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Version: 3.10.x

Gateway Groups

A Gateway Group is a logical grouping of API7 Gateway data plane instances that share the same configuration. It isolates services, consumers, certificates, and global rules across environments, regions, or teams.

How gateway groups work​

When you deploy API7 Gateway, you assign each data plane instance to a specific gateway group. The control plane then pushes the relevant configuration to all instances within that group.

A gateway group contains:

  • Services: API configurations that are live on the group.
  • Global Rules: Plugins that apply to every request processed by the group (e.g., centralized logging or global rate limiting).
  • SSL Certificates: Certificates assigned to the group for TLS termination.
  • Consumers: Identity and credentials authorized for the group.

Configuration fields​

The following fields define a gateway group:

  • Name: A descriptive name for the group (e.g., us-east-prod).
  • Type:
    • api7_gateway: Standard API7 Gateway group.
    • api7_ingress_controller: Group managed via Kubernetes Ingress/Gateway API.
  • Control Plane Key Prefix: The unique path used by the data plane to fetch configuration (e.g., /gateway_groups/us-west-1).
  • Image Tag: The specific version of the API7 Gateway data plane used by this group.

Use cases​

Gateway groups are essential for managing multi-environment and multi-region deployments:

  • Environment Isolation: Create separate groups for development, staging, and production.
  • Regional Deployment: Deploy gateway groups in different geographic regions (e.g., aws-us-east-1 and aws-eu-central-1) while managing them from a single global control plane.
  • Tenant Isolation: Assign dedicated gateway groups to specific business units or high-priority customers to ensure resource isolation and specialized policy enforcement.

Next steps​