SPEAKER: OK.
You have Apigee API management set up and provisioned
on your Google Cloud project.
Now, it's time to start managing APIs.
In this video, we will discuss what an API proxy is
and why it's a good idea to use API proxies.
We'll also show you the easiest way
to build your first API proxy.
Let's get to it.
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Bring up the Apigee Console by visiting apigee.google.com.
You will need to authenticate using your Google Cloud
Identity.
From this screen, click on the API Proxies option.
This brings up the list of API proxies in your Apigee
organization.
If you're just starting, the list may be empty.
Don't worry.
We'll fix that.
You can also navigate to this list from the left-hand side
navigation panel.
Click Develop, then API Proxies.
We want to create a new proxy, so let's click Create New.
This will bring us to the Proxy Creation Wizard that
guides us through a few steps.
When it launches, the Wizard will offer three options.
You can create a reverse proxy manually.
The reverse proxy will act as a stand
in and route inbound requests to a back end service.
You can create a no target proxy.
This is a special kind of proxy, a more limited option that
doesn't route inbound requests to an upstream system.
These are handy for some specific purposes.
We will not explore those right now.
Finally, if you have a prebuilt proxy configuration,
you can create a proxy from it by uploading
the zipped proxy definition bundle.
We're going to select Reverse Proxy.
Now, we define the basics of the proxy.
It needs a unique name and a base path.
This is the leftmost part of the URL path for requests
that this proxy will handle.
Optionally, you can provide a brief description.
And finally, the target endpoint.
This is the address of the service that Apigee proxies to.
For each request sent into this API proxy,
assuming any controls we enforce on the proxy are satisfied,
Apigee will send one request to this upstream target system.
For now, we will use the mock target
as an example upstream service.
Click Next.
The Wizard now invites us to apply one or more commonly used
policies to this proxy.
Policies are reusable logic steps
that perform specific actions on the API requests.
Apigee offers out of the box policies
to manage, secure, and transform the traffic processing
through the APIs.
For example, Apigee has policies to check an API key
or validate an OAuth token or to enforce a quota and so on.
For our very first proxy, we will select Pass Through
and not check any other boxes.
The resulting proxy will have no policies
enforced on it for now.
We'll change that later.
But for now, click Next.
Now, we see a summary.
Make sure it all looks good.
Also make sure no environments are selected for deployment.
Click Create.
That takes just a second or so.
Let's see the new proxy in that list of proxies.
Click the link for Go to Proxy List.
You should see a page where all the proxies are listed.
Click on the name of the proxy you've just created.
The UI now presents an overview of the proxy.
Since we have not deployed this proxy yet,
the deployment section is empty.
We can see some information regarding
the base path and the target endpoint lower in the page.
An Apigee proxy won't start handling requests
until it is deployed to an environment.
Let's now make that happen.
In the upper right, click Deploy.
In the resulting screen, you can specify the revision number
of the proxy you want to deploy and the environment
where you want to deploy the proxy.
You can optionally provide a service account for the proxy.
This is the identity on behalf of which the proxy runs.
More information on that is available in the Apigee
documentation.
Since we have just one environment
and one revision of the proxy, these choices are easy for us.
Click Deploy.
You will be asked to confirm that action.
Apigee will then deploy the proxy,
making the configuration you specified active.
This can take 60 seconds or more.
After deployment succeeds, you'll
see an updated summary page.
The Status column will show a check mark
indicating the proxy is successfully deployed.
Great.
Now, let's test it.
To test your new proxy, you need to send in some requests.
There are lots of ways to do that.
You can use an API client tool like Postman
or a command line tool like Curl or the invoke web request
in PowerShell or just by visiting the appropriate URL
in a browser.
In this video, we're going to use that last option
because it's the easiest.
But what is the full URL for the proxy?
We know the base path.
We specified that when creating the proxy.
But what about the hostname?
The environment group to which the proxy was deployed
tells us.
Find it in the Apigee UI by using the left-hand side
navigation.
Select Admin, Environments, Groups.
There will be just one group in your Apigee organization.
Select and copy the hostname of that environment group
and produce the full URL for your proxy by prepending
https:// to the hostname, then appending the base path
for your proxy.
For example, like this.
Paste that full URL into the address bar of a web browser
tab and press Return.
This will send a request to your API proxy.
You should now see a simple plaintext response
in your web browser.
This is the data that was sent back from the upstream target
system through Apigee and finally to the web browser.
If you're handy with Curl or PowerShell,
you can use either of those to send in a similar request
from a terminal window.
Let's wrap up.
In this video, we saw how to easily create an Apigee API
proxy using the Wizard.
Then, we deployed it and invoked it.
Now, this proxy doesn't do much.
It's just a pass through.
But it provides the foundation for enforcing policies,
as I mentioned earlier.
We will add policies to the proxy in the next video
in this series.
Before going on, please give this a shot.
Create your own first proxy today.
If this video is helpful to you, click that Like button.
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