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API Management CI/CD using ARM Templates - API Management service and custom hostnames

Eldert Grootenboer (Motion10) posted a series of blog posts around setting up CI/CD for Azure API Management using Azure Resource Manager templates. In his series he describes how you can using Visual Studio Team Services to host GIT repositories and set up a build and release pipeline for deploying your API Management service and it's APIs.

This blog post is an extension on his first article wich describes the setup for deploying the API Management service and is done as a nested ARM template (as described in the linked template article).

Scenario

The API Management service is default hosted under Microsoft's azure-api.net DNS domain. To provide a professional experience to our developers we want to host our API Management service under our own DNS domain. The SSL certificate will be stored in Azure Key Vault and the configuration will be part of the CI/CD pipeline as described by Eldert in his blog posts.

To make the scenario more production like we will store the Key Vault and the API Management service in different resource groups and also use multiple subscriptions. The SSL certificate wil be a self-signed certificate and is created with the certificates functionality of Key Vault. Normally you will buy one from an official SSL Certificate provider like Verisign or Symantec.

Certificates

A SSL certificate (X.509) always has to have a subject. This subject field consists about the common name (the DNS name from the website) and information about the organization for which the certificate is issued. Nowedays Subject Alternative Names (SAN) are almost manditory. Browsers like Chrome check the existence of this field and declare your website insecure if it's absent.

An API Management service uses in total four DNS names. The four addresses we will register as SANs on the self-generated certificate. If you will buy a certificate you should do this also or buy a wildcard certificate instead.

DNS changes

For the custom domain name to work you will have to make some changes in your DNS. You will have to register four CNAME records. These records will couple your DNS names to the Microsoft generated ones.

Register the following CNAME records:
  1. Proxy endpoint: api.[your-domain].[domain-extension] to [api-instance].azure-api.net
  2. Management endpoint: management-api.[your-domain].[domain-extension] to [api-instance].management.azure-api.net
  3. Portal endpoint: portal-api.[your-domain].[domain-extension] to [api-instance].portal.azure-api.net
  4. SCM endpoint: scm-api.[your-domain].[domain-extension] to [api-instance].scm.azure-api.net

Key Vault

In my setup I use a Key Vault instance I created earlier. The Key Vault is hosted in a different resource group than the API Management service. To create the self-signed certificate we go to the certificates section of our Key Vault and start the procedure with the 'Generate/import' button.

Fill out the form as following:
  1. Method of Certificate Creation: Generate
  2. Certificate Name: [name-of-the-certificate]
  3. Type of Certificate Authority (CA): Self-signed certificate
  4. Subject: CN=[dns-name], OU=[organizational-unit], O=[organization], L=[locality], ST=[state-province], C=[two-letter-country-code]. For example the subject will be: CN=api.domain.com, OU=ICT, O=Antiohne, L=Gouda, ST=Zuid-Holland, C=NL.
  5. DNS Names: [The URIs of the four API Management endpoints]
  6. Validity Period (in months): 12
  7. Content Type: PKCS #12
  8. Lifetime Action Type: Automatically renew at given percentage lifetime
  9. Percentage Lifetime: 80
Configure under the advanced policy configuration part the following settings:
  1. Extended Key Usages (EKUs): 1.3.6.1.5.5.7.3.1, 1.3.6.1.5.5.7.3.2
  2. X.509 Key Usage Flages: Digital Signature and Key Encipherment
  3. Reuse Key on Renewal: No
  4. Exportable Private Key: Yes
  5. Key Type: RSA
  6. Key Size: 4096
  7. Certificate Type: [empty]
After filling start the creation of the self-signed certificate by pressing the Create button. After a few seconds the certificate will be generated and the status will be completed.

Open the current version of the generated certificate. The properties will be shown. Copy the secret identifier URI into a text document. You will need it later in your CI/CD pipeline to populate the ARM template with the correct value.

NOTE:
Pay attention to the ACL of (the resource group of) the Key Vault when you do a deployment which spans across multiple subscriptions. Each VSTS endpoint which deploys an API Management instance should have the correct rights to write mutations to the Key Vault instance. Without this right the deployment will fail.

