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Cloud Endpoints

Overview​

Cloud Endpoints are persistent, always-on endpoints whose creation, deletion and configuration is managed centrally via the Dashboard or API. They exist pemanently until they are explicitly deleted. Cloud Endpoints do not forward their traffic to an agent by default and instead only use their attached Traffic Policy to handle connections.

Quickstart​

TODO: dashboard and API

Use cases​

Cloud endpoints are a good choice when you want to:

  • Centrally manage an endpoint's traffic policy configuration
  • Create always-on endpoints that aren't tied to the lifetime of an agent process
  • Route incoming traffic to multiple other endpoints based on path, IP, header, etc.
  • Create a loose coupling between the traffic-receiving endpoint and the traffic-servicing endpoint.
  • Update an endpoint's traffic policy without taking it offline.

It is a common pattern to create public cloud endpoints that route traffic to internal agent endpoints via the forward action. The traffic policy of a Cloud Endpoint must terminate traffic via actions such as deny, redirect, custom-response, or forward-internal.

Differences from Agent Endpoints​

  • Always-on - Unlike Agent Endpoints, Cloud Endpoints are always-on and persistent. They exist permanently until they are explicitly deleted.
  • Centralized Management - Cloud Endpoints are created, managed and configured centrally via the API or Dashboard. You can update their Traffic Policy and other properties at any time via the API or Dashboard. Agent Endpoints, by contrast, can only be created and configured by the agent that initiated them. They are read-only in the API and Dashboard.
  • URLs - Cloud Endpoints must specify a fully qualified URL when created. You cannot ask for a URL to be randomly chosen for you.
  • Traffic Policy - Cloud Endpoints handle traffic they receive via their Traffic Policy. Unlike Agent Endpoints, they do not implicitly forward their traffic to an agent. You must specify a non-empty Traffic Policy when creating a Cloud Endpoint.
  • API - Cloud Endpoints API representation specifies type: cloud and its tunnel_session reference is null.

Protocols, Binding and Pooling​

  • Protocols - Cloud endpoints support all Endpoint Protocols (http, https, tcp and tls).
  • Bindings - Cloud endpoints support all Endpoint Bindings (public, internal and kubernetes).
  • Pooling - Cloud endpoints support Endpoint Pooling. They may also pool with themselves and with agent endpoints.

Guides​

For examples of cloud endpoint usage, check out the following guides:

API​

Cloud Endpoints can be managed programatically via:

Pricing​

Cloud endpoints are available on the pay-as-you-go plan. Consult the Endpoints Pricing documentation for billing details.