# 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 high-level pre-production checklist and deployment recommendations. For concrete Kubernetes and Docker Compose settings, complete the [Production Deployment Checklist](https://docs.api7.ai/api7-gateway/install/production-deployment-checklist.md).

## Pre-Production Checklist[​](#pre-production-checklist "Direct link to 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[​](#hardware-sizing-guide "Direct link to 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[​](#network-topology-recommendations "Direct link to 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[​](#monitoring-and-logging "Direct link to 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[​](#security-hardening "Direct link to 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](https://docs.api7.ai/api7-gateway/security-and-compliance/web-application-firewall.md) for protection against common web attacks.

## Next Steps[​](#next-steps "Direct link to Next Steps")

* [Production Best Practices](https://docs.api7.ai/api7-gateway/configure-and-manage/production-best-practices.md)
* [High Availability for Data Plane](https://docs.api7.ai/api7-gateway/configure-and-manage/high-availability-data-plane.md)
* [Performance Benchmark](https://docs.api7.ai/api7-gateway/configure-and-manage/performance-benchmark.md)