Rate Limiting Advanced plugin

Kong Enterprise only: This plugin is only available with a Kong Enterprise subscription. Please inquire about Kong Enterprise by contacting us, or start a free trial today.

The Rate Limiting Advanced plugin for Kong Enterprise is a re-engineered version of the incredibly popular Kong Rate Limiting plugin, with greatly enhanced configuration options and performance.

Configuration Reference

You can configure this plugin using the Kong Admin API or through declarative configuration, which involves directly editing the Kong configuration file.

Enabling the plugin on a Service

Kong Admin API

Kubernetes

Declarative (YAML)

For example, configure this plugin on a Service by making the following request:

$ curl -X POST http://<admin-hostname>:8001/services/<service>/plugins \
    --data "name=rate-limiting-advanced"  \
    --data "config.limit=5" \
    --data "config.window_size=30" \
    --data "config.sync_rate=-1"

First, create a KongPlugin resource:

apiVersion: configuration.konghq.com/v1
kind: KongPlugin
metadata:
  name: <rate-limiting-advanced-example>
config: 
  limit:
  - 5
  window_size:
  - 30
  sync_rate: -1
plugin: rate-limiting-advanced

Next, apply the KongPlugin resource to a Service by annotating the Service as follows:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: <service>
  labels:
    app: <service>
  annotations:
    plugins.konghq.com: <rate-limiting-advanced-example>
spec:
  ports:
  - port: 80
    targetPort: 80
    protocol: TCP
    name: <service>
  selector:
    app: <service>

Note: The KongPlugin resource only needs to be defined once and can be applied to any Service, Consumer, or Route in the namespace. If you want the plugin to be available cluster-wide, create the resource as a KongClusterPlugin instead of KongPlugin.

For example, configure this plugin on a Service by adding this section to your declarative configuration file:

plugins:
- name: rate-limiting-advanced
  service: <service>
  config: 
    limit:
    - 5
    window_size:
    - 30
    sync_rate: -1

<service> is the id or name of the Service that this plugin configuration will target.

Note: The legacy API entity has been deprecated in favor of Services since CE 0.13.0 and EE 0.32.

Enabling the plugin on a Route

Kong Admin API

Kubernetes

Declarative (YAML)

For example, configure this plugin on a Route with:

$ curl -X POST http://<admin-hostname>:8001/routes/<route>/plugins \
    --data "name=rate-limiting-advanced"  \
    --data "config.limit=5" \
    --data "config.window_size=30" \
    --data "config.sync_rate=-1"

First, create a KongPlugin resource:

apiVersion: configuration.konghq.com/v1
kind: KongPlugin
metadata:
  name: <rate-limiting-advanced-example>
config: 
  limit:
  - 5
  window_size:
  - 30
  sync_rate: -1
plugin: rate-limiting-advanced

Then, apply it to an ingress (Route or Routes) by annotating the ingress as follows:

apiVersion: networking/v1beta1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: <route>
  annotations:
    plugins.konghq.com: <rate-limiting-advanced-example>
spec:
  rules:
  - host: examplehostname.com
    http:
      paths:
      - path: /bar
        backend:
          serviceName: echo
          servicePort: 80

For example, configure this plugin on a Route by adding this section to your declarative configuration file:

plugins:
- name: rate-limiting-advanced
  route: <route>
  config: 
    limit:
    - 5
    window_size:
    - 30
    sync_rate: -1

<route> is the id or name of the Route that this plugin configuration will target.

Enabling the plugin on a Consumer

Kong Admin API

Kubernetes

Declarative (YAML)

For example, configure this plugin on a Consumer with:

$ curl -X POST http://<admin-hostname>:8001/consumers/<consumer>/plugins \
    --data "name=rate-limiting-advanced"  \
    --data "config.limit=5" \
    --data "config.window_size=30" \
    --data "config.sync_rate=-1"

You can combine consumer.id, service.id, or route.id in the same request, to further narrow the scope of the plugin.