ARM template

To access the Key Vault we need to run the service under a Managed service identity. Modify the service.json (instance.json in Eldert's blog) so it reflects the following ARM template.
{
    "$schema": "http://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2015-01-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
    "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
    "parameters": {
        "publisherEmail": {
            "type": "string",
            "defaultValue": "ci-cd@contoso.com",
            "minLength": 1,
            "metadata": {
                "description": "The email address of the owner of this API Management service"
            }
        },
        "publisherName": {
            "type": "string",
            "defaultValue": "CI/CD APIM",
            "minLength": 1,
            "metadata": {
                "description": "The name of the owner of this API Management service"
            }
        },
        "serviceName": {
            "type": "string",
            "defaultValue": "ci-cd-api",
            "minLength": 1,
            "metadata": {
                "description": "The name of this API Management service"
            }
        },
        "sku": {
            "type": "string",
            "defaultValue": "Developer",
            "allowedValues": [
                "Basic",
                "Developer",
                "Premium",
                "Standard"
            ],
            "metadata": {
                "description": "The pricing tier of this API Management service"
            }
        },
        "skuCount": {
            "type": "string",
            "defaultValue": "1",
            "allowedValues": [
                "1",
                "2"
            ],
            "metadata": {
                "description": "The instance size of this API Management service."
            }
        }
    },
    "variables": {},
    "resources": [
        {
            "apiVersion": "2017-03-01",
            "type": "Microsoft.ApiManagement/service",
            "name": "[parameters('serviceName')]",
            "location": "[resourceGroup().location]",
            "tags": {},
            "identity": {
                "type": "SystemAssigned"
            },
            "properties": {
                "publisherEmail": "[parameters('publisherEmail')]",
                "publisherName": "[parameters('publisherName')]",
                "customProperties": {
                    "Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ApiManagement.Gateway.Security.Protocols.Tls10": "False",
                    "Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ApiManagement.Gateway.Security.Protocols.Tls11": "False",
                    "Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ApiManagement.Gateway.Security.Protocols.Ssl30": "False",
                    "Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ApiManagement.Gateway.Security.Ciphers.TripleDes168": "False",
                    "Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ApiManagement.Gateway.Security.Backend.Protocols.Tls10": "False",
                    "Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ApiManagement.Gateway.Security.Backend.Protocols.Tls11": "False",
                    "Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ApiManagement.Gateway.Security.Backend.Protocols.Ssl30": "False"
                }
            },
            "sku": {
                "name": "[parameters('sku')]",
                "capacity": "[parameters('skuCount')]"
            }
        }
    ]
}
The next step is to give the Managed service identity the rights to read the certificate in the Key Vault. Create in the local repository in the templates folder a new file called key-vault-permissions.json. Add the following ARM template to the file.
{
    "$schema": "http://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2015-01-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
    "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
    "parameters": {
        "serviceName": {
            "type": "string",
            "minLength": 1,
            "defaultValue": "ci-cd-api",
            "metadata": {
                "description": "The name of this API Management service"
            }
        },
        "keyVaultSubscriptionId": {
            "type": "string",
            "minLength": 1,
            "defaultValue": "[subscription().subscriptionId]",
            "metadata": {
                "description": "The subscription in which the Key Vault is located"
            }
        },
        "keyVaultResourceGroup": {
            "type": "string",
            "minLength": 1,
            "defaultValue": "[resourceGroup().name]",
            "metadata": {
                "description": "The name of the resource group in which the Key Vault is located"
            }
        },
        "keyVaultName": {
            "type": "string",
            "minLength": 1,
            "defaultValue": "ci-cd-api",
            "metadata": {
                "description": "The name of the Key Vault where the certifcates are stored"
            }
        }
    },
    "variables": {
        "serviceIdentityResourceId": "[concat(resourceId('Microsoft.ApiManagement/service', parameters('serviceName')), '/providers/Microsoft.ManagedIdentity/Identities/default')]"
    },
    "resources": [
        {
            "apiVersion": "2017-05-10",
            "name": "accessPoliciesTemplate",
            "type": "Microsoft.Resources/deployments",
            "subscriptionId": "[parameters('keyVaultSubscriptionId')]",
            "resourceGroup": "[parameters('keyVaultResourceGroup')]",
            "properties": {
                "mode": "Incremental",
                "template": {
                    "$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2015-01-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
                    "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
                    "resources": [
                        {
                            "type": "Microsoft.KeyVault/vaults/accessPolicies",
                            "name": "[concat(parameters('keyVaultName'), '/add')]",
                            "apiVersion": "2015-06-01",
                            "properties": {
                                "accessPolicies": [
                                    {
                                        "tenantId": "[reference(variables('serviceIdentityResourceId'), '2015-08-31-PREVIEW').tenantId]",
                                        "objectId": "[reference(variables('serviceIdentityResourceId'), '2015-08-31-PREVIEW').principalId]",
                                        "permissions": {
                                            "secrets": [ "get" ]
                                        }
                                    }
                                ]
                            }
                        }
                    ]
                }
            }
        }
    ]
}
Because we first have to give the Managed service identity it's rights in the Key Vault we cannot configure the custom hostnames in the same service.json file. Create in the local repository in the templates folder a new file called service-hostnames.json. Add the following ARM template to the file.

