Comprehensive Getting Started Guide

In this guide, you will:

  • Expose your services using Service and Route objects
  • Set up rate limits and proxy caching
  • Secure services with key authentication
  • Load balance traffic

If you have a license, you also have access to Enterprise features. In addition to the basics above, use this guide to:

  • Manage teams by setting up role-based access control (RBAC)
  • Enable the Dev Portal to give your teams a central location to publish, access, and consume services

Kong Gateway (OSS): an open-source, lightweight API gateway optimized for microservices, delivering unparalleled latency, performance, and scalability. If you just want the basics, this option will work for you.

Kong Gateway: extends the Kong Gateway with Enterprise features and support. It provides advanced functionality using plugins for security, collaboration, performance at scale, and use of advanced protocols.

Concepts and Features in this guide

Here’s the content covered in this guide, and how the pieces fit together:

Features in getting started guide

Concept/FeatureDescription {:width=75%:}
ServiceA Service object is the ID Kong Gateway uses to refer to the upstream APIs and microservices it manages.
RoutesRoutes specify how (and if) requests are sent to their Services after they reach the API gateway. A single Service can have many Routes.
ConsumersConsumers represent end users of your API. Consumer objects let you control who can access your APIs. They also let you report on traffic using logging plugins and Kong Vitals.
Kong ManagerKong Manager is the visual browser-based tool for monitoring and managing Kong Gateway.
Admin APIKong Gateway comes with an internal RESTful API for administration purposes. API commands can be run on any node in the cluster, and the configuration will apply consistently on all nodes.
PluginsPlugins provide a modular system for modifying and controlling Kong Gateway’s capabilities. For example, to secure your API, you could require an access key, which you could set up using the key-auth plugin. Plugins provide a wide array of functionality, including access control, caching, rate limiting, logging, and more.
Rate Limiting plugin

Rate Limiting Advanced plugin		This plugin lets you limit the number of HTTP requests a client can make within a given period of time.

The advanced version of this plugin also provides sliding window support, and the ability to limit by header and service.
Proxy Caching plugin

Proxy Caching Advanced plugin		This plugin provides a reverse proxy cache implementation. It caches response entities based on response code, content type, and request method for a given period of time.

The advanced version of this plugin supports Redis and Redis Sentinel deployments.
Key Auth plugin

Key Auth - Encrypted plugin		This plugin lets you add key authentication (also known as an API key) to a Service or a Route.

The advanced version of this plugin stores the API keys in an encrypted format within the Kong Gateway data store.
Load BalancingKong Gateway provides two methods for load balancing: straightforward DNS-based or using a ring-balancer. In this guide, you’ll use a ring-balancer, which requires configuring upstream and target entities. With this method, the adding and removing of backend services is handled by Kong Gateway, and no DNS updates are necessary.
User Authorization (RBAC)Kong Gateway handles user authorization through role-based access control (RBAC). Once enabled, RBAC lets you create teams and admins and assign them granular permissions either within a workspace, or across workspaces.
Dev PortalThe Dev Portal provides a single source of truth for all developers to locate, access, and consume services.

Understanding traffic flow in Kong Gateway

Kong Gateway listens for traffic on its configured proxy port(s) 8000 and 8443, by default. It evaluates incoming client API requests and routes them to the appropriate backend APIs. While routing requests and providing responses, policies can be applied via plugins as necessary.

For example, before routing a request, the client might be required to authenticate. This delivers several benefits, including:

  • The service doesn’t need its own authentication logic since Kong Gateway is handling authentication.
  • The service only receives valid requests and therefore cycles are not wasted processing invalid requests.
  • All requests are logged for central visibility of traffic.

API Gateway traffic

Before you begin

Note the following before you start using this guide:

Installation

  • This guide assumes that you have Kong Gateway (OSS) or Kong Gateway installed and running on the platform of your choice.
  • During your installation, take note of the KONG_PASSWORD; you’ll need it later on in this guide for setting up user authorization.

Deployment guidelines

  • You can use this guide to get started in production environments, but this guide does not provide all of the necessary configurations and security settings that you would need for a production environment.

  • The examples in this guide all use <admin-hostname> to refer to a Kong Gateway instance’s Admin API URL. Make sure to replace the variable with the actual URL of your Kong Gateway installation.

    To find the URL, check the admin_listen property in the /etc/kong/kong.conf file.

Using this guide

  • Throughout this guide, you will have the option to configure Kong in a few different ways. Choose your preferred method, if options are available — you don’t have to walk through all of them:
    • Programmatically manage Kong Gateway using its REST-based Admin API
    • Use the Kong Manager GUI (Not available for open-source Gateway)
    • Use decK for declarative configuration (YAML)
  • If you’re running Kong Gateway in Hybrid mode, all tasks contained in this guide take place on the Control Plane.
  • This guide provides Kong Admin API examples in both HTTPie and cURL. If you want to use HTTPie, install it from here.
  • Any references to “Kong Gateway” refer to features or concepts common to both Kong Gateway (OSS) and Kong Gateway.

Next Steps

Next, prepare to administer Kong Gateway.