Creating an HTTP router for HTTP traffic

Written by

Yandex Cloud

Improved by

Anton P.

Updated at November 21, 2024

To create an HTTP router and add a route to it:

Management console

CLI

Terraform

API

In the management console, select the folder where you want to create an HTTP router.
In the list of services, select Application Load Balancer.
In the left-hand panel, select HTTP routers.
Click Create HTTP router.
Enter the HTTP router name.
Under Virtual hosts, click Add virtual host.
Enter the host name.
(Optional) In the Security profile field, select the Yandex Smart Web Security security profile.
Click Add route.
Enter the route Name.
In the Path field, select one of the options:
- Matches and specify the / path to route all requests that match the specified path.
- Starts with to route all requests with a specific prefix.
- Regular expression to route all requests that satisfy the RE2 regular expression.
In the HTTP methods list, select the required methods.
In the Action field, select one of the options: Routing, Forward, or Response. Depending on the selected option:
- Routing:
  - In the Backend group field, select the name of the backend group from the same folder where you are creating the HTTP router.
  - (Optional) In the Rewrite path or start field, specify where the HTTP router should redirect traffic. If you select Matches in the Path field, the path will be completely rewritten. If you select Starts with, only the prefix will be rewritten.
  - Optionally, in the Host header rewrite field, select one of these options:
    - none: No rewriting.
    - rewrite: Rewriting to the specified value.
    - auto: Automatic rewriting to the target VM address.
  - (Optional) In the Timeout, s field, specify the maximum connection time.
  - (Optional) In the Idle timeout, seconds field, specify the maximum connection keep-alive time with zero data transmission.
  - (Optional) In the Valid values for the Upgrade header field, list the protocols the backend group can switch to within a TCP connection upon the client's request.
  - (Optional) Select WebSocket if you want to use the WebSocket protocol.
- Forward:
  - In the HTTP status code field, select the code to be used for forwarding.
  - (Optional) In the Rewrite path or start field, specify where the HTTP router should redirect traffic. If you select Matches in the Path field, the path will be completely rewritten. If you select Starts with, only the prefix will be rewritten.
  - (Optional) Select the Delete query parameters option.
  - (Optional) Select the Replace scheme option.
  - (Optional) Select Replace host and specify a new host.
  - (Optional) Select Replace port and specify a new port.
- Response:
  - In the HTTP status code field, select the code to be used for response.
  - In the Response body field, click Select and do the following in the window that opens:
    - Select a response Method: Text or File.
    - Depending on the selected method, attach a file or specify the response text.
Click Create.

If you do not have the Yandex Cloud command line interface yet, install and initialize it.

The folder specified in the CLI profile is used by default. You can specify a different folder using the --folder-name or --folder-id parameter.

See the description of the CLI command to create an HTTP router:
```
yc alb http-router create --help
```

Run this command:

yc alb http-router create <HTTP_router_name>

Result:

id: a5dcsselagj4********
name: test-http-router
folder_id: aoerb349v3h4********
created_at: "2021-02-11T21:04:59.438292069Z"

View a description of the CLI command for creating a virtual host:
```
yc alb virtual-host create --help
```
Create a virtual host, specifying the name of the HTTP router and the virtual host settings:
```
yc alb virtual-host create <virtual_host_name> \
  --http-router-name <HTTP_router_name> \
  --authority your-domain.foo.com \
  --modify-request-header name=Accept-Language,append=ru-RU \
  --security-profile-id <security_profile_ID>
```
Where:
- --http-router-name: HTTP router name.
- --authority: Domains for the Host and authority headers that will be associated with this virtual host. This parameter supports wildcards, e.g., *.foo.com or *-bar.foo.com.
- --modify-request-header: Request header modification settings:
  - name: Name of the header being modified.
  - append: String to add to the header value.
- --security-profile-id (optional): ID of the Yandex Smart Web Security security profile.
Result:
```
name: test-virtual-host
authority:
- your-domain.foo.com
modify_request_headers:
- name: Accept-Language
  append: ru-RU
```
View a description of the CLI command for adding a host:
```
yc alb virtual-host append-http-route --help
```
Add a route, specifying the HTTP router ID or name and the routing parameters:
```
yc alb virtual-host append-http-route <route_name> \
  --virtual-host-name <virtual_host_name> \
  --http-router-name <HTTP_router_name> \
  --prefix-path-match / \
  --backend-group-name <backend_group_name> \
  --request-timeout <request_timeout>s \
  --request-idle-timeout <request_idle_timeout>s
```
Where:
- --virtual-host-name: Virtual host name.
- --http-router-name: HTTP router name.
- --prefix-path-match: Parameter to route all requests with a specific prefix. The parameter should be followed by path /.
  
