Apigee APIM Operator for Kubernetes overview

This page applies to Apigee, but not to Apigee hybrid.

View Apigee Edge documentation.

The Apigee APIM Operator for Kubernetes allows you to perform API management tasks, such as defining API products and operations, using Kubernetes tools. It is designed to support cloud-native developers by providing a command-line interface that integrates with familiar Kubernetes tools like kubectl. The operator works by using various APIM resources to keep your Google Kubernetes Engine cluster synchronized with the Apigee runtime.

Benefits

The APIM Operator can benefit your organization by providing:

Simplified API Management: The APIM Operator allows API producers to manage and secure their APIs using Kubernetes resource definitions. You can use the same tools and workflows for managing your APIs that you use for other Kubernetes resources.
Streamlined Networking: The operator enforces API policies at the load balancer level, which streamlines the networking setup and reduces complexity in managing API access and security.
Fine-grained access control: The addition of Kubernetes' role-based access control (RBAC) to Apigee custom resource definitions enables fine-grained access control for a range of roles, including API developers, platform administrators, and infrastructure administrators.
Integration with Kubernetes: The operator integrates with native Kubernetes concepts such as Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs) and Helm charts, providing a seamless experience for cloud-native developers.
Reduced Context Switching: By enabling API management directly from the Kubernetes environment, the APIM Operator reduces the need for developers to switch between different tools and interfaces.

When to use APIM Operator

The APIM Operator is designed to be used by API producers who want to manage their APIs using Kubernetes tools. It is especially useful for cloud-native developers who are familiar with Kubernetes and want to use the same tools and workflows for managing their APIs that they use for other Kubernetes resources. The APIM Operator enables existing Apigee customers to extend their API management infrastructure with tools based on Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) technologies.

Requirements

Before you install the APIM Operator, note the following:

The APIM Operator requires a GKE cluster with GKE version 1.27 or later.
The APIM Operator is only supported for use with Apigee version 1-15-0-apigee-4 or later. It can't be used with Apigee hybrid at this time.
The APIM Operator requires Helm version 3.13.3 or later.

Known limitations

The following limitations apply to the APIM Operator:

Only REST APIs are supported. gRPC and GraphQL are not supported.
A maximum of 25 regional or global GKE Gateway resources with API management policies attached are supported.
A maximum of 50 APIM extension policies can be applied to a single environment. To add more APIM extension policies, you must create a new environment.
API management policies can only be attached to Gateway resources and not to HTTPRoutes.
Region expansion is not supported. Once configured, the APIM Operator can't be expanded to additional regions.
The API version has changed from the public preview (now apim.googleapis.com/v1). The GA version of APIM Operator is not compatible with or upgradeable from the public preview version previously released.