MTE API Relay

Introduction

MTE API Relay is an end-to-end encryption system that protects HTTP traffic between server applications. It acts as a proxy server that encodes and decodes payloads using Eclypses MTE software, an encryption library combining quantum-resistant algorithms with proprietary, patented techniques to secure data.

Below is an architecture where a server application communicates through an MTE API Relay container, which then transmits proxied traffic to another API Relay that decodes and delivers the request to its upstream API service:

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Prerequisites

Technical Requirements

• Two services that use HTTP to communicate with each other.

Skills and Knowledge

• Familiarity with ECS and/or EKS.
• General familiarity with AWS Services.
• Experience with the AWS CLI.

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Deployment Options

MTE API Relay is provided as a Docker image and can be deployed on AWS ECS, AWS EKS, or manually using another container runtime.

1. Elastic Container Service (ECS)

Deployment Templates

Two CloudFormation templates are available:

• Production template: Multiple instances, load balancing, and SSL configuration.
• Demo template: Lightweight, development-oriented deployment.

Requirements

• Git
• AWS CLI
• AWS permissions to launch resources

Deployment Steps

1. Clone the GitHub repository:
   AWS CloudFormation Templates
2. Choose between the demo or production template.
3. Modify the parameters.json file with your configuration.
4. Navigate to the respective template directory (demo or production).
5. Run the deploy.sh create command to deploy, or the delete command to remove resources.

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2. Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS)

If kubectl is already configured for your EKS cluster:

Example Deployment File (deployment.yaml)

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: aws-mte-api-relay-deployment
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: aws-mte-api-relay
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: aws-mte-api-relay
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: aws-mte-api-relay
          image: 709825985650.dkr.ecr.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/eclypses/709825985650.dkr.ecr.us-east-1.amazon.com/eclypses/mte-relay-forward-server:4.4.8
          ports:
            - containerPort: 8080
          env:
            - name: CLIENT_ID_SECRET
              value: <YOUR CLIENT ID SECRET HERE>
            - name: CORS_ORIGINS
              value: <YOUR CORS ORIGINS HERE>
            - name: UPSTREAM
              value: <UPSTREAM VALUE HERE>
            - name: OUTBOUND_TOKEN
              value: <OUTBOUND TOKEN HERE>
            - name: AWS_REGION
              value: <AWS REGION HERE>
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: aws-mte-api-relay-service
spec:
  type: LoadBalancer
  selector:
    app: aws-mte-api-relay
  ports:
    - protocol: TCP
      port: 80
      targetPort: 8080

Commands

kubectl apply -f deployment.yaml
kubectl get all
kubectl delete -f deployment.yaml

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3. Docker Image

You can also run the image using Docker, Podman, K3s, or Docker Swarm.

Commands

aws ecr get-login-password --region us-east-1 \
  | docker login --username AWS \
  --password-stdin <ECR_REGISTRY_URL>

docker pull 709825985650.dkr.ecr.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/eclypses/709825985650.dkr.ecr.us-east-1.amazon.com/eclypses/mte-relay-forward-server:4.4.8

Refer to the Server Configuration section for required environment variables.

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Server Configuration

MTE API Relay is configured using environment variables.

Required Variables

• UPSTREAM – Upstream API or service URL.
• CLIENT_ID_SECRET – Secret for signing client IDs (minimum 32 characters).
• OUTBOUND_TOKEN – Token appended to requests to denote the intended outbound recipient.
• AWS_REGION – AWS region where the server is deployed.
• REDIS_URL (recommended for production) – Redis cluster for maintaining session pairs across load-balanced containers.

Optional Variables

• PORT – Default: 8080.
• LOG_LEVEL – One of trace, debug, info, warning, error, panic, off. Default: info.
• PASS_THROUGH_ROUTES – Routes proxied without MTE encoding.
• MTE_ROUTES – If set, only listed routes use encoding; others return 404.
• CORS_ORIGINS – Comma-separated list of allowed origins.
• CORS_METHODS – Default: GET, POST, PUT, DELETE.
• HEADERS – Object of custom headers.

