Enabling Workload Identity Federation on AKS and EKS

Version 1.15 keyboard_arrow_down

This topic explains how to enable Workload Identity Federation for Apigee hybrid installations on AKS and EKS platforms.

For installations on GKE, follow the instructions in Enabling Workload Identity Federation for GKE on GKE.

Overview

Workload Identity Federation lets applications running outside Google Cloud impersonate a Google Cloud Platform service account by using credentials from an external identity provider.

Using Workload Identity Federation can help you improve security by letting applications use the authentication mechanisms that the external environment provides and can help replace service account keys.

For an overview, see Best practices for using Workload Identity Federation.

Note: The apigee-logger component does not support Workload Identity Federation. See the known issue.

Set up Workload Identity Federation

To use Workload Identity Federation with Apigee hybrid, first configure your cluster and then apply the feature to your Apigee hybrid installation.

Before