What Is Anypoint Flex Gateway?

Anypoint Flex Gateway can be deployed to manage APIs regardless of architectural patterns or type of environment. [Gorodenkoff / Adobe Stock]

MuleSoft’s ultra-fast Anypoint Flex Gateway is built to deliver the performance required for the most demanding applications.

Alexandra Martinez

June 22, 2023 5 min read

In this tutorial, we will guide you through an overview of MuleSoft’s Anypoint Flex Gateway. Please note that this is not a technical tutorial. This is intended as an introduction to the product. We will cover:

An overview of how Flex Gateway works
An example to configure it in connected mode
An overview to apply policies in API Manager

What is Anypoint Flex Gateway?

Anypoint Flex Gateway is MuleSoft’s new ultra-fast gateway designed to manage and secure APIs running anywhere. The gateway is built to deliver the performance required for the most demanding applications while providing enterprise-grade security and management.

A visualization of the Anypoint Flex Gateway, showing how it takes input from the Anypoint Platform and connects to different clouds.

You can configure the gateway in one of two ways: connected mode by using the Anypoint Platform web user interface, or locally to manage APIs in private environments.

A diagram showing connected mode and local mode on Anypoint Flex Gateway

Finally: Enterprise-level security and manageability

Learn more

Configure Anypoint Flex Gateway in connected mode

Let’s take a look at configuring Flex Gateway using the connected mode. You can deploy and run Flex Gateway as a Linux service, a Docker container, or as a Kubernetes ingress controller. All setup commands for deploying Flex Gateway are available in Runtime Manager. To install, simply copy and paste the commands into your terminal to quickly register, deploy, and start Flex Gateway.

A screenshot of the runtime manager with setup commands.

Once registered and configured, you can see the gateway listed as connected in Runtime Manager. Then, you can go to API Manager to manage and secure any API.

To add a new API to Flex Gateway from API Manager, you can either choose to import from Exchange or create a new API.

A screenshot of API Manager showing the Select API option. — *Create an API in Exchange*

Once you upload the specification, API Manager detects the backend implementation URL and allows you to make any changes to your gateway configuration.

A screenshot of the Endpoint screen in API Manager — *Gateway configuration*

After you review the configuration, simply deploy it to the gateway.

A screenshot of the review window in API Manager — *Gateway configuration 2*

All the traffic to the backend is now routed through Flex Gateway. You’ll get detailed analytics and telemetry data for each API deployed.

A screenshot in API Manager showing key metrics. — *Gateway metrics*

Apply policies in API Manager

It’s easy to apply policies through API Manager. There are several out-of-the-box policies for compliance, quality of service, security, and troubleshooting that are commonly used with APIs.

A screenshot of the different policies in API Manager. — *API Manager*

Then, apply a Rate Limiting policy:

A screenshot showing the option for a rate limiting policy in API Manager — *Rate Limiting Policy*

Once added, Flex Gateway instantly applies the policy to the API with zero downtime or interruptions. As we make calls to the API, the rate-limiting message is returned after a couple of requests.

A screenshot showing the rate-limiting message. — *Rate limiting messaging*

Anypoint Flex Gateway can be deployed to manage APIs regardless of architectural patterns or type of environment. It truly is flexible for all use cases or architectures, inspiring our name: Anypoint Flex Gateway.