Minimal Example

UPSTREAM='https://api.my-company.com'
CLIENT_ID_SECRET='2DkV4DDabehO8cifDktdF9elKJL0CKrk'
OUTBOUND_TOKEN='abcdefg1234567'
CORS_ORIGINS='https://www.my-company.com,https://dashboard.my-company.com'

Full Example

UPSTREAM='https://api.my-company.com'
CLIENT_ID_SECRET='2DkV4DDabehO8cifDktdF9elKJL0CKrk'
OUTBOUND_TOKEN='abcdefg1234567'
REDIS_URL='redis://10.0.1.230:6379'
PORT=3000
LOG_LEVEL=info
PASS_THROUGH_ROUTES='/health,/version'
MTE_ROUTES='/api/v1/*,/api/v2/*'
CORS_ORIGINS='https://www.my-company.com,https://dashboard.my-company.com'
CORS_METHODS='GET,POST,DELETE'
HEADERS='{"x-service-name":"mte-api-relay"}'

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Testing & Health Checks

• Monitor startup logs in CloudWatch. Successful logs include:

  • MTE instantiated successfully.
  • Server listening at http://[0.0.0.0]:8080

• Test Echo route:

  curl 'http://<DOMAIN>/api/mte-echo?msg=test'

• Expected response:

  {
    "echo": "test",
    "time": "<timestamp>"
  }

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Monitoring

Amazon Managed Grafana

1. Create a Grafana workspace in AWS.
   • AWS Instructions here
2. Add CloudWatch as a data source (IAM role auth recommended).
   • AWS Instructions Here
3. Import the provided dashboard:
   • MTE API Relay Grafana Dashboard

Dashboard Metrics

• Requests Processed [req/sec]
• Request Time [ms]
• Outbound Proxy Time [ms]
• Upstream Proxy Time [ms]
• Average Request Encode Time [ms]
• Average Request Decode Time [ms]
• Average Response Encode Time [ms]
• Average Response Decode Time [ms]

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Performance Metrics

Performance was measured with ~1 kb request/response payloads on a t2.micro (1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM):

Concurrency	Req/Sec Relay	Req/Sec API	Relay %	Extra Latency (Median)
400	92.6	94	98.5%	+10 ms
500	179	183	97.8%	+17 ms
550	215	226	95.1%	+45 ms
600	225.7	267.6	84.3%	+202 ms

Note: At higher volumes (≥550 concurrent), scaling across multiple Relay instances is recommended.

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Troubleshooting

1. Invalid Configuration
   • Check logs for missing/invalid environment variables.
2. Relay unreachable
   • Verify Security Groups and load balancer settings.
3. Redis connection issues
   • Ensure Redis is in the same VPC and credentials are correct.

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Security

• No sensitive data is stored in the container.
• No root privileges required.
• Should be deployed in the same VPC as the upstream service to ensure proxied traffic remains internal.

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Costs

The service uses a usage-based cost per instance per hour.
Associated AWS services include:

AWS Service	Purpose
ECS	Container orchestration
ElastiCache (Redis)	State/session management
CloudWatch	Logging and monitoring
VPC	Networking isolation
Elastic Load Balancer	Scaling across Relay containers
AWS Secrets Manager	Recommended for secrets/env vars

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Maintenance

Routine Updates

• Updated container images are distributed through the AWS Marketplace.

Fault Recovery

• Relaunch the Relay container task; API Relays will automatically re-pair.

Service Limits

• ECS: ECS Service Quotas
• CloudWatch: CloudWatch Limits
• ELB: Load Balancer Limits

Key/Variable Rotation Recommendations

• Rotate the CLIENT_ID_SECRET and OUTBOUND_TOKEN every 90 days as per security best practices.

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Supported Regions

MTE API Relay is supported in most AWS regions, except:

• GovCloud
• Middle East (Bahrain, UAE)
• China

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Support

For assistance, contact Eclypses Support:
📧 customer_support@eclypses.com
🕒 Monday–Friday, 8:00 AM–5:00 PM MST (excluding holidays)