path Rules and click the Update button.

gcloud

To add a URL map using the gcloud command-line tool, use the url-maps create command:

gcloud compute url-maps create URL_MAP_NAME \
   (--default-backend-bucket=DEFAULT_BACKEND_BUCKET | --default-service=DEFAULT_SERVICE) \
   [--description DESCRIPTION] \
   [--global | --region=REGION]

For internal HTTP(S) load balancers, make sure to include the --region flag when you create the URL map.

A newly created URL map matches only one path, the default one (/*). This default path matcher is created automatically. All traffic that does not match a manually created path matcher or host rule is sent to the URL map default backend service.

Adding a path matcher

A path matcher maps HTTP(S) request paths or path prefixes (for example, /video) to backend services. All traffic that matches the specified path is processed by path rules in the path matcher. If a path matches a path rule, then the request is forwarded to the backends associated with that path rule. If a request matches the path matcher no path rules, then the request is forwarded to the default backend for the path matcher.

Console

To create a path matcher using the Cloud Console, perform the following steps:

1. If you're not already on the Host and path rules screen, go to the Load balancing page.

   Go to the Load balancing page

2. Click the Name of a load balancer.
3. On the Load Balancer Details screen, click Edit for the selected load balancer.
4. In the Host and path rules screen, either click Add host and path rule or click an existing Paths field.
5. Enter the path to configure, for example, /video.
6. Look for the blue checkmark to the left of Host and Path Rules and click the Update button.

gcloud

To create a path matcher using the gcloud command-line tool, use the gcloud compute url-maps add-path-matcher command:

gcloud compute url-maps add-path-matcher URL_MAP_NAME \
   --default-service BACKEND_SERVICE \
   --path-matcher-name PATH_MATCHER \
   [--path-rules="PATH=SERVICE"]

This command requires a default backend service to which it can send unmatched requests. Optionally, you can use the --path-rules flag to define mappings between request paths and backend services. The following example routes the request paths /video/ and /video/* to the video-service backend service:

--path-rules="/video=video-service,/video/*=video-service"

Both the url-maps create and url-maps add-path-matcher commands have a --default-service parameter. In create, the default service is the one used if none of the path matchers match the incoming URL. In add-path-matcher, the default service is the one used if the path matches the path matcher, but none of the --path-rules match.

Adding a host rule

Console

To create a host rule using the Cloud Console, perform the following steps:

1. If you're not already on the Host and path rules screen, go to the Load balancing page.

   Go to the Load balancing page

2. Click the Name of a load balancer.
3. On the Load Balancer Details screen, click Edit for the selected load balancer.
4. On the Host and path rules screen, either click Add host and path rule or click an existing Hosts field.
5. Enter a fully-qualified Host name, for example web.example.com.
6. Look for the blue checkmark to the left of Host and Path Rules and click the Update button.

gcloud

To create a host rule using the gcloud command-line tool, use the gcloud compute url-maps add-host-rule command:

gcloud compute url-maps add-host-rule URL_MAP_NAME \
    --hosts=HOSTS --path-matcher-name=PATH_MATCHER

The flag --hosts defines a set of hosts to match requests against. For example, the following --hosts value would match requests against www.example.com and any subdomain of google.com:

--hosts *.google.com,www.example.com

Selecting a backend service or backend bucket

Console

To select a backend service or backend bucket for a URL map, perform the following steps:

1. If you're not already on the Host and path rules screen, go to the Load balancing page.

   Go to the Load balancing page

2. Click the Name of a load balancer.
3. On the Load Balancer Details screen, click Edit for the selected load balancer.
4. In the Host and path rules screen, in the Backends field pull-down menu, select an available backend service or backend bucket.
5. Look for the blue checkmark to the left of Host and Path Rules and click the Update button.

gcloud

To select a backend service or backend bucket using the gcloud command-line tool, use the url-maps set-default-service command.

gcloud compute url-maps set-default-service URL_MAP_NAME
  (--default-backend-bucket=DEFAULT_BACKEND_BUCKET
  | --default-service=DEFAULT_SERVICE)[GCLOUD_WIDE_FLAG ...]

Validating URL map configuration

Before deploying a URL map, make sure you validate the URL map configuration to ensure that the map is routing requests to the appropriate backends as intended. You can do this by adding tests to the URL map configuration. You can experiment with different URL map rules and run as many tests as needed to be confident that the map will route traffic appropriately when it is deployed. Additionally, if any rule changes are needed in the future, you can test those changes before actually going live with the new configuration.

