29 lines
1.3 KiB
Plaintext
29 lines
1.3 KiB
Plaintext
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---
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layout: docs
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page_title: API Gateways Overview
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description: API gateways are objects in Consul that enable ingress requests to services in your service mesh. Learn about API gateways for VMs in this overview.
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---
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# API gateway overview
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API gateways enable external network clients to access applications and services
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running in a Consul datacenter. This type of network traffic is commonly
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called _north-south_ network traffic because it refers to the flow of
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data into and out of a specific environment. API gateways can also forward
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requests from clients to specific destinations based on path or request
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protocol.
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API gateways solve the following primary use cases:
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- **Control access at the point of entry**: Set the protocols of external connection
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requests and secure inbound connections with TLS certificates from trusted
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providers, such as Verisign and Let's Encrypt.
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- **Simplify traffic management**: Load balance requests across services and route
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traffic to the appropriate service by matching one or more criteria, such as
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hostname, path, header presence or value, and HTTP method.
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Consul supports API
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gateways for virtual machines and Kubernetes networks. Refer to the following documentation for next steps:
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- [API Gateways on VMs](/consul/docs/connect/gateways/api-gateway/usage)
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- [API Gateways for Kubernetes](/consul/docs/api-gateway).
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