  To specify a routing condition, you can also use the following parameters:
  - --exact-path-match to route all requests matching the specified path. The parameter should be followed by /<path>/.
  - --regex-path-match to route all requests that satisfy the RE2 regular expression. The parameter should be followed by /<regular_expression>.
- --backend-group-name: Backend group name.
- --request-timeout: Request timeout in seconds.
- --request-max-timeout: Maximum request idle timeout in seconds.
For more information about the yc alb virtual-host append-http-route command parameters, see the CLI reference.

Result:
```
done (1s)
name: test-virtual-host
authority:
- your-domain.foo.com
routes:
- name: test-route
  http:
    match:
      path:
        prefix_match: /
    route:
      backend_group_id: a5d4db973944********
      timeout: 2s
      idle_timeout: 3s
modify_request_headers:
- name: Accept-Language
  append: ru-RU
```

Terraform allows you to quickly create a cloud infrastructure in Yandex Cloud and manage it using configuration files. Configuration files store the infrastructure description in the HashiCorp Configuration Language (HCL). Terraform and its providers are distributed under the Business Source License.

For more information about the provider resources, see the documentation on the Terraform website or the mirror.

If you change the configuration files, Terraform automatically detects which part of your configuration is already deployed, and what should be added or removed.

If you don't have Terraform, install it and configure the Yandex Cloud provider.

In the configuration file, specify the parameters of the HTTP router and virtual host:
```
resource "yandex_alb_http_router" "tf-router" {
  name          = "<HTTP_router_name>"
  labels        = {
    tf-label    = "tf-label-value"
    empty-label = ""
  }
}

resource "yandex_alb_virtual_host" "my-virtual-host" {
  name                    = "<virtual_host_name>"
  http_router_id          = yandex_alb_http_router.tf-router.id
  route {
    name                  = "<route_name>"
    http_route {
      http_route_action {
        backend_group_id  = "<backend_group_ID>"
        timeout           = "60s"
      }
    }
  }
  route_options {
    security_profile_id   = "<security_profile_ID>"
  }
}
```
Where:
- yandex_alb_http_router: HTTP router description.
  - name: HTTP router name. The name format is as follows:
    - The name must be from 3 to 63 characters long.
    - It may contain lowercase Latin letters, numbers, and hyphens.
    - The first character must be a letter and the last character cannot be a hyphen.
  - labels: HTTP router labels. Specify a key-value pair.
- yandex_alb_virtual_host: Virtual host description:
  - name: Virtual host name. The name format is as follows:
    - The name must be from 3 to 63 characters long.
    - It may contain lowercase Latin letters, numbers, and hyphens.
    - The first character must be a letter and the last character cannot be a hyphen.
  - http_router_id: HTTP router ID.
  - route: HTTP router route description:
    - name: Route name.
    - http_route_action: Parameter to specify an action with HTTP traffic.
      - backend_group_id: Backend group ID.
      - timeout: Maximum request idle timeout in seconds.
  - route_options (optional): Additional parameters of the virtual host:
    - security_profile_id: ID of the Yandex Smart Web Security security profile.
For more information about the parameters of resources used in Terraform, see the provider documentation:
- yandex_alb_http_router.
- yandex_alb_virtual_host.
Create resources:
1. In the terminal, change to the folder where you edited the configuration file.
2. Make sure the configuration file is correct using the command:
```
terraform validate
```
  If the configuration is correct, the following message is returned:
```
Success! The configuration is valid.
```
3. Run the command:
```
terraform plan
```
  The terminal will display a list of resources with parameters. No changes are made at this step. If the configuration contains errors, Terraform will point them out.
4. Apply the configuration changes:
```
terraform apply
```
5. Confirm the changes: type yes in the terminal and press Enter.
Terraform will create all the required resources. You can check the new resources and their settings using the management console or this CLI command:
```
yc alb http-router get <HTTP_router_name>
```

Use the create REST API method for the HttpRouter resource or the HttpRouterService/Create gRPC API call.

Creating an HTTP router for HTTP traffic

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