NGINX API Gateway

This repo is an example of how to create an NGINX proxy as a gateway to your micro services.

There's a detailed blog post about it.

The important thing is that you can run tests to verify that the gateway routing is done correctly, meaning a request is routed to a specified service with a specified path.

For example, you can verify that an HTTP call to http://api.mycompany.com/login is routed to your authentication service with the /login path.

Running The Test

Make sure docker and docker-compose are installed on your machine.

Clone this repository:

$ git clone git@github.com:nanit/api-gateway-example.git

And run the tests:

$ cd api-gateway-example && make test

All tests should pass which means that:

1. A request to http://your.gateway.com/login is routed to the authentication service with the /login path
2. A request to http://your.gateway.com/messages is routed to the inbox service with the /messages path

Project Structure

1. spec/app/spec/expected_routes.yml - the route specs. Each route has an expected destination service name and an expected destination path.

2. app/services/<service_name>.conf - per-service routes configuration.

3. app/nginx.conf - the main nginx configuration file.

4. docker-compose.yml - add new services here.

You should only change these 4 to fit your specific needs. The rest of the files may remain untouched.

Adding a New Route

1. Add the route to spec/app/spec/expected_routes.yml

2. Run make test in the root directory and see the tests fail.

3. Add the proper NGINX configuration.

4. Run make test again in the root directory and (hopefully) see the tests pass.

Adding a New Micro Service

1. Add the service to docker-compose.yml. Make sure the SERVICE_NAME environment variable is set properly, and that the gateway is linked to it.

2. Add your service specs to spec/app/spec/expected_routes.yml

3. Run make test in the root directory to see the specs fail.

4. Add app/services/new_service.conf with the proper routing to your new service.

5. Run make test in the root directory again and (hopefully again) see the tests pass.