Most of it is duplicate code from our service.json. The reason for that is because the duplicate fields are mandatory.
{
    "$schema": "http://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2015-01-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
    "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
    "parameters": {
        "publisherEmail": {
            "type": "string",
            "defaultValue": "ci-cd@contoso.com",
            "minLength": 1,
            "metadata": {
                "description": "The email address of the owner of this API Management service"
            }
        },
        "publisherName": {
            "type": "string",
            "defaultValue": "CI/CD APIM",
            "minLength": 1,
            "metadata": {
                "description": "The name of the owner of this API Management service"
            }
        },
        "serviceName": {
            "type": "string",
            "defaultValue": "ci-cd-api",
            "minLength": 1,
            "metadata": {
                "description": "The name of this API Management service"
            }
        },
        "sku": {
            "type": "string",
            "defaultValue": "Developer",
            "allowedValues": [
                "Basic",
                "Developer",
                "Premium",
                "Standard"
            ],
            "metadata": {
                "description": "The pricing tier of this API Management service"
            }
        },
        "skuCount": {
            "type": "string",
            "defaultValue": "1",
            "allowedValues": [
                "1",
                "2"
            ],
            "metadata": {
                "description": "The instance size of this API Management service."
            }
        },
        "managementCustomHostname": {
            "type": "string",
            "defaultValue": "management-api.contoso.com",
            "minLength": 1,
            "metadata": {
                "description": "The custom hostname for the management endpoint of this API Management service"
            }
        },
        "portalCustomHostname": {
            "type": "string",
            "defaultValue": "portal-api.contoso.com",
            "minLength": 1,
            "metadata": {
                "description": "The custom hostname for the portal endpoint of this API Management service"
            }
        },
        "proxyCustomHostname": {
            "type": "string",
            "defaultValue": "proxy-api.contoso.com",
            "minLength": 1,
            "metadata": {
                "description": "The custom hostname for the proxy endpoint of this API Management service"
            }
        },
        "scmCustomHostname": {
            "type": "string",
            "defaultValue": "scm-api.contoso.com",
            "minLength": 1,
            "metadata": {
                "description": "The custom hostname for the SCM endpoint of this API Management service"
            }
        },
        "keyVaultSslSecret": {
            "type": "string",
            "defaultValue": "https://ci-cd-api.vault.azure.net/secrets/ci-cd-api/46095e3d7bf74ff7a02d202451ce836c",
            "minLength": 1,
            "metadata": {
                "description": "Url to the Key Vault Secret containing the Ssl Certificate (application/x-pkcs12)"
            }
        }
    },
    "variables": {},
    "resources": [
        {
            "apiVersion": "2017-03-01",
            "type": "Microsoft.ApiManagement/service",
            "name": "[parameters('serviceName')]",
            "location": "[resourceGroup().location]",
            "identity": {
                "type": "SystemAssigned"
            },
            "properties": {
                "publisherEmail": "[parameters('publisherEmail')]",
                "publisherName": "[parameters('publisherName')]",
                "hostnameConfigurations": [
                    {
                        "type": "Portal",
                        "hostName": "[parameters('portalCustomHostname')]",
                        "keyVaultId": "[parameters('keyVaultSslSecret')]",
                        "negotiateClientCertificate": false,
                        "defaultSslBinding": false
                    },
                    {
                        "type": "Proxy",
                        "hostName": "[parameters('proxyCustomHostname')]",
                        "keyVaultId": "[parameters('keyVaultSslSecret')]",
                        "negotiateClientCertificate": false,
                        "defaultSslBinding": true
                    },
                    {
                        "type": "Management",
                        "hostName": "[parameters('managementCustomHostname')]",
                        "keyVaultId": "[parameters('keyVaultSslSecret')]",
                        "negotiateClientCertificate": false,
