Open Source Web Gateways

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Kong

Kong is an open-source API gateway and microservices management layer built on top of Nginx. It provides a flexible plugin architecture for extending functionality and is designed to handle high-traffic APIs and microservices.

Key Features

Plugin Architecture

Extensible plugin system for authentication, rate limiting, logging, and more.

RESTful Admin API

Complete REST API for configuration and management.

Database Backend

Supports PostgreSQL and Cassandra for configuration storage.

Kubernetes Native

Kong Ingress Controller for Kubernetes environments.

Use Cases

  • API Gateway: Centralized API management and routing
  • Microservices: Service mesh and microservices communication
  • Authentication: OAuth, JWT, API keys, and custom authentication
  • Rate Limiting: Protect APIs from abuse and ensure fair usage
  • Analytics: API usage monitoring and analytics

Configuration Example

Creating a service and route via Kong Admin API:

curl -i -X POST http://localhost:8001/services/ \
  --data "name=my-service" \
  --data "url=http://backend:8080"

curl -i -X POST http://localhost:8001/services/my-service/routes \
  --data "hosts[]=api.example.com"

Advantages

  • Built on proven Nginx technology
  • Rich plugin ecosystem
  • Database-backed configuration
  • Active community and commercial support
  • Cloud-native and Kubernetes-ready

Official Resources