End of Sale Notice:
F5 NGINX is announcing the End of Sale (EoS) for NGINX Management Suite API Connectivity Manager Module, effective January 1, 2024.
F5 maintains generous lifecycle policies that allow customers to continue support and receive product updates. Existing API Connectivity Manager Module customers can continue to use the product past the EoS date. License renewals are not available after September 30, 2024.
See our End of Sale announcement for more details.
Learn how to use NGINX Management Suite API Connectivity Manager to secure communications by applying TLS policies.
Overview
In API Connectivity Manager, you can apply global policies to API Gateways and Developer Portals to ensure your organization’s security requirements are enforced.
When you add policies at the environment level, they will apply to all proxies hosted within that environment.
See the Learn about Policies topic for an overview of the different policy types and available policies.
The types of communication you can apply TLS policies to includes:
- ingress traffic to an API or Dev Portal proxy;
- communications between an API proxy and a backend API service; and
- communications between the API Connectivity Manager management plane and the Dev Portal data plane.
Before You Begin
Complete the following prerequisites before proceeding with this guide:
- API Connectivity Manager is installed, licensed, and running.
- You have one or more Environments with API Gateway or Dev Portal clusters.
How to Access the User Interface
This guide provides instructions for completing tasks using the API Connectivity Manager user interface (UI).
To access the UI, go to the FQDN of your NGINX Management Suite host and log in. On the Launchpad menu, select “API Connectivity Manager.”
How to Access the REST API
You can use tools such as curl or Postman to interact with the API Connectivity Manager REST API. The API URL follows the format https://<NMS_FQDN>/api/acm/<API_VERSION> and must include authentication information with each call. For more information about authentication options, please refer to the API Overview.
Secure Ingress Traffic
Take the steps in this section to secure the traffic coming into your API Proxies.
Add TLS Listener
- In the API Connectivity Manager user interface, go to Workspaces > Environments > <your environment>, where “your environment” is the Environment that contains the Developer Portal.
- Select Edit Advanced Config from the Actions menu for the desired Developer Portal.
- On the Listeners tab, select Add Listener.
- Provide the desired Protocol and Port (for example,
443) and select the TLS checkbox.
"listeners": [
{
"transportProtocol": "HTTP",
"port": 443,
"tlsEnabled": true,
"ipv6": false
}
Add TLS Inbound Policy
-
Select the Global Policies tab.
-
Select Add Policy from the Actions menu for the TLS Inbound policy.
-
On the TLS Inbound policy page, provide the requested information.
- Protocols: The TLS and SSL protocols that will be used for securing communication.
- Cipher: The set of algorithms or a set of instructions/steps that helps to establish the secure connection.
- Session Timeout: Specifies the time during which a client may reuse the session parameters.
- Session Cache: Sets whether a session can be re-used. When off, a full negotiation is performed for every connection.
- Session Type: Determines the cache type for re-using sessions.
- Session Size: Sets the shared cache size.
-
Upload a Server Certificate, Certificate Key, and CA Certificate.
- Select the upload icon in the Server Certificate field and browse for the desired certificate on your file system.
- Select the upload icon in the Certificate Key field and browse for the desired key file on your file system.
- Select the upload icon in the CA Certificates field and browse for the desired Root CA certificate on your file system.
-
(Optional) Select the Verify Client Certificate toggle and complete the configurations as appropriate.
-
Select Add to save and add the policy.
-
Select Save and Submit.
"policies": {
"tls-inbound": [
{
"data": {
"serverCerts": [
{
"key": {{tlsKey}},
"cert": {{tlsCert}}
}
],
"trustedRootCACerts":{{caCert}}
}
}
]
}
Verify HTTPS Connection
Once the Environment configuration has been submitted and applied, the Job Status for the Environment will change to Success. You can then navigate to the Dev Portal user interface to verify that your connection is secured using HTTPS.
Secure Communications between API Proxy and Backend Service
Take the steps in this section to secure the communications between your Proxies and the associated API backend services. When mTLS is enabled, the API Gateway identifies itself to the backend service using an SSL client certificate.
Add TLS Backend Policy
-
In the API Connectivity Manager user interface, go to Workspaces > Environments > <your environment>, where “your environment” is the Environment that contains the API Gateway to be updated.
-
Select Edit Advanced Config from the Actions menu for the desired API Gateway.
-
Select the Global Policies tab, then select Add Policy from the Actions menu for the TLS Backend policy.
-
On the TLS Backend policy page, provide the requested information.
- Protocols: The TLS and SSL protocols that will be used for securing communication to the proxied server.
- Cipher: The set of algorithms or a set of instructions/steps that helps to establish the secure connection to the proxied server.
- Verify Certificate Chain Depth: Sets the verification depth in the client certificates chain.
-
Upload a Client Certificate, Certificate Key, and CA Certificate.