                        "defaultSslBinding": false
                    },
                    {
                        "type": "Scm",
                        "hostName": "[parameters('scmCustomHostname')]",
                        "keyVaultId": "[parameters('keyVaultSslSecret')]",
                        "negotiateClientCertificate": false,
                        "defaultSslBinding": false
                    }
                ]
            },
            "sku": {
                "name": "[parameters('sku')]",
                "capacity": "[parameters('skuCount')]"
            }
        }
    ]
}
To be able to configure the custom hostnames from our CI/CD pipeline we have to adjust our nested template. Add the following ARM template to the file.
{
    "$schema": "http://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2015-01-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
    "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
    "parameters": {
        "storageAccount": {
            "type": "string",
            "defaultValue": "https://apimcicd.blob.core.windows.net/templates/",
            "metadata": {
                "description": "The storage account which will be used for storing the ARM templates"
            }
        },
        "storageAccountSASToken": {
            "type": "string",
            "defaultValue": "",
            "metadata": {
                "description": "The SAS token to access the storage account"
            }
        },
        "publisherEmail": {
            "type": "string",
            "defaultValue": "ci-cd@contoso.com",
            "minLength": 1,
            "metadata": {
                "description": "The email address of the owner of this API Management service"
            }
        },
        "publisherName": {
            "type": "string",
            "defaultValue": "CI/CD APIM",
            "minLength": 1,
            "metadata": {
                "description": "The name of the owner of this API Management service"
            }
        },
        "serviceName": {
            "type": "string",
            "defaultValue": "ci-cd-api",
            "minLength": 1,
            "metadata": {
                "description": "The name of this API Management service"
            }
        },
        "sku": {
            "type": "string",
            "defaultValue": "Developer",
            "allowedValues": [
                "Basic",
                "Developer",
                "Premium",
                "Standard"
            ],
            "metadata": {
                "description": "The pricing tier of this API Management service"
            }
        },
        "skuCount": {
            "type": "string",
            "defaultValue": "1",
            "allowedValues": [
                "1",
                "2"
            ],
            "metadata": {
                "description": "The instance size of this API Management service."
            }
        },
        "managementCustomHostname": {
            "type": "string",
            "defaultValue": "management-api.contoso.com",
            "minLength": 1,
            "metadata": {
                "description": "The custom hostname for the management endpoint of this API Management service"
            }
        },
        "portalCustomHostname": {
            "type": "string",
            "defaultValue": "portal-api.contoso.com",
            "minLength": 1,
            "metadata": {
                "description": "The custom hostname for the portal endpoint of this API Management service"
            }
        },
        "proxyCustomHostname": {
            "type": "string",
            "defaultValue": "proxy-api.contoso.com",
            "minLength": 1,
            "metadata": {
                "description": "The custom hostname for the proxy endpoint of this API Management service"
            }
        },
        "scmCustomHostname": {
            "type": "string",
            "defaultValue": "scm-api.contoso.com",
            "minLength": 1,
            "metadata": {
                "description": "The custom hostname for the SCM endpoint of this API Management service"
            }
        },
        "keyVaultSubscriptionId": {
            "type": "string",
            "minLength": 1,
            "defaultValue": "[subscription().subscriptionId]",
            "metadata": {
                "description": "The subscription in which the Key Vault is located"
            }
        },
        "keyVaultResourceGroup": {
            "type": "string",
            "minLength": 1,
            "defaultValue": "[resourceGroup().name]",
            "metadata": {
                "description": "The name of the resource group in which the Key Vault is located"
            }
        },
        "keyVaultName": {
            "type": "string",
            "minLength": 1,
