This is an OpenWhisk (IBM Cloud Functions) service that acts as a proxy for a Cloudant database. Why would you need such a service as Cloudant has a perfectly usable HTTP API anyway? Simply to:
- serve your Cloudant service on a domain name of your choice instead of
xxxxxxx.cloudant.com - optionally, have a more complex authentication by using the API Gateway's OAuth or API Key service
- optionally, implement your own rate-limiting using the API Gateway's
Clone this repository
git clone https://github.com/ibm-watson-data-lab/serverless-proxy.git
cd serverless-proxy
Sign up for a Bluemix account and follow the Getting Started with IBM Cloud Functions guide to download the bx wsk tool and configure it for your Bluemix account.
In your Bluemix dashboard, create a Cloudant service and make a note of its URL. In the Cloudant dashboard, create a new empty database (say, 'mydb').
On the command-line, create two environment variables containing your Cloudant URL and the database name:
export COUCH_HOST="https://USERNAME:PASSWORD@HOST.cloudant.com"
export COUCH_DATABASE="mydb"
and run the deployment script:
./deploy.sh
This will deploy the serverless actions and create an API wrapper around them allowing you to access your Cloudant service from a URL like this:
curl 'https://service.us.apiconnect.ibmcloud.com/gws/apigateway/api/123456/proxy/mydb/_all_docs'
It is also possible to use this API using your own custom domain name. Ensure you have:
- your own domain name
- a CNAME DNS record for your domain name or a sub-domain pointing to the Bluemix service
- a secure certificate for your domain name. You can use a service such as https://www.sslforfree.com which is powered by https://letsencrypt.org/ that issues free SSL certificates
Follow the instructions here to piece it all together.