Configuring Advanced Networking for AEM as a Cloud Service

This article aims to introduce you to the different advanced networking features in AEM as a Cloud Service, including self-serve provisioning of VPN, non-standard ports, and dedicated egress IP addresses.

Overview

AEM as a Cloud Service offers several types of advanced networking capabilities, which can be configured by customers using Cloud Manager APIs. These include:

• Flexible port egress - configure AEM as a Cloud Service to allow outbound traffic out of non-standard ports
• Dedicated egress IP address - configure traffic out of AEM as a Cloud Service to originate from a unique IP
• Virtual Private Network (VPN) - secure traffic between a customer’s infrastructure and AEM as a Cloud Service, for customers who have VPN technology

This article describes each of these options in detail, including how they can be configured. As a general configuration strategy, the /networkInfrastructures API endpoint is invoked at the program level to declare the desired type of advanced networking, followed by a call to the /advancedNetworking endpoint for each environment to enable the infrastructure and configure environment-specific parameters. Please reference the appropriate endpoints in the Cloud Manager API documentation for each formal syntax, as well as sample requests and responses.

A program can provision a single advanced networking variation. When deciding between flexible port egress and dedicated egress IP address, it is recommended you choose flexible port egress if a specific IP address is not required because Adobe can optimize performance of flexible port egress traffic.

Flexible Port Egress

This advanced networking feature allows you to configure AEM as a Cloud Service to egress traffic through ports other than HTTP (port 80) and HTTPS (port 443), which are open by default.

Considerations

Flexible port egress is the recommended choice if you don’t need VPN and don’t need a dedicated egress IP address since traffic that doesn’t rely on a dedicated egress can achieve higher throughput.

Configuration

Once per program, the POST /program/<programId>/networkInfrastructures endpoint is invoked, simply passing the value of flexiblePortEgress for the kind parameter and region. The endpoint responds with the network_id, as well as other information including the status. The full set of parameters and exact syntax, as well as important information like what parameters cannot be changed later, can be referenced in the API docs.

Once called, it typically takes approximately 15 minutes for the networking infrastructure to be provisioned. A call to the Cloud Manager’s network infrastructure GET endpoint would show a status of “ready”.

If the program-scoped flexible port egress configuration is ready, the PUT /program/<program_id>/environment/<environment_id>/advancedNetworking endpoint must be invoked per environment to enable networking at the environment level and to optionally declare any port forwarding rules. Parameters are configurable per environment in order to offer flexibility.

Port forwarding rules should be declared for any destination ports other than 80/443, but only if not using http or https protocol,
by specifying the set of destination hosts (names or IP, and with ports). For each destination host, customers must map the intended destination port to a port from 30000 through 30999.

The API should respond in just a few seconds, indicating a status of updating and after about 10 minutes, the endpoint’s GET method should indicate that advanced networking is enabled.

Updates

The program level configuration can be updated by invoking the PUT /api/program/<program_id>/network/<network_id> endpoint and will take effect within a few minutes.

The per environment port forwarding rules can be updated by again invoking the PUT /program/{programId}/environment/{environmentId}/advancedNetworking endpoint, making sure to include the full set of configuration parameters, rather than a subset.

Disabling Flexible Port Egress

In order to disable flexible port egress from a particular environment, invoke DELETE [/program/{programId}/environment/{environmentId}/advancedNetworking]().

For more information on the APIs, see the Cloud Manager API Documentation.

Traffic Routing

For http or https traffic going to ports other than 80 or 443 a proxy should be configured using the following host and port environment variables:

• for HTTP: AEM_PROXY_HOST / AEM_HTTP_PROXY_PORT (default to proxy.tunnel:3128 in AEM releases < 6094)
• for HTTPS: AEM_PROXY_HOST / AEM_HTTPS_PROXY_PORT (default to proxy.tunnel:3128 in AEM releases < 6094)

For example, here’s sample code to send a request to www.example.com:8443:

String url = "www.example.com:8443"
String proxyHost = System.getenv().getOrDefault("AEM_PROXY_HOST", "proxy.tunnel");
int proxyPort = Integer.parseInt(System.getenv().getOrDefault("AEM_HTTPS_PROXY_PORT", "3128"));
HttpClient client = HttpClient.newBuilder()
      .proxy(ProxySelector.of(new InetSocketAddress(proxyHost, proxyPort)))
      .build();

HttpRequest request = HttpRequest.newBuilder().uri(URI.create(url)).build();
HttpResponse<String> response = client.send(request, BodyHandlers.ofString());

If using non-standard Java networking libraries, configure proxies using the properties above, for all traffic.