            "defaultValue": "ci-cd-api",
            "metadata": {
                "description": "The name of the Key Vault where the certifcates are stored"
            }
        },
        "keyVaultSslSecret": {
            "type": "string",
            "defaultValue": "https://ci-cd-api.vault.azure.net/secrets/ci-cd-api/46095e3d7bf74ff7a02d202451ce836c",
            "minLength": 1,
            "metadata": {
                "description": "Url to the Key Vault Secret containing the Ssl Certificate (application/x-pkcs12)"
            }
        }
    },
    "variables": {},
    "resources": [
        {
            "apiVersion": "2017-05-10",
            "name": "serviceTemplate",
            "type": "Microsoft.Resources/deployments",
            "properties": {
                "mode": "Incremental",
                "templateLink": {
                    "uri": "[concat(parameters('storageAccount'), '/', 'service.json', parameters('storageAccountSASToken'))]",
                    "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0"
                },
                "parameters": {
                    "publisherEmail": { "value": "[parameters('publisherEmail')]" },
                    "publisherName": { "value": "[parameters('publisherName')]" },
                    "serviceName": { "value": "[parameters('serviceName')]" },
                    "sku": { "value": "[parameters('sku')]" },
                    "skuCount": { "value": "[parameters('skuCount')]" }
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "apiVersion": "2017-05-10",
            "name": "keyVaultPermissionsTemplate",
            "type": "Microsoft.Resources/deployments",
            "dependsOn": [
                "[resourceId('Microsoft.Resources/deployments', 'serviceTemplate')]"
            ],
            "properties": {
                "mode": "Incremental",
                "templateLink": {
                    "uri": "[concat(parameters('storageAccount'), '/', 'key-vault-permissions.json', parameters('storageAccountSASToken'))]",
                    "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0"
                },
                "parameters": {
                    "serviceName": { "value": "[parameters('serviceName')]" },
                    "keyVaultSubscriptionId": { "value": "[parameters('keyVaultSubscriptionId')]" },
                    "keyVaultResourceGroup": { "value": "[parameters('keyVaultResourceGroup')]" },
                    "keyVaultName": { "value": "[parameters('keyVaultName')]" }
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "apiVersion": "2017-05-10",
            "name": "serviceHostnamesTemplate",
            "type": "Microsoft.Resources/deployments",
            "dependsOn": [
                "[resourceId('Microsoft.Resources/deployments', 'keyVaultPermissionsTemplate')]"
            ],
            "properties": {
                "mode": "Incremental",
                "templateLink": {
                    "uri": "[concat(parameters('storageAccount'), '/', 'service-hostnames.json', parameters('storageAccountSASToken'))]",
                    "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0"
                },
                "parameters": {
                    "publisherEmail": { "value": "[parameters('publisherEmail')]" },
                    "publisherName": { "value": "[parameters('publisherName')]" },
                    "serviceName": { "value": "[parameters('serviceName')]" },
                    "sku": { "value": "[parameters('sku')]" },
                    "skuCount": { "value": "[parameters('skuCount')]" },
                    "managementCustomHostname": { "value": "[parameters('managementCustomHostname')]" },
                    "portalCustomHostname": { "value": "[parameters('portalCustomHostname')]" },
                    "proxyCustomHostname": { "value": "[parameters('proxyCustomHostname')]" },
                    "scmCustomHostname": { "value": "[parameters('scmCustomHostname')]" },
                    "keyVaultSslSecret": { "value": "[parameters('keyVaultSslSecret')]" }
                }
            }
        }
    ]
}
That’s it for our ARM templates, so commit and push it to the VSTS repository.

Deployment pipeline

Make the necessary adjustments to the release definition. Add the new Key Vault and custom hostname parameters to the 'Override template parameters'. Use for the keyVaultSslSecret parameter the value which you earlies copied to a text document when you was generating the self-signed certificate.

Testing

To test our process we can now simply make a change to our local ARM template and check it in to the repository. This will trigger our build and release pipeline, and finally deploy the API into our API Management instance. After a succesfull deployment the API Management service can be reached under our own domain name.
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