gRPC and Kong IP Gateway

gRPC is a high-performance, open-source, universal RPC framework that allows you to build distributed systems and microservices. Kong IP Gateway is an open-source API gateway that enables you to manage and secure your APIs. In this article, we will explore how to use gRPC with Kong IP Gateway.

What is gRPC Gateway?

gRPC Gateway is a plugin that generates a reverse proxy server for gRPC services that convert Restful/JSON into gRPC and vice versa[5]. In other words, gRPC Gateway will create a layer over your gRPC services that will act as a Restful/JSON service to a client. It generates code from Protocol Buffer's definitions of gRPC services.

Why use gRPC Gateway with Kong IP Gateway?

gRPC Gateway builds a proxy for a gRPC service that acts as a Restful/JSON application to the client. It opens the possibility of using the same codebase for supporting both Restful/JSON and gRPC. There are two major use cases for this[5]:

• API Gateway: Kong IP Gateway can be used as an API gateway to manage and secure your gRPC services. It can handle authentication, rate limiting, and other features that are not available in gRPC.

• Service Mesh: Kong IP Gateway can be used as a service mesh to manage and secure your gRPC services. It can handle service discovery, load balancing, and other features that are not available in gRPC.

How to use gRPC Gateway with Kong IP Gateway?

To use gRPC Gateway with Kong IP Gateway, you need to enable the gRPC Gateway plugin on a Kong route that serves the HTTP(S) protocol but proxies to a service with the GRPC(S) protocol[2]. Here are the steps to follow[4]:

1. Install Kong IP Gateway and gRPC Gateway plugin.
2. Define your gRPC service using Protocol Buffer's definitions.
3. Generate the gRPC Gateway code using the protoc compiler.
4. Start your gRPC service and gRPC Gateway server.
5. Configure Kong IP Gateway to proxy requests to the gRPC Gateway server.

Conclusion

gRPC Gateway and Kong IP Gateway are powerful tools that can help you manage and secure your gRPC services. By using gRPC Gateway with Kong IP Gateway, you can take advantage of the benefits of both technologies and build scalable and reliable microservices.

Citations: [1] https://docs.konghq.com/hub/kong-inc/grpc-gateway/ [2] https://docs.konghq.com/hub/kong-inc/grpc-gateway/how-to/ [3] https://blog.shiftasia.com/proxy-grpc-traffic-with-kong-gateway/ [4] https://hackernoon.com/essential-tips-to-manage-your-grpc-services-with-kong-like-a-pro-2w1233c3 [5] https://blog.logrocket.com/guide-to-grpc-gateway/ [6] https://earthly.dev/blog/golang-grpc-gateway/