- Select the upload icon in the Client Certificate field and browse for the desired certificate on your file system.
- Select the upload icon in the Certificate Key field and browse for the desired key file on your file system.
- (Optional) Provide the Client ID and select the upload icon to upload a Trusted Root CA, then browse for the desired Root CA certificate on your file system.
-
Select Add to save and add the policy.
-
Select Save and Submit.
"policies": {
"tls-backend": [
{ "action": {
"cipher": "HIGH:!aNULL:!MD5",
"protocols": [
"TLSv1.2"
]
},
"data": {
"trustedRootCACerts":"{{caCert}}",
"clientCerts": [
{
"cert": "{{clientCert}}",
"key": "{{clientKey}}"
}
]
}
}
]
}
Once the Environment configuration has been submitted and applied, the Job Status for the Environment will change to Success.
Secure Communications Between API Connectivity Manager and Dev Portal Hosts
Take the steps in this section to secure communications between the API Connectivity Manager management plane and Dev Portal hosts.
Add TLS Policies to External Developer Portal
- In the API Connectivity Manager user interface, go to Workspaces > Environments > <your environment>, where “your environment” is the Environment that contains the Developer Portal.
- Add the TLS Inbound and TLS Backend policies to your Developer Portal.
- Save and submit your changes.
{
"name": "{{environmentName}}",
"functions": [
"DEVPORTAL"
],
"proxies": [
{
"proxyClusterName": "{{portalInstanceGName}}",
"hostnames": [
"{{portalEnvironmentHostname}}"
],
"runtime": "PORTAL-PROXY",
"policies": {
"tls-inbound": [
{
"action": {
"cipher": "ECDH+AESGCM:ECDH+AES256:ECDH+AES128:DH+3DES:!ADH:!AECDH:!MD5",
"protocols": [
"TLSv1.2"
],
"sessionCache": {
"enable": "on",
"size": "10M",
"type": "shared"
},
"sessionTimeout": "5m"
},
"data": {
"trustedRootCACerts": {
"clientId": "clientId1",
"cert": "{{}}"
},
"serverCerts": [
{
"key": {{tlsServerKey}},
"cert": {{tlsServerCert}}
}
]
}
}
],
"tls-backend": [
{
"action": {
"cipher": "HIGH:!aNULL:!MD5",
"sessionReuse": false,
"proxyServerName": false,
"protocols": [
"TLSv1.2"
]
},
"data": {
"trustedRootCACerts":"{{caCert}}",
"clientCerts": [
{
"key": {{tlsClientKey}},
"cert": {{tlsClientCert}}
}
]
}
}
]
}
}
]
}
Secure Communication between Portal and API Connectivity Manager using TLS Policies
-
Select Edit Portal <-> API Connectivity Manager Connectivity from the Actions menu for your desired developer portal.
-
Add the TLS Inbound policy.
- Complete the fields as desired.
- Upload the Server Certificate and Certificate Key.
- On the same TLS Inbound policy page, select the Verify Client Certificate option.
- Provide the Certificate Authority (CA) certificates and a Client ID.
- Select Add.
-
Add the TLS Backend policy.
- Complete the fields as desired.
- Upload the Client Certificate and Certificate Key.
- Select Add.
-
Save and submit your changes.
{
"name": "{{environmentName}}",
"functions": [
"DEVPORTAL"
],
"proxies": [
{
"proxyClusterName": "{{portalInstanceGName}}",
"hostnames": [
"acm.{{portalEnvironmentHostname}}"
],
"runtime": "PORTAL-PROXY",
"listeners": [
{
"transportProtocol": "HTTP",
"port": 443,
"tlsEnabled": true,
"ipv6": false
}
],
"policies": {
"tls-inbound": [
{
"action": {
"cipher": "ECDH+AESGCM:ECDH+AES256:ECDH+AES128:DH+3DES:!ADH:!AECDH:!MD5",
"protocols": [
"TLSv1.2"
],
"sessionCache": {
"enable": "on",
"size": "10M",
"type": "shared"
},
"sessionTimeout": "5m",
"enableMTLS": {
"certVerify": true,
"certChainVerifyDepth": 2
}
},
"data": {
"serverCerts": [
{
"key": {{tlsServerKey}},
"cert": {{tlsServerCert}}
}
],
"clientCerts": [
{
"clientId": "client-1",
"cert": {{caCert}},
}
]
}
}
],
"tls-backend": [
{
"action": {
"cipher": "HIGH:!aNULL:!MD5",
"sessionReuse": false,
"proxyServerName": false,
"protocols": [
"TLSv1.2"
]
},
"data": {
"clientCerts": [
{
"key": {{tlsClientKey}},
"cert": {{tlsClientCert}}
}
]
}
}
]
}
}
]
}
Once the Environment configuration has been submitted and applied, the Job Status for the Environment will change to Success.