OPA server as a sidecar
Enforce Open Policy Agent (OPA) policies through an OPA server that runs as a sidecar to the external auth server.
You can enable an OPA server to run as a sidecar to the Gloo external auth service. Then, you can administer an OPA server for extended use cases such as bundling. With bundling, your Rego rules can live as a signed bundle in an external, central location, such as an AWS S3 bucket to meet your internal security requirements. This sidecar approach increases the resources needed in the external auth server pod, but works better at scale and provides more OPA-native support for teams familiar with administering an OPA server. You also get the OPA-Envoy plugin API as part of the Gloo external auth service.
Other OPA options:
- Load Rego rules as Kubernetes config maps to the Gloo external auth service OPA module.
- Instead of deploying a sidecar, you can bring your own OPA server.
Support for running the OPA server sidecar is a beta feature available in Gloo Mesh Gateway 2.4.1 and later. For more information, see Gloo feature maturity.
If you import or export resources across workspaces, your policies might not apply. For more information, see Import and export policies.
About the OPA sidecar
Gloo Mesh Gateway can deploy an OPA sidecar server for you. After, you are responsible for administering the server per OPA best practices.
The following diagram and the steps in the rest of this guide show how you can set up an OPA server sidecar.
- A user sends a request that the ingress gateway receives. The request matches a route that is protected by an external auth policy that uses OPA.
- The ingress gateway sends the request to the external auth service for an authorization decision.
- The external auth service passes the request through to the OPA server sidecar to make an authorization decision.
- The OPA server sidecar loads the OPA config of Rego rules from a bundle in a cloud provider. The OPA server uses these Rego rules to make an authorization decision on the request. You can provide the OPA config via a YAML file during the Helm installation, or subsequently in a Kubernetes config map. Note that the request does not trigger loading the rules. You must restart the OPA server each time that you update the OPA config.
- The OPA server returns the authorization decision to the external auth service, which returns the authorization decision to the ingress gateway.
- The ingress gateway handles the request per the authorization decision.
- If unauthorized, the ingress gateway denies the request.
- If authorized, the ingress gateway forwards the request to the destination workload.
Clear route cache
The Envoy proxy in your sidecar instance keeps a route cache in memory of precomputed routing decisions to help speed up performance. When the sidecar gets a request, it can check the route cache to decide where to send the request. When the route cache is cleared, Gloo recomputes the routing rules. This way, any old and potentially conflicting data from the initial request is cleared.
When running the OPA server as a sidecar to the external auth server, you cannot use the clearRouteCache
option on an external auth policy to force a routing decision. Instead, you can set the clearRouteCache
option on the external auth server. However, keep in mind that this setting then applies to all external auth policies that the external auth server serves.
Before you begin
This guide assumes that you use the same names for components like clusters, workspaces, and namespaces as in the getting started. If you have different names, make sure to update the sample configuration files in this guide.
- Set up Gloo Mesh Gateway in a single cluster.
- Install Bookinfo and other sample apps.
Configure an HTTP listener on your gateway and set up basic routing for the sample apps.
Make sure that the external auth service is installed and running. If not, install the external auth service in your Gloo environment.
kubectl get pods -A -l app=ext-auth-service
Get the external address of your ingress gateway. The steps vary depending on the type of load balancer that backs the ingress gateway.
```shell
export INGRESS_GW_ADDRESS=$(kubectl get svc -n gloo-mesh-gateways istio-ingressgateway -o jsonpath="{.status.loadBalancer.ingress[0]['hostname','ip']}")
echo $INGRESS_GW_ADDRESS
```
Note: Depending on your environment, you might see <pending>
instead of an external IP address. For example, if you are testing locally in kind or minikube, or if you have insufficient permissions in your cloud platform, you can instead port-forward the service port of the ingress gateway:
kubectl -n gloo-mesh-gateways port-forward deploy/istio-ingressgateway-1-18 8081
Bundle Rego rules
Prepare OPA configuration for the OPA server by creating, bundling, and referring to a Rego policy with the rules you want to enforce.
For help writing Rego policies, refer to the OPA policy language docs. For example, you might create an output document to organize the results of a decision or to gather all the metadata of an object like an API key. Then, you can test your Rego policies in the Rego playground.
Create a Rego policy file in a
rego
directory with the rules you want to enforce with OPA. The following policy allowsGET
andPOST
HTTP requests and denies requests to the/status
endpoint.mkdir rego cat <<EOF > rego/policy.rego package httpbin import input.http_request # deny requests by default default allowed = false # set allowed to true if no error message allowed { not body } # return result and error message allow["allowed"] = allowed allow["body"] = body # main policy logic, with error message per rule body = "HTTP verb is not allowed" { not http_verb_allowed } else = "Path is not allowed" { not path_allowed } # allow only GET and POST requests http_verb_allowed { {"GET", "POST"}[_] == http_request.method } # deny requests to /status endpoint path_allowed { not startswith(http_request.path, "/status") } EOF
Use the
opa
CLI to bundle your Rego rules. The output of the command is abundle.tar.gz
compressed file in your current directory. For more information, see the OPA docs.Signed policies: To make sure that your Rego policies come from a trusted source, you can add a signature to your bundle. For more information, see the OPA docs.opa build -b rego/
Store your bundle in a supported cloud provider. For options and steps, see the OPA implementation docs.