Non-http/s traffic with destinations through ports declared in the portForwards parameter should reference a property called AEM_PROXY_HOST, along with the mapped port. For example:

DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:mysql://" + System.getenv("AEM_PROXY_HOST") + ":53306/test");

The table below describes traffic routing:

Apache / Dispatcher configuration

The AEM Cloud Service Apache/Dispatcher tier’s mod_proxy directive can be configured using the properties described above.

ProxyRemote "http://example.com:8080" "http://${AEM_PROXY_HOST}:3128"
ProxyPass "/somepath" "http://example.com:8080"
ProxyPassReverse "/somepath" "http://example.com:8080"

SSLProxyEngine on //needed for https backends

ProxyRemote "https://example.com:8443" "http://${AEM_PROXY_HOST}:3128"
ProxyPass "/somepath" "https://example.com:8443"
ProxyPassReverse "/somepath" "https://example.com:8443"

Dedicated Egress IP Address

Benefits

This dedicated IP address can enhance security when integrating with SaaS vendors (like a CRM vendor) or other integrations outside of AEM as a Cloud Service that offer an allowlist of IP addresses. By adding the dedicated IP address to the allowlist, it ensures that only traffic from the customer’s AEM Cloud Service is permitted to flow into the external service. This is in addition to traffic from any other IPs allowed.

Without the dedicated IP address feature enabled, traffic coming out of AEM as a Cloud Service flows through a set of IPs shared with other customers.

Configuration

Configuring dedicated egress IP address is identical to flexible port egress.

The main difference is that traffic will always egress from a dedicated, unique IP. To find that IP, use a DNS resolver to identify the IP address associated with p{PROGRAM_ID}.external.adobeaemcloud.com. The IP address is not expected to change, but if it needs to change in the future, advanced notification will be provided.

In addition to the routing rules supported by flexible port egress in the PUT /program/<program_id>/environment/<environment_id>/advancedNetworking endpoint, dedicated egress IP address supports a nonProxyHosts parameter. This allows you to declare a set of hosts that should route through a shared IPs address range rather than the dedicated IP, which may be useful since traffic egressing through shared IPs may be further optimized. The nonProxyHost URLs may follow the patterns of example.com or *.example.com, where the wildcard is only supported at the start of the domain.

When deciding between flexible port egress and dedicated egress IP address, customers should choose flexible port egress if a specific IP address is not required since Adobe can optimize performance of flexible port egress traffic.

Disabling Dedicated Egress IP Address

In order to disable Dedicated Egress IP Address from a particular environment, invoke DELETE [/program/{programId}/environment/{environmentId}/advancedNetworking]().

For more information on the APIs, see the Cloud Manager API Documentation.

Traffic Routing

Http or https traffic will go through a preconfigured proxy, provided they use standard Java system properties for proxy configurations.

Non-http/s traffic with destinations through ports declared in the portForwards parameter should reference a property called AEM_PROXY_HOST, along with the mapped port. For example:

DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:mysql://" + System.getenv("AEM_PROXY_HOST") + ":53306/test");

Feature Usage

The feature is compatible with Java code or libraries that result in outbound traffic, provided they use standard Java system properties for proxy configurations. In practice, this should include most common libraries.

Below is a code sample:

public JSONObject getJsonObject(String relativePath, String queryString) throws IOException, JSONException {
  String relativeUri = queryString.isEmpty() ? relativePath : (relativePath + '?' + queryString);
  URL finalUrl = endpointUri.resolve(relativeUri).toURL();
  URLConnection connection = finalUrl.openConnection();
  connection.addRequestProperty("Accept", "application/json");
  connection.addRequestProperty("X-API-KEY", apiKey);

  try (InputStream responseStream = connection.getInputStream(); Reader responseReader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(responseStream, Charsets.UTF_8))) {
    return new JSONObject(new JSONTokener(responseReader));
  }
}

Some libraries require explicit configuration to use standard Java system properties for proxy configurations.