First, create a KongPlugin resource:

apiVersion: configuration.konghq.com/v1
kind: KongPlugin
metadata:
  name: <rate-limiting-advanced-example>
config: 
  limit:
  - 5
  window_size:
  - 30
  sync_rate: -1
plugin: rate-limiting-advanced

Then, apply it to a Consumer by annotating the KongConsumer resource as follows:

apiVersion: configuration.konghq.com/v1
kind: KongConsumer
metadata:
  name: <consumer>
  annotations:
    plugins.konghq.com: <rate-limiting-advanced-example>

For example, configure this plugin on a Consumer by adding this section to your declarative configuration file:

plugins:
- name: rate-limiting-advanced
  consumer: <consumer>
  config: 
    limit:
    - 5
    window_size:
    - 30
    sync_rate: -1

<consumer> is the id or username of the Consumer that this plugin configuration will target.

Enabling the plugin globally

A plugin which is not associated to any Service, Route, or Consumer is considered global, and will be run on every request. Read the Plugin Reference and the Plugin Precedence sections for more information.

Kong Admin API

Kubernetes

Declarative (YAML)

For example, configure this plugin globally with:

$ curl -X POST http://<admin-hostname>:8001/plugins/ \
    --data "name=rate-limiting-advanced"  \
    --data "config.limit=5" \
    --data "config.window_size=30" \
    --data "config.sync_rate=-1"

Create a KongClusterPlugin resource and label it as global:

apiVersion: configuration.konghq.com/v1
kind: KongClusterPlugin
metadata:
  name: <global-rate-limiting-advanced>
  labels:
    global: \"true\"
config: 
  limit:
  - 5
  window_size:
  - 30
  sync_rate: -1
plugin: rate-limiting-advanced

For example, configure this plugin using the plugins: entry in the declarative configuration file:

plugins:
- name: rate-limiting-advanced
  config: 
    limit:
    - 5
    window_size:
    - 30
    sync_rate: -1

Parameters

Here's a list of all the parameters which can be used in this plugin's configuration:

Form Parameter	Description
`name`	The name of the plugin to use, in this case `rate-limiting-advanced`.
`service.id`	The ID of the Service the plugin targets.
`route.id`	The ID of the Route the plugin targets.
`consumer.id`	The ID of the Consumer the plugin targets.
`enabled` default value: `true`	Whether this plugin will be applied.
`api_id`	The ID of the API the plugin targets. Note: The API Entity is deprecated in favor of Services since CE 0.13.0 and EE 0.32.
`config.limit` required	One or more requests-per-window limits to apply.
`config.window_size` required	One or more window sizes to apply a limit to (defined in seconds).
`config.identifier` default value: consumer	How to define the rate limit key. Can be `ip`, `credential`, `consumer`, `service`, or `header`.
`config.header_name` semi-optional	Header name to use as the rate limit key when the `header` identifier is defined.
`config.dictionary_name` default value: kong_rate_limiting_counters	The shared dictionary where counters will be stored until the next sync cycle.
`config.sync_rate` required	How often to sync counter data to the central data store. A value of 0 results in synchronous behavior; a value of -1 ignores sync behavior entirely and only stores counters in node memory. A value greater than 0 will sync the counters in that many number of seconds.
`config.namespace` optional default value: random string	The rate limiting library namespace to use for this plugin instance. Counter data and sync configuration is shared in a namespace.
`config.strategy` default value: cluster	The sync strategy to use; `cluster` and `redis` are supported. Hybrid mode does not support the `cluster` strategy.
`config.redis.host` semi-optional	Host to use for Redis connection when the `redis` strategy is defined.
`config.redis.port` semi-optional	Port to use for Redis connection when the `redis` strategy is defined.
`config.redis.timeout` semi-optional default value: 2000	Connection timeout (in milliseconds) to use for Redis connection when the `redis` strategy is defined.
`config.redis.password` semi-optional	Password to use for Redis connection when the `redis` strategy is defined. If undefined, no AUTH commands are sent to Redis.
`config.redis.database` semi-optional default value: 0	Database to use for Redis connection when the `redis` strategy is defined.
`config.redis.sentinel_master` semi-optional	Sentinel master to use for Redis connection when the `redis` strategy is defined. Defining this value implies using Redis Sentinel.
`config.redis.sentinel_password` semi-optional	Sentinel password to authenticate with a Redis Sentinel instance. Note: This parameter is only available for Kong Enterprise versions 1.3.0.2 and later.
`config.redis.sentinel_role` semi-optional	Sentinel role to use for Redis connection when the `redis` strategy is defined. Defining this value implies using Redis Sentinel.
`config.redis.sentinel_addresses` semi-optional	Sentinel addresses to use for Redis connection when the `redis` strategy is defined. Defining this value implies using Redis Sentinel.
`config.redis.cluster_addresses` semi-optional	Cluster addresses to use for Redis connection when the `redis` strategy is defined. Defining this value implies using Redis cluster.
`config.window_type` default value: sliding	This sets the time window to either `sliding` or `fixed`.

