Proxy TCP Traffic

API7 Gateway can handle transport layer (L4) TCP and UDP traffic dedicated or in addition to handling application layer (L7) traffic.

This tutorial walks through configuring a stream route within a published service to proxy L4 traffic between clients and a MySQL server.

Prerequisites

1. Install API7 Enterprise.
2. Have at least one gateway instance in your gateway group.
3. Install a MySQL client to validate the stream route.

Start a MySQL Server

Docker

If you have installed the gateway instance in Docker and use Dashboard or ADC for configurations, start a MySQL server in the default API7 Enterprise network api7-ee_api7:

docker run -d \
  --name mysql \
  --network=api7-ee_api7 \
  -p 3306:3306 \
  -e MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=password \
  mysql:8.4 \
  mysqld --mysql-native-password=ON

Kubernetes

If you have installed the gateway instance on Kubernetes and use Ingress Controller for configurations, start a MySQL server on Kubernetes:

kubectl run mysql --image mysql:8.4 --port 3306 --env="MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=password"

Expose the server port through a service:

kubectl expose pod mysql --port 3306

Enable Transport Layer (L4) Proxy

By default, API7 Gateway (data plane) only has application layer (L7) proxy enabled. To also accept transport layer (L4) traffic, configure proxy_mode and stream_proxy in config.yaml configuration file as follows:

docker exec {container_name} /bin/sh -c "echo '
apisix:
  proxy_mode: http&stream
  stream_proxy:
    tcp:
      - 2000
' > /usr/local/apisix/conf/config.yaml"

❶ proxy_mode: accept both transport layer (L4) and application layer (L7) traffic.

❷ stream_proxy: configure the interface for transport layer (L4) proxy.

Reload API7 Gateway for configuration changes to take effect:

Docker

docker exec {container_name} apisix reload

Kubernetes

kubectl edit configmap $YOUR_GATEWAY_CONFIGMAP
kubectl rollout restart deployment $YOUR_GATEWAY_DEPLOYMENT

Add a Service with Stream Routes

Dashboard

1. Select the Published Services of your gateway group from the side navigation bar, then click Add Service.
2. Select Add Manually.
3. From the dialog box, do the following:

• In the Name field, enter MySQL.
• In the Service Type field, choose Stream(Layer 4 Proxy).
• In the Upstream Scheme field, choose TCP.
• In the How to find the upstream field, choose Use Nodes.
• Click Add Node.
• In the Add Node dialog box, do the following:
  • In the Host field, enter your private IP address, such as 192.168.2.103.
  • In the Port field, enter 3306.
  • In the Weight field, use the default value 100.
  • Click Add. This will create a new service in the 'No Version' state.

5. Inside the service, click Add Stream Route.
6. From the dialog box, do the following:

• In the Name field, enter stream-route-mysql.
• In the Server Address field, enter 127.0.0.1.
• In the Server Port filed, enter 2000.
• Click Add.

ADC

To use ADC to create a stream route, use the following configuration:

adc.yaml

services:
  - name: MySQL
    upstream:
      name: default
      scheme: tcp
      nodes:
        - host: 127.0.0.1
          port: 3306
          weight: 100
    stream_routes:
      - name: stream-route-mysql
        server_addr: 127.0.0.1
        server_port: 2000

Synchronize the configuration to API7 Enterprise:

adc sync -f adc.yaml

Ingress Controller

Create a Kubernetes manifest file to configure a stream route using the ApisixRoute custom resource:

stream-route.yaml

apiVersion: apisix.apache.org/v2
kind: ApisixRoute
metadata:
  name: stream-route-mysql
  namespace: api7
spec:
  stream:
    - name: stream-route-mysql
      protocol: TCP
      match:
        ingressPort: 2000
      backend:
        serviceName: mysql
        servicePort: 3306

Apply the configuration to your cluster:

kubectl apply -f stream-route.yaml

You should see a response of the following:

apisixroute.apisix.apache.org/stream-route-mysql created

Validate the Stream Route

Docker

If you have installed the gateway instance in Docker and use Dashboard or ADC for configurations, before you can proceed to the verification steps, make sure to expose the server port 2000 to the host machine (-p2000:2000).

Kubernetes

If you have installed the gateway instance on Kubernetes and use Ingress Controller for configurations, to add the service port, edit the service:

kubectl edit svc/api7-ee-3-gateway-gateway

Add the service port for MySQL:

spec:
  ports:
    ...
    - name: apisix-gateway-mysql
      port: 2000
      protocol: TCP
      targetPort: 2000
    ...

Port forward 2000 for the service:

kubectl port-forward svc/api7-ee-3-gateway-gateway 2000:2000 &

Establish a connection with the MySQL server through API7 Gateway using the MySQL client. Connect as root using the password configured before:

mysql --host=127.0.0.1 --port=2000 -u root -p

You should see the MySQL prompt as shown below:

Welcome to the MySQL monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 9
Server version: 8.4.0 MySQL Community Server - GPL
 
Copyright (c) 2000, 2024, Oracle and/or its affiliates.
 
Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its
affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective
owners.
 
Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the current input statement.
 
mysql>

Additional Resources

• Key Concept
  • Services
  • Routes
  • Upstreams
• Getting Started
  • Publish Service Version
• Best Practices
  • API Version Control