Use the gcloud compute url-maps validate command to validate URL map configuration. Note that this command only tests the configuration provided. Irrespective of whether the tests pass or fail, no changes are saved to the URL map that is currently deployed. This is unlike other url-maps commands (edit, import) that also run the same tests but will actually save the new configuration if tests pass. Use the validate command when you want to test new routing configuration without making changes to the currently deployed URL map.

The validate command allows you to test advanced route configurations such as routing based on headers and query parameters, HTTP to HTTPS redirects, and URL rewrites. Note that you don't need to use any live services or even existing services for the tests. You can use any example service names to create and run the tests. This is unlike other url-maps commands (such as edit, import) where the URL map must reference pre-existing (but not necessarily live) services.

Console

You cannot use the Cloud Console to validate URL map configuration. Use gcloud or the REST API instead.

gcloud

To validate your URL map configuration use the gcloud compute url-maps validate command:

gcloud compute url-maps validate --source PATH_TO_URL_MAP_CONFIG_FILE

• PATH_TO_URL_MAP_CONFIG_FILE: Replace with a path to the file that contains the URL map configuration for validation.

Validating changes to an existing load balancer's URL map

If you have an existing load balancer that needs changes to the URL map, you can test those configuration changes before making them live.

1. Export the load balancer's existing URL map to a YAML file.

   gcloud compute url-maps export URL_MAP_NAME \
      --destination PATH_TO_URL_MAP_CONFIG_FILE \
      --global
   

2. Edit the YAML file with new configuration. For example, if you want to edit an external HTTP(S) load balancer and send all requests with the path /video to a new backend service called video-backend-service, you can add tests to the URL map configuration as follows:

   Existing URL map configuration with a single default web-backend-service:

    kind: compute#urlMap
    name: URL_MAP_NAME
    defaultService: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/global/backendService/web-backend-service
    

   Edited URL map configuration with added path matcher and tests for both the default web-backend-service and the new video-backend-service backend service:

    kind: compute#urlMap
    name: URL_MAP_NAME
    defaultService: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/global/backendService/web-backend-service
    hostRules:
    - hosts:
      - '*'
      pathMatcher: pathmap
    pathMatchers:
    - defaultService: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/global/backendService/web-backend-service
      name: pathmap
      pathRules:
      - paths:
        - /video
        - /video/*
        service: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/global/backendService/video-backend-service
    tests:
    - description: Test routing to existing web service
      host: foobar
      path: /
      service: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/global/backendService/web-backend-service
    - description: Test routing to new video service
      host: foobar
      path: /video
      service: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/global/backendService/video-backend-service
   

3. Validate the new configuration.

   gcloud compute url-maps validate --source PATH_TO_URL_MAP_CONFIG_FILE
   

   If all tests pass successfully, you should see a success message such as:

   Successfully validated [https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/global/urlMaps/URL_MAP_CONFIG_FILE_NAME
   

   If the tests fail, an error message appears. Make the required fixes to the URL map config file and try validating again.

   Error: Invalid value for field 'urlMap.tests': ''.
   Test failure: Expect URL 'HOST/PATH' to map to service 'EXPECTED_BACKEND_SERVICE', but actually mapped to 'ACTUAL_BACKEND_SERVICE'.
   

4. Once you know that the new configuration works and does not impact your existing setup, you can import it into the URL map. Note that this step will also deploy the url map with the new configuration.

   gcloud compute url-maps import URL_MAP_NAME \
      --source PATH_TO_URL_MAP_CONFIG_FILE \
      --global
   

Testing a URL map

Note: This section describes how to add tests to a URL map that has already been deployed. If you want to test new changes to a URL map without actually deploying the map, see Validating URL map configuration.

You can add configuration tests to a URL map to ensure that your URL map routes requests to the backend services or backend buckets as intended.

When you edit your URL map, the tests run, and an error message appears if a test fails:

Error: Invalid value for field 'urlMap.tests': ''.
Test failure: Expect URL 'HOST/PATH' to map to service 'EXPECTED_BACKEND_SERVICE', but actually mapped to 'ACTUAL_BACKEND_SERVICE'.

Adding tests to URL maps is optional.