An example using Apache HttpClient, that requires explicit calls to
HttpClientBuilder.useSystemProperties() or use
HttpClients.createSystem():

public JSONObject getJsonObject(String relativePath, String queryString) throws IOException, JSONException {
  String relativeUri = queryString.isEmpty() ? relativePath : (relativePath + '?' + queryString);
  URL finalUrl = endpointUri.resolve(relativeUri).toURL();

  HttpClient httpClient = HttpClientBuilder.create().useSystemProperties().build();
  HttpGet request = new HttpGet(finalUrl.toURI());
  request.setHeader("Accept", "application/json");
  request.setHeader("X-API-KEY", apiKey);
  HttpResponse response = httpClient.execute(request);
  String result = EntityUtils.toString(response.getEntity());
}

The same dedicated IP is applied to all of a customer’s programs in their Adobe Organization and for all environments in each of their programs. It applies to both author and publish services.

Debugging Considerations

In order to validate that traffic is indeed outgoing on the expected dedicated IP address, check logs in the destination service, if available. Otherwise, it may be useful to call out to a debugging service such as https://ifconfig.me/IP, which will return the calling IP address.

Legacy Dedicated Egress Address Customers

If you have been provisioned with a dedicated egress IP before 2021.09.30, your dedicated egress IP feature only supports HTTP and HTTPS ports.
This includes HTTP/1.1, and HTTP/2 when encrypted. Additionally, one dedicated egress endpoint can talk to any target only over HTTP/HTTPS on ports 80/443 respectively.

Virtual Private Network (VPN)

VPN allows for connecting to an on-premise infrastructure or datacenter from author, publish, or preview. For example, for the means of accessing a database.

It also allows Connecting to SaaS vendors such as a CRM vendor that supports VPN or connecting from a corporate network to AEM as a Cloud Service author, preview, or publish.

Most VPN devices with IPSec technology are supported. Consult the list of devices at this page, based on the information in the RouteBased configuration instructions column. Configure the device as described in the table.

General Considerations

• Support is limited to a single VPN connection
• The Splunk forwarding capability is not possible over a VPN connection.

Creation

Once per program, the POST /program/<programId>/networkInfrastructures endpoint is invoked, passing in a payload of configuration information including: the value of “vpn” for the kind parameter, region, address space (list of CIDRs - note that this cannot be modified later), DNS resolvers (for resolving names in the customer’s network), and VPN connection information such as gateway configuration, shared VPN key, and the IP Security policy. The endpoint responds with the network_id, as well as other information including the status. The full set of parameters and exact syntax should be referenced in the API documentation.

Once called, it will typically take between 45 and 60 minutes for the networking infrastructure to be provisioned. The API’s GET method can be called to return the current status, which will eventually flip from creating to ready. Consult the API documentation for all states.

If the program-scoped VPN configuration in ready, the PUT /program/<program_id>/environment/<environment_id>/advancedNetworking endpoint must be invoked per environment to enable networking at the environment level and to declare any port forwarding rules. Parameters are configurable per environment in order to offer flexibility.

See the API documentation for more information.

Port forwarding rules should be declared for any non-http/s protocol TCP traffic that should be routed through the VPN by specifying the set of destination hosts (names or IP, and with ports). For each destination host, customers must map the intended destination port to a port from 30000 to 30999, where the values must be unique across environments in the program. Customers can also list a set of url in the nonProxyHosts parameter, which declares URL for which traffic should bypass VPN routing, but instead through a shared IP range. It follows the patterns of example.com or *.example.com, where the wildcard is only supported at the start of the domain.

The API should respond in just a few seconds, indicating a status of updating and after about 10 minutes, a call to the Cloud Manager’s environment GET endpoint would show a status of ready, indicating that the update to the environment has been applied.

Note that even if there is no environment traffic routing rules (hosts or bypasses), PUT /program/<program_id>/environment/<environment_id>/advancedNetworking must still be called, just with an empty payload.

Updating the VPN

The program-level VPN configuration can be updated by invoking the PUT /api/program/<program_id>/network/<network_id> endpoint.

Note that the address space cannot be changed after the initial VPN provisioning. If this is necessary, contact customer support. In addition, the kind parameter (flexiblePortEgress, dedicatedEgressIP or VPN) cannot be modified. Contact customer support for assistance, describing what has already been created and the reason for the change.

