apache-apisix-iamguarded

Chainguard Container for apache-apisix-iamguarded

APISIX API Gateway provides rich traffic management features such as load balancing, dynamic upstream, canary release, circuit breaking, authentication, observability, and more.

Chainguard Containers are regularly-updated, secure-by-default container images.

Download this Container Image

For those with access, this container image is available on cgr.dev:

docker pull cgr.dev/ORGANIZATION/apache-apisix-iamguarded:latest

Be sure to replace the ORGANIZATION placeholder with the name used for your organization's private repository within the Chainguard Registry.

Compatibility Notes

The apache-apisix-iamguarded image is based on Apache APISIX and provides the same functionality as the upstream project with the following differences:

• This image follows IAMGuarded container standards for enterprise compatibility
• The binary is located at /opt/iamguarded/apisix/bin/apisix instead of the default path
• Configuration files are located under /opt/iamguarded/apisix/conf/
• The container runs as user ID 1001 (apisix user) with group ID 0 (root group) following IAMGuarded standards
• Custom environment variables including LUA_PATH for Lua module loading
• Luarocks is not included in this image, as its usage with openresty is strongly discouraged in favor of openresty's own package manager opm

These changes ensure enterprise-grade security compliance while maintaining full compatibility with the upstream Apache APISIX functionality.

Getting Started

Apache APISIX requires etcd as a configuration store. Here's how to get started with the basic setup:

Basic Version Check

First, verify the image works correctly:

docker run --rm cgr.dev/ORGANIZATION/apache-apisix-iamguarded:latest version

Running with Docker and etcd

Create a minimal setup with etcd and APISIX:

# Create a network for APISIX and etcd
docker network create apisix-network

# Start etcd
docker run -d \
  --name apisix-etcd \
  --network apisix-network \
  -p 2379:2379 \
  -e ALLOW_NONE_AUTHENTICATION=yes \
  cgr.dev/ORGANIZATION/etcd:latest \
  etcd --listen-client-urls=http://0.0.0.0:2379 --advertise-client-urls=http://0.0.0.0:2379

Create APISIX configuration:

cat > apisix-config.yaml <<EOF
deployment:
  role: traditional
  role_traditional:
    config_provider: etcd
  etcd:
    host:
      - "http://apisix-etcd:2379"
    prefix: "/apisix"
    timeout: 30
  admin:
    admin_key_required: false
    enable_admin_cors: true
    admin_listen:
      ip: 0.0.0.0
      port: 9180

apisix:
  node_listen: 9080
  enable_ipv6: false
EOF

Start APISIX with the configuration:

docker run -d \
  --name apisix-gateway \
  --network apisix-network \
  -p 9080:9080 \
  -p 9180:9180 \
  -v "$(pwd)/apisix-config.yaml:/usr/local/apisix/conf/config.yaml" \
  --entrypoint=/bin/bash \
  cgr.dev/ORGANIZATION/apache-apisix-iamguarded:latest \
  -c 'apisix init && apisix init_etcd && exec /usr/bin/openresty -p /usr/local/apisix -g "daemon off;"'

Testing the Setup

Once running, test the admin API:

# Check routes (should return empty initially)
curl "http://localhost:9180/apisix/admin/routes"

# Create a test route
curl -X PUT -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "http://localhost:9180/apisix/admin/routes/1" \
  -d '{
    "uri": "/test",
    "plugins": {
      "response-rewrite": {
        "body": "APISIX is working!",
        "status_code": 200
      }
    }
  }'

# Test the proxy endpoint
curl "http://localhost:9080/test"

Configuration

APISIX configuration is primarily handled through the config.yaml file and admin API. Key configuration areas include:

Core Configuration

The main configuration file structure:

deployment:
  role: traditional              # or data_plane for distributed setup
  role_traditional:
    config_provider: etcd       # Configuration storage backend

etcd:
  host:
    - "http://etcd-host:2379"   # etcd cluster endpoints
  prefix: "/apisix"             # Key prefix in etcd
  timeout: 30                   # Connection timeout

admin:
  admin_listen:
    ip: 0.0.0.0
    port: 9180                  # Admin API port
  admin_key_required: false     # Set to true for production
  enable_admin_cors: true       # Allow cross-origin requests

apisix:
  node_listen: 9080             # Gateway port for client traffic
  enable_ipv6: false            # IPv6 support

Security Considerations

For production deployments:

• Enable admin API key authentication by setting admin_key_required: true
• Configure proper TLS certificates
• Restrict admin API access through firewall rules
• Use strong authentication plugins for client traffic
• Implement proper rate limiting and circuit breaker patterns

Environment Variables

The image sets specific environment variables for proper operation:

• LUA_PATH: Configured for Lua module loading
• PATH: Includes APISIX binary paths and dependencies

Documentation and Resources

For comprehensive documentation and advanced configuration:

• Apache APISIX Official Documentation
• APISIX Plugin Hub
• API Reference
• Chainguard Academy for container best practices

What are Chainguard Containers?

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• Minimal design, without unnecessary software bloat
• Daily builds to ensure container images are up-to-date with available security patches
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• Verifiable signatures provided by Sigstore
• Reproducible builds with Cosign and apko (read more about reproducibility)

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In all other cases, including Chainguard Containers tagged as :latest or with a specific version number, the container images include only an open-source application and its runtime dependencies. These minimal container images typically do not contain a shell or package manager.

Although the -dev container image variants have similar security features as their more minimal versions, they include additional software that is typically not necessary in production environments. We recommend using multi-stage builds to copy artifacts from the -dev variant into a more minimal production image.

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