Example command for Google Cloud: Make sure to update the
${BUCKET_NAME}
with the name of thegcs
bucket.gsutil cp bundle.tar.gz gs://${BUCKET_NAME}/
Create a YAML file with your OPA config. For more information, see the OPA implementation docs.
Review the following table to understand this configuration.cat > config.yaml - <<EOF services: gcs: url: https://storage.googleapis.com/storage/v1/b/${BUCKET_NAME}/o bundles: bundle: service: gcs resource: 'bundle.tar.gz?alt=media' EOF
Setting Description services
Provide the details of the cloud service where the bundle is located. In this example, the bundle is in a Google Cloud Storage ( gcs
) bucket. Make sure to update the${BUCKET_NAME}
with the name of thegcs
bucket. For quick testing, you can use a bucket with a public URL. Or, you can also set up secure access with thecredentials
settings.bundles
Provide the details about the particular bundle that you want to use. In this example, the bundle is the bundle.tar.gz
bundle that you previously created.Other settings If you use other features, you can configure those settings in the config map. Common settings include signed bundles and returning decision logs. For more information, see the OPA implementation docs.
Upgrade the external auth server to run the OPA sidecar
Deploy the OPA server sidecar by upgrading the external auth service in your existing Gloo Mesh Gateway installation. You can also set up the sidecar when you first install Gloo Mesh Gateway.
The following steps upgrade an existing Helm release to add the OPA server as a sidecar to the external auth service. The steps do not upgrade the Gloo management server or agent versions or otherwise change the components.
Check the Helm releases in your cluster. Depending on your installation method, you either have only a main installation release (such as
gloo-platform
), or a main installation and a separate add-ons release (such asgloo-agent-addons
), in addition to your CRDs release.helm ls -A
Get your current installation values.
If you have only one release for your installation, get those values. Note that your Helm release might have a different name.
helm get values gloo-platform -n gloo-mesh -o yaml > gloo-single.yaml open gloo-single.yaml
If you have a separate add-ons release, get those values.
helm get values gloo-agent-addons -n gloo-mesh -o yaml > gloo-agent-addons.yaml open gloo-agent-addons.yaml
Add or edit the following settings to deploy the OPA server sidecar as part of the external auth service. For other settings, see the
opaServer
settings in the Helm reference docs.extAuthService: enabled: true extAuth: opaServer: enabled: true configYaml: ""
Upgrade your Helm release with the OPA server sidecar. Be sure to include the OPA config file that you previously created.
If you have only one release for your installation, upgrade the
gloo-platform
release. Note that your Helm release might have a different name.helm upgrade gloo-platform gloo-platform/gloo-platform \ --namespace gloo-mesh \ -f gloo-single.yaml \ --set-file configYaml=config.yaml \ --version $GLOO_VERSION
If you have a separate add-ons release, upgrade the
gloo-agent-addons
release.helm upgrade gloo-agent-addons gloo-platform/gloo-platform \ --namespace gloo-mesh \ -f gloo-agent-addons.yaml \ --set-file configYaml=config.yaml \ --version $GLOO_VERSION
This Helm upgrade loads the initial OPA config for the OPA server to test an example policy. Later, if you want to update the OPA config, see Update OPA config.Verify that the external auth service is healthy, with 2 containers ready.
kubectl get po -n gloo-mesh -l app=ext-auth-service
NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE ext-auth-service-6546584c8d-w9s4l 2/2 Running 0 97s
If the OPA sidecar is not healthy, the external auth service cannot enter a healthy running state, either. Continue to the next step to check the OPA server.Check that the OPA server is healthy and accepted the config. Note the following example command pipes the output to
jq
for readability.- Confirm that the OPA server loaded the bundle that you referred to in the config map.
- Confirm the health checks return a
200
response status. - If the OPA server is not healthy, try the OPA troubleshooting docs. Common errors include misconfiguration such as the wrong credentials to download a bundle or the wrong URL to the storage bucket.
kubectl logs -n gloo-mesh deploy/ext-auth-service -c opa-auth | jq
{ "level": "info", "msg": "Bundle loaded and activated successfully. Etag updated to CMzq8eO/p4EDEAE=.", "name": "httpbin", "plugin": "bundle", "time": "2023-09-20T15:54:47Z" } { "client_addr": "@", "level": "info", "msg": "Received request.", "req_id": 2, "req_method": "GET", "req_path": "/health", "time": "2023-09-20T15:54:48Z" } { "client_addr": "@", "level": "info", "msg": "Sent response.", "req_id": 2, "req_method": "GET", "req_path": "/health", "resp_bytes": 3, "resp_duration": 0.499848, "resp_status": 200, "time": "2023-09-20T15:54:48Z" }
Create the OPA external auth policy
Create the Gloo external auth resources to enforce the OPA policy.
