Skip to main content
API7.ai Logo
Version: 3.9.x

Running in Production

Running API7 Gateway in a production environment requires careful planning and adherence to best practices to ensure stability, security, and performance. This guide provides a pre-production checklist and deployment recommendations.

Pre-Production Checklist​

Before deploying to production, verify the following:

  • Hardware Sizing: Ensure your gateway nodes meet the recommended hardware requirements.
  • Network Topology: Confirm your network architecture is properly configured for high availability and low latency.
  • TLS Everywhere: Enable TLS for all communication channels, including gateway-to-client and gateway-to-upstream.
  • Backup Strategy: Implement a regular backup and disaster recovery plan for the PostgreSQL database.
  • Monitoring Setup: Integrate with Prometheus and Grafana for real-time performance monitoring.
  • Log Management: Configure centralized logging for auditing and troubleshooting.
  • Security Hardening: Review and apply security best practices to protect your gateway and APIs.

Hardware Sizing Guide​

For a typical production environment, the following hardware specifications are recommended:

  • Control Plane Node: 2+ CPU cores, 4GB+ RAM, 20GB+ Disk.
  • Data Plane Node: 4+ CPU cores, 8GB+ RAM, 20GB+ Disk.
  • PostgreSQL Database: Sized according to the number of configurations and historical data being stored.

Network Topology Recommendations​

  • High Availability: Deploy at least two Control Plane nodes and multiple Data Plane nodes.
  • Load Balancer: Use a high-performance load balancer in front of your Data Plane nodes.
  • Latency: Keep the Control Plane and Data Plane nodes in the same region to minimize latency.

Monitoring and Logging​

Integrate API7 Gateway with your existing monitoring and logging systems for observability.

  • Prometheus: Collect metrics from both CP and DP nodes for performance monitoring.
  • Grafana: Create dashboards to visualize metrics such as QPS, latency, and error rates.
  • Centralized Logging: Send logs to systems like ELK or Splunk for analysis and auditing.

Security Hardening​

Protect your API7 Gateway deployment with these security measures:

  • RBAC: Use Role-Based Access Control to manage user permissions in the Control Plane.
  • Admin API Access Control: Restrict access to the Admin API to specific IP addresses.
  • Secret Management: Use a secret manager (e.g., HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager) to securely store and manage sensitive information.
  • WAF: Integrate with a Web Application Firewall for protection against common web attacks.

Next Steps​