If you’re thinking about buying a cloud proxy, you need to know a few things about it before you do so. Some of the essential features of a cloud proxy include authentication, maintenance, customization, and performance and usability issues. This article will help you understand these features and how to use them.
Authentication
Cloud proxy is an excellent authentication tool and encrypts your connections to a cloud-based database. However, it doesn’t provide the ability to make new connections. For example, if you have several users with access to your database, you should use IAM Database Authentication.
Using IAM Database Authentication to authenticate users is a standard security best practice. This option is also supported by Cloud SQL, which allows you to secure connections to your database through a custom IAM Service Account.
When using CloudSQL Auth Proxy, you can automatically heal, encrypt, or limit access to your database. In addition, it’s possible to set HTTP health checks and -health_check_port to configure these options. You can also use FUSE to create sockets for the proxy.
When you have configured CloudSQL Auth Proxy, make sure it’s running. It can be a Windows service or a separate process run by a Windows operating system. To start it, launch the binary with the -enable_iam_login flag.
Alternatively, you can use a service account to invoke CloudSQL Auth Proxy from multiple machines. You can also store your Service Account credentials as secrets. These secrets can then be used to invoke CloudSQL Auth Proxy via the same credential file.
Routes for Traffic
A cloud proxy can be configured to route traffic based on various features. For example, different traffic redirection methods may suit other organisations or network environments. Likewise, there are also differences between cloud providers. Whether you use a cloud proxy or a load balancer depends on your needs. Here are some standard options you can consider.
Proxy servers eliminate the need to enforce route management logic. They allow requests to be sent to specific endpoints based on policy rules. Another benefit of using a proxy is that you don’t have to specify the routing or port.
Using a cloud proxy also simplifies load balancing. HAProxy distributes requests to several endpoints based on your load-balancing strategy. The endpoints can be configured globally or individually. You can also configure a token to add up to three additional services.
Kong Gateway routes evaluate incoming connections and match them against configured routes. Requests are then forwarded to the upstream service.
When using a cloud proxy, you can choose to have a single route belong to a single service or several courses belong to multiple services. To do so, you must define a cloud domain. This is referred to as globally distributed application routing.
Maintenance
A cloud-based proxy is not for the faint of heart. A small to medium-sized business can justify the expenditure. Still, if you have a large enterprise with hundreds or thousands of users and disparate data centres, you have some work ahead of you. Luckily, there are plenty of online tools to help out. And a little TLC will go a long way.
For starters, you should have a backup storage plan in place. This may include a local or cloud-based file sync or share. Testing your backups with a local or cloud-based restore is also a good idea. The best time to do so is before a reboot.
One of the best reasons to consider a cloud-based proxy is that it frees up your physical workspace. A cloud-based broker does not require buying expensive hardware or replacing worn-out cables. And with a small to medium-sized business, this can go a long way toward reducing overhead.
Customization
You can customise the cloud proxy to your specifications. However, you will need to ask specific questions to your supplier. Moreover, you will also need to ensure that your network is compatible.
There are many different options for customization. For example, you can change the region, the stack version, or the cloud provider.
One of the main advantages of a cloud-based proxy is its flexibility. For example, you can configure it to scan for specific things. Moreover, you can use it to collect data from remote data centres.
You can also set up out-of-band capabilities. This means that your proxy can be configured to wait for a repository to be available before responding. Doing this can reduce the number of routes needed for a request.
It is common for customers to need to access internal applications from unmanaged devices. They may want to do this to protect themselves from malware. But it would help if you considered that you might need help with all the different SaaS platforms.