Create an external auth server to use for your policy.
kubectl apply -f - <<EOF apiVersion: admin.gloo.solo.io/v2 kind: ExtAuthServer metadata: name: opa-ext-auth-server namespace: httpbin spec: destinationServer: port: number: 8083 ref: cluster: $CLUSTER_NAME name: ext-auth-service namespace: gloo-mesh EOF
Create an external auth policy that uses the OPA config map.
kubectl apply --context ${REMOTE_CONTEXT1} -f - <<EOF apiVersion: security.policy.gloo.solo.io/v2 kind: ExtAuthPolicy metadata: name: opa-sidecar namespace: httpbin spec: applyToRoutes: - route: labels: route: httpbin config: server: name: opa-ext-auth-server namespace: httpbin glooAuth: configs: - opaServerAuth: package: httpbin ruleName: allow/allowed - opaServerAuth: package: apikey_policies EOF
Review the following table to understand this configuration. For more information, see the API reference.
Setting Description applyToRoutes
Use labels to configure which routes to apply the policy to. This example label matches the app and route from the example route table that you apply separately. If omitted and you do not have another selector such as applyToDestinations
, the policy applies to all routes in the workspace.server
The external auth server to use for the policy. opaServerAuth
Configure the OPA server sidecar authentication details. package
Refer to the package in the Rego bundle that you set up in the config map earlier, such as httpbin
from thepolicy.rego
file.ruleName
Select the Rego rules within the bundle that you want to enforce for this OPA external auth policy. - From the
policy.rego
file, you set theallow
input document and only theallowed
decision for that document,allow/allowed
. - For the
apikey_policies.rego
file, you do not set a certain rule. This way, the response has all the objects in the policy, even ones that are not used. You can take this approach with short policies like this example. However, for more complex scenarios, consult the OPA primer to create objects that you can refer to in the external auth policy.
- From the
Verify the OPA external auth policy
Verify that the Rego rules are evaluated by the OPA server and enforced by the external auth service.
Confirm that the external auth policy’s state is
ACCEPTED
.kubectl get -n httpbin ExtAuthPolicy opa-sidecar -o yaml
Send an allowed request to the
httpbin
app, such as aGET bytes
request with thetest-apikey
API key.HTTP:
curl -vik http://$INGRESS_GW_IP:80/bytes/5 -H "host: www.example.com:80" -H "X-httpbin: true" -H "api-key: test-apikey"
HTTPS:
curl -vik https://$INGRESS_GW_IP:443/bytes/5 -H "host: www.example.com:443" -H "X-httpbin: true" -H "api-key: test-apikey"
In the response, you get a successful 200 status code. Also notice that the
api-key
header is removed and thex-response-header
is added, as specified in the Rego policy.* Trying 3.130.169.185:80... * Connected to $INGRESS_GW_IP port 80 (#0) > GET /bytes/5 HTTP/1.1 > Host: www.example.com:80 > User-Agent: curl/8.1.2 > Accept: */* > X-httpbin: true > api-key: test-apikey > HTTP/1.1 200 OK access-control-allow-credentials: true access-control-allow-origin: * content-type: application/octet-stream date: Thu, 16 Nov 2023 15:57:15 GMT content-length: 5 x-envoy-upstream-service-time: 2 x-response-header: for-client-only server: istio-envoy * Connection #0 to host $INGRESS_GW_IP left intact D?d?L%
Repeat the request, but remove the
test-apikey
API key. You get a 403 response because the request must meet all the Rego policy requirements to succeed.- HTTP:
curl -vik http://$INGRESS_GW_IP:80/bytes/5 -H "host: www.example.com:80" -H "X-httpbin: true"
- HTTPS:
curl -vik https://$INGRESS_GW_IP:443/bytes/5 -H "host: www.example.com:443" -H "X-httpbin: true"
Notice that the response includes the transformations that you specified in the Rego policy, particularly:
- The
x-response-header: for-client-only
is added to the response. - The
reject-reason: unauthorized
is added to the response. - The body returned says
Unauthorized Request
.