Console

To run tests from the Cloud Console:

1. Go to the Load balancing page.

   Go to the Load balancing page

2. Click the Name of a load balancer.
3. On the Load Balancer Details screen, click Edit for the selected load balancer.
4. Click Host and path rules.
5. Beneath the Host and path rules, click Show configuration tests.
6. Click Add configuration test. Add the following test URLs and backends:
   • Test URL example.com and Backend www-service.
   • Test URL example.net and Backend www-service.
   • Test URL example.net/web and Backend www-service.
   • Test URL example.com/videos and Backend video-service.
   • Test URL example.com/videos/browse and Backend video-service.
   • Test URL example.net/static and Backend static-service.
   • Test URL example.net/static/images and Backend static-service.
7. Look for the blue checkmark to the left of Host and Path Rules and click the Update button.

gcloud

To add tests to your URL map using the gcloud command-line tool, use the gcloud compute url-maps edit command:

gcloud compute url-maps edit URL_MAP_NAME

This launches a text editor. For external HTTP(S) load balancers, your tests must use the following format:

  tests:
    - host: example.com
    service: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/global/backendServices/www-service
    - host: example.net
    service: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/global/backendServices/www-service
    - host: example.com
      path: /videos
      service: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/global/backendServices/video-service
    - host: example.com
      path: /videos/browse
      service: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/global/backendServices/video-service
    - host: example.net
      path: /web
      service: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/global/backendServices/www-service
    - host: example.net
      path: /static
      service: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/global/backendServices/static-service
    - host: example.net
      path: /static/images
      service: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/global/backendServices/static-service

For internal HTTP(S) load balancers, your service URLs must point to regional backend services. For example:

https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/regions/REGION/backendServices//www-service

Note that if you do not specify a host in a host rule, then URLs from all hosts (both example.com and example.net) can match. If you do have host rules, then you must create rules that match both example.com and example.net.

Listing URL maps

Console

You cannot list all of your URL maps in the Cloud Console.

gcloud

To display a list of URL maps using the gcloud command-line tool, use the url-maps list command.

gcloud compute url-maps list

Getting information about a URL map

Console

To get information about a URL map, perform the following steps:

1. Go to the Load balancing page.

   Go to the Load balancing page

2. Click the Name of a load balancer.
3. On the Load Balancer Details screen, click Edit for the selected load balancer.
4. View the Host and path rules.

gcloud

To get information about a single URL map using the gcloud command-line tool, use the url-maps describe command.

gcloud compute url-maps describe URL_MAP_NAME

Deleting a URL map

You can delete a URL map only after you've deleted all target proxies that reference it. For more information, see Deleting a target proxy.

Console

To delete a URL map, perform the following steps:

1. Go to the Load balancing page.

   Go to the Load balancing page

2. Click the Name of a load balancer.
3. On the Load Balancer Details screen, click Edit for the selected load balancer.
4. On the Load Balancer Details screen, view the Host and path rules.
5. Click the "X" to the right of a URL map to delete it. The URL map disappears.
6. Look for the blue checkmark to the left of Host and Path Rules and click the Update button.

gcloud

To delete a URL map using the gcloud command-line tool, use the url-maps delete command. Before you can delete a URL map, any target HTTP proxies that reference the URL map must first be deleted.

gcloud compute url-maps delete URL_MAP_NAME [--quiet]

Deleting a path matcher

Console

To delete a path matcher, perform the following steps:

1. Go to the Load balancing page.

   Go to the Load balancing page

2. Click the Name of a load balancer.
3. On the Load Balancer Details screen, click Edit for the selected load balancer.
4. Select Host and path rules.
5. In the Paths field for an existing URL map, click the "x" on the path matcher's name.
6. Look for the blue checkmark to the left of Host and Path Rules and click the Update button.

gcloud

To delete a path matcher, use the gcloud compute url-maps remove-path-matcher command:

gcloud compute url-maps remove-path-matcher URL_MAP_NAME \
   [--path-matcher-name PATH_MATCHER]

Deleting a host rule

Console

To delete a host rule, perform the following steps:

1. If you're not already on the Host and path rules screen, go to the Load balancing page.

   Go to the Load balancing page

2. Click the Name of a load balancer.
3. On the Load Balancer Details screen, click Edit for the selected load balancer.
4. Select Host and path rules.
5. In the Hosts field for an existing URL map, click the "x" on the host's name.
6. Look for the blue checkmark to the left of Host and Path Rules and click the Update button.

gcloud

To delete a host rule from your URL map, use the gcloud compute url-maps remove-host-rule command:

gcloud compute url-maps remove-host-rule URL_MAP_NAME --host=HOST

For example, to remove a host rule that contains the host google.com from a URL map named my-map, you would run the following command:

gcloud compute url-maps remove-host-rule my-map --host google.com

What's next

• See URL maps overview for information on how URL maps work.
• See External HTTP(S) Load Balancing overview for information on how URL maps work in external HTTP(S) Load Balancing.
• See Internal HTTP(S) Load Balancing overview for information on how URL maps work in Internal HTTP(S) Load Balancing.