Notes:

The plugin does not support the cluster strategy in hybrid mode. The redis strategy must be used instead.
Redis configuration values are ignored if the cluster strategy is used.
PostgreSQL 9.5+ is required when using the cluster strategy with postgres as the backing Kong cluster data store. This requirement varies from the PostgreSQL 9.4+ requirement as described in the Kong Community Edition documentation.
The dictionary_name directive was added to prevent the usage of the kong shared dictionary, which could lead to no memory errors.

Headers sent to the client

When this plugin is enabled, Kong will send some additional headers back to the client indicating the allowed limits, how many requests are available, and how long it will take until the quota will be restored. For example:

RateLimit-Limit: 6
RateLimit-Remaining: 4
RateLimit-Reset: 47

The plugin also sends headers indicating the limits in the time frame and the number of remaining requests:

X-RateLimit-Limit-Minute: 10
X-RateLimit-Remaining-Minute: 9

Or, it will return a combination of more time limits, if more than one is being set:

X-RateLimit-Limit-Second: 5
X-RateLimit-Remaining-Second: 4
X-RateLimit-Limit-Minute: 10
X-RateLimit-Remaining-Minute: 9

If any of the limits configured has been reached, the plugin returns an HTTP/1.1 429 status code to the client with the following JSON body:

{ "message": "API rate limit exceeded" }

The Retry-After header will be present on 429 errors to indicate how long the service is expected to be unavailable to the client. When using window_type=sliding, RateLimit-Reset, and Retry-After may increase due to the rate calculation for the sliding window.

NOTE:

The headers `RateLimit-Limit`, `RateLimit-Remaining`, and `RateLimit-Reset` are based on the Internet-Draft RateLimit Header Fields for HTTP and may change in the future to respect specification updates.

Notes

An arbitrary number of limits/window sizes can be applied per plugin instance. This allows users to create multiple rate limiting windows (e.g., rate limit per minute and per hour, and/or per any arbitrary window size); because of limitation with Kong’s plugin configuration interface, each nth limit will apply to each nth window size. For example:

$ curl -X POST http://kong:8001/services/{service}/plugins \
  --data name=rate-limiting-advanced \
  --data config.limit=10 \
  --data config.limit=100 \
  --data config.window_size=60 \
  --data config.window_size=3600 \
  --data config.sync_rate=10

This will apply rate limiting policies, one of which will trip when 10 hits have been counted in 60 seconds, or when 100 hits have been counted in 3600 seconds. For more information, please see Enterprise Rate Limiting Library.

About this Plugin
Made by
Categories	Traffic Control
Bundled with...
Kong Enterprise 2.1.x 1.5.x 1.3-x 0.36-x 0.35-x 0.34-x