Local rate limit

Local rate limit

Local rate limiting architecture overview
v3 API reference
This filter should be configured with the name envoy.filters.http.local_ratelimit.

The HTTP local rate limit filter applies a token bucket rate limit when the request’s route or virtual host has a per filter local rate limit configuration.

If the local rate limit token bucket is checked, and there are no tokens available, a 429 response is returned (the response is configurable). The local rate limit filter then sets the x-envoy-ratelimited response header. Additional response headers can be configured to be returned.

Request headers can be configured to be added to forwarded requests to the upstream when the local rate limit filter is enabled but not enforced.

Depending on the value of the config local_rate_limit_per_downstream_connection, the token bucket is either shared across all workers or on a per connection basis. This results in the local rate limits being applied either per Envoy process or per downstream connection. By default the rate limits are applied per Envoy process.

Example configuration

Example filter configuration for a globally set rate limiter (e.g.: all vhosts/routes share the same token bucket):

name: envoy.filters.http.local_ratelimit
typed_config:
  "@type": type.googleapis.com/envoy.extensions.filters.http.local_ratelimit.v3.LocalRateLimit
  stat_prefix: http_local_rate_limiter
  token_bucket:
    max_tokens: 10000
    tokens_per_fill: 1000
    fill_interval: 1s
  filter_enabled:
    runtime_key: local_rate_limit_enabled
    default_value:
      numerator: 100
      denominator: HUNDRED
  filter_enforced:
    runtime_key: local_rate_limit_enforced
    default_value:
      numerator: 100
      denominator: HUNDRED
  response_headers_to_add:
    - append: false
      header:
        key: x-local-rate-limit
        value: 'true'
  local_rate_limit_per_downstream_connection: false

Example filter configuration for a globally disabled rate limiter but enabled for a specific route:

name: envoy.filters.http.local_ratelimit
typed_config:
  "@type": type.googleapis.com/envoy.extensions.filters.http.local_ratelimit.v3.LocalRateLimit
  stat_prefix: http_local_rate_limiter

The route specific configuration:

route_config:
  name: local_route
  virtual_hosts:
  - name: local_service
    domains: ["*"]
    routes:
    - match: { prefix: "/path/with/rate/limit" }
      route: { cluster: service_protected_by_rate_limit }
      typed_per_filter_config:
        envoy.filters.http.local_ratelimit:
          "@type": type.googleapis.com/envoy.extensions.filters.http.local_ratelimit.v3.LocalRateLimit
          token_bucket:
            max_tokens: 10000
            tokens_per_fill: 1000
            fill_interval: 1s
          filter_enabled:
            runtime_key: local_rate_limit_enabled
            default_value:
              numerator: 100
              denominator: HUNDRED
          filter_enforced:
            runtime_key: local_rate_limit_enforced
            default_value:
              numerator: 100
              denominator: HUNDRED
          response_headers_to_add:
            - append: false
              header:
                key: x-local-rate-limit
                value: 'true'
    - match: { prefix: "/" }
      route: { cluster: default_service }

Note that if this filter is configured as globally disabled and there are no virtual host or route level token buckets, no rate limiting will be applied.

Using rate limit descriptors for local rate limiting

Rate limit descriptors can be used to override local per-route rate limiting. A route’s rate limit action is used to match up a local descriptor in the filter config descriptor list. The local descriptor’s token bucket settings are then used to decide if the request should be rate limited or not depending on whether the local descriptor’s entries match the route’s rate limit actions descriptor entries. If there is no matching descriptor entries, the default token bucket is used.

Example filter configuration using descriptors:

local-rate-limit-with-descriptors.yaml

            typed_config:
              "@type": type.googleapis.com/envoy.extensions.filters.http.router.v3.Router
          route_config:
            name: local_route
            virtual_hosts:
            - name: local_service
              domains: ["*"]
              routes:
              - match: { prefix: "/foo" }
                route:
                  cluster: service_protected_by_rate_limit
                  rate_limits:
                  - actions: # any actions in here
                    - request_headers:
                        header_name: x-envoy-downstream-service-cluster
                        descriptor_key: client_cluster
                    - request_headers:
                        header_name: ":path"
                        descriptor_key: path
                typed_per_filter_config:
                  envoy.filters.http.local_ratelimit:
                    "@type": type.googleapis.com/envoy.extensions.filters.http.local_ratelimit.v3.LocalRateLimit
                    stat_prefix: test
                    token_bucket:
                      max_tokens: 1000
                      tokens_per_fill: 1000
                      fill_interval: 60s
                    filter_enabled:
                      runtime_key: test_enabled
                      default_value:
                        numerator: 100
                        denominator: HUNDRED
                    filter_enforced:
                      runtime_key: test_enforced
                      default_value:
                        numerator: 100
                        denominator: HUNDRED
                    response_headers_to_add:
                    - append: false
                      header:
                        key: x-test-rate-limit
                        value: 'true'
                    descriptors:
                    - entries:
                      - key: client_cluster
                        value: foo
                      - key: path
                        value: /foo/bar
                      token_bucket:
                        max_tokens: 10
                        tokens_per_fill: 10
                        fill_interval: 60s
                    - entries:
                      - key: client_cluster
                        value: foo
                      - key: path
                        value: /foo/bar2
                      token_bucket:
                        max_tokens: 100
                        tokens_per_fill: 100
                        fill_interval: 60s

In this example, requests are rate-limited for routes prefixed with “/foo” as follow. If requests come from a downstream service cluster “foo” for “/foo/bar” path, then 10 req/min are allowed. But if they come from a downstream service cluster “foo” for “/foo/bar2” path, then 100 req/min are allowed. Otherwise, 1000 req/min are allowed.

Statistics

The local rate limit filter outputs statistics in the <stat_prefix>.http_local_rate_limit. namespace. 429 responses – or the configured status code – are emitted to the normal cluster dynamic HTTP statistics.

Name	Type	Description
enabled	Counter	Total number of requests for which the rate limiter was consulted
ok	Counter	Total under limit responses from the token bucket
rate_limited	Counter	Total responses without an available token (but not necessarily enforced)
enforced	Counter	Total number of requests for which rate limiting was applied (e.g.: 429 returned)

Runtime

The HTTP rate limit filter supports the following runtime fractional settings:

http_filter_enabled

% of requests that will check the local rate limit decision, but not enforce, for a given route_key specified in the local rate limit configuration. Defaults to 0.

http_filter_enforcing

% of requests that will enforce the local rate limit decision for a given route_key specified in the local rate limit configuration. Defaults to 0. This can be used to test what would happen before fully enforcing the outcome.