Consul API gateway use cases

API gateways enable external network clients to securely access applications and services running in a Consul datacenter. Consul API gateways can also forward requests from clients to specific destinations in the service mesh based on request's path or protocol.

To enable an API gateway, you must configure the gateway, its listeners, and its routes. Refer to API gateway overview for more about deploying API gateways to your Consul service mesh.

API gateways solve the following primary use cases:

• Control access at the point of entry: Set the protocols of external connection requests and secure inbound connections with TLS certificates from trusted providers, such as Verisign and Let's Encrypt.
• Simplify traffic management: Load balance requests across services and route traffic to the appropriate service by matching one or more criteria, such as hostname, path, header presence or value, and HTTP method.

Consul compared to other API gateways

Examples: Kong Gateway, Apigee, Mulesoft, Gravitee

The Consul API Gateway is an implementation of the Kubernetes Gateway API. Traditionally, API gateways are used for two things: client traffic management and API lifecycle management.

Client traffic management refers to an API gateway's role in controlling the point of entry for public traffic into a given environment, also known as managing north-south traffic. The Consul API Gateway is deployed alongside Consul service mesh and is responsible for routing inbound client requests to the mesh based on defined routes. For a full list of supported traffic management features, refer to the Consul API Gateway documentation.

API lifecycle management refers to how application developers use an API gateway to deploy, iterate, and manage versions of an API. At this time, the Consul API Gateway does not support API lifecycle management.