The per-environment routing rules can be updated by again invoking the PUT /program/{programId}/environment/{environmentId}/advancedNetworking endpoint, making sure to include the full set of configuration parameter, rather than a subset. Environment updates typically take 5-10 minutes to be applied.

Disabling the VPN

To disable VPN for a particular environment, invoke DELETE /program/{programId}/environment/{environmentId}/advancedNetworking. More details in the API documentation.

Traffic Routing

The table below describes traffic routing.

Useful Domains for Configuration

The diagram below provides a visual representation of a set of domains and associated IPs that are useful for configuration and development. The table further below the diagram describes those domains and IPs.

Restrict VPN to Ingress Connections

If you want to allow only VPN access to AEM, environment allowlists can be configured in Cloud Manager so that only the IP defined by p{PROGRAM_ID}.external.adobeaemcloud.com is allowed to talk to the environment. This can be done the same way as any other IP based allowlist in Cloud Manager.

If rules must be path-based, use standard http directives at the dispatcher level to deny or allow certain IPs. They should ensure that the desired paths are also not cacheable at the CDN so that the request always gets to origin.

Httpd Config Example

Order deny,allow
Deny from all
Allow from 192.168.0.1
Header always set Cache-Control private

Deleting a Program’s Network Infrastructure

To delete the network infrastructure for a program, invoke DELETE /program/{program ID}/networkinfrastructure/{networkinfrastructureID}.

Transitioning Between Advanced Networking Types

It is possible to migrate between advanced networking types by following the following procedure:

• disable advanced networking in all environments
• delete the advanced networking infrastructure
• recreate the advanced networking infras with the correct values
• reenable environment level advanced networking

If downtime would cause significant business impact, contact customer support for assistance, describing what has already been created and the reason for the change.

Advanced Networking Configuration for Additional Publish Regions

When an additional region is added to an environment which already has advanced networking configured, traffic from the additional publish region that matches the advanced networking rules will by default route through the primary region. However, if the primary region becomes unavailable, the advanced networking traffic will be dropped if advanced networking hasn’t been enabled in the additional region. If you wish to optimize latency and increase availability in case one of the regions undergoes an outage, it is necessary to enable advanced networking for the additional publish region(s). Two different scenarios are described in the following sections.

Dedicated Egress IP Addresses

Advanced networking already enabled in the primary region

If an advanced networking configuration is already enabled in the primary region, follow these steps:

1. If you have locked down your infrastructure such that the dedicated AEM IP address is allow listed, it is recommended to temporarily disable any deny rules in that infrastructure. If this is not done, there will be a short period where requests from the new region’s IP addresses will be denied by your own infrastructure. Note that this is not necessary if you have locked down your infrastructure via Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN), (p1234.external.adobeaemcloud.com, for example), since all AEM regions egress advanced networking traffic from the same FQDN
2. Create the program-scoped networking infrastructure for the secondary region through a POST call to the Cloud Manager Create Network Infrastructure API, as described in advanced networking documentation. The only difference in the payload’s JSON configuration relative to primary region will be the region property
3. If your infrastructure needs to be locked down by IP to allow AEM traffic, add the IPs that match p1234.external.adobeaemcloud.com. There should be one per region.

Advanced networking not yet configured in any region

The procedure is mostly similar to the previous instructions. However, if the production environment has not yet been enabled for advanced networking, there is an opportunity to test the configuration by first enabling it in a staging environment:

1. Create networking infrastructure for all regions through POST call to the Cloud Manager Create Network Infrastructure API. The only difference in the payload’s JSON configuration relative to primary region will be the region property.
2. For the staging environment, enable and configure the environment scoped advanced networking by running PUT api/program/{programId}/environment/{environmentId}/advancedNetworking. For more information, please consult the API documentation here
3. If necessary, lock down external infrastructure, preferably by FQDN (for example p1234.external.adobeaemcloud.com). You can otherwise do it by IP address
4. If the staging environment works as expected, enable and configure the environment-scoped advanced networking configuration for production.

VPN

The procedure is nearly identical to the dedicated egress IP addresses instructions. The only difference is that in addition to the region property being configured differently from the primary region, the connections.gateway field can optionally be configured to route to a different VPN endpoint operated by your organization, perhaps geographically closer to the new region.

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