* Connected to $INGRESS_GW_IP port 80 (#0) > GET /bytes/5 HTTP/1.1 > Host: www.example.com:80 > User-Agent: curl/8.1.2 > Accept: */* > X-httpbin: true HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden reject-reason: unauthorized x-response-header: for-client-only content-length: 20 content-type: text/plain date: Thu, 16 Nov 2023 15:36:05 GMT server: istio-envoy * Connection #0 to host $INGRESS_GW_IP left intact Unauthorized Request
- HTTP:
Send the request again along a path that is not allowed by the OPA policy, such as
/status
. Now, the request is blocked with a404 Not Found
response because the endpoint cannot be accessed.- HTTP:
curl -vik http://$INGRESS_GW_IP:80/status -H "host: www.example.com:80" -H "X-httpbin: true" -H "api-key: test-apikey"
- HTTPS:
curl -vik https://$INGRESS_GW_IP:443/status -H "host: www.example.com:443" -H "X-httpbin: true" -H "api-key: test-apikey"
- HTTP:
This time, send a request to an allowed endpoint but with an HTTP method that is not allowed by the OPA policy, such as
PUT
. The request is blocked with a405 Method Not Allowed
response.- HTTP:
curl -vik http://$INGRESS_GW_IP:80/bytes/5 -H "host: www.example.com:80" -H "X-httpbin: true" -X PUT -H "api-key: test-apikey"
- HTTPS:
curl -vik https://$INGRESS_GW_IP:443/bytes/5 -H "host: www.example.com:443" -H "X-httpbin: true" -X PUT -H "api-key: test-apikey"
- HTTP:
Cleanup
You can optionally remove the resources that you set up as part of this guide.
- Delete the resources that you created.
kubectl -n gloo-mesh delete ConfigMap opa-config kubectl -n httpbin delete ExtAuthServer opa-ext-auth-server kubectl -n httpbin delete ExtAuthPolicy opa-sidecar
- Repeat the Helm upgrade steps, disabling the OPA server sidecar in the external auth service in the Helm values file.
extAuthService: enabled: true extAuth: opaServer: enabled: false
Update OPA config
To update OPA config after initially deploying the OPA server sidecar, choose from the following options.
- Upgrade your Helm installation with the new OPA config.
- Create a Kubernetes config map with the new OPA config and restart the OPA server, as show in the following steps.
Steps for creating and updating config maps:
Follow Steps 1 - 3 of Bundle Rego rules to create, bundle, and store your Rego rules in a cloud provider.
Create a Kubernetes config map that refers to your bundle.
Review the following table to understand this configuration.kubectl apply -f - <<EOF apiVersion: v1 kind: ConfigMap metadata: name: opa-config namespace: gloo-mesh data: config.yaml: | services: gcs: url: https://storage.googleapis.com/storage/v1/b/${BUCKET_NAME}/o bundles: bundle: service: gcs resource: 'bundle.tar.gz?alt=media' EOF
Setting Description namespace
Create the config map in the same namespace as the external auth server, such as gloo-mesh
.config.yaml
Enter the bundle configuration details that you created as part of uploading your bundle to the cloud provider. For more information, see the OPA implementation docs. services
Provide the details of the cloud service where the bundle is located. In this example, the bundle is in a Google Cloud Storage ( gcs
) bucket. Make sure to update the${BUCKET_NAME}
with the name of thegcs
bucket. For quick testing, you can use a bucket with a public URL. Or, you can also set up secure access with thecredentials
settings.bundles
Provide the details about the particular bundle that you want to use. In this example, the bundle is the bundle.tar.gz
bundle that you previously created.Other settings If you use other features, you can configure those settings in the config map. Common settings include signed bundles and returning decision logs. For more information, see the OPA implementation docs. For your OPA config changes to take effect, restart the external auth service with the OPA server sidecar. You must restart the OPA server each time that you update the OPA config. Optionally, you can create the config map before enabling the OPA server sidecar and refer to the config map during the Helm installation. This way, the first time the OPA server sidecar comes up, it has the OPA config already, reducing the number of times you might have to restart the service.
kubectl rollout restart deployment/ext-auth-service -n gloo-mesh
Optional: Check that the OPA server is healthy and accepted the config. Note the following example command pipes the output to
jq
for readability.- Confirm that the OPA server loaded the bundle that you referred to in the config map.
- Confirm the health checks return a
200
response status.
kubectl logs -n gloo-mesh deploy/ext-auth-service -c opa-auth | jq
{ "level": "info", "msg": "Bundle loaded and activated successfully. Etag updated to CMzq8eO/p4EDEAE=.", "name": "httpbin", "plugin": "bundle", "time": "2023-09-20T15:54:47Z" } { "client_addr": "@", "level": "info", "msg": "Received request.", "req_id": 2, "req_method": "GET", "req_path": "/health", "time": "2023-09-20T15:54:48Z" } { "client_addr": "@", "level": "info", "msg": "Sent response.", "req_id": 2, "req_method": "GET", "req_path": "/health", "resp_bytes": 3, "resp_duration": 0.499848, "resp_status": 200, "time": "2023-09-20T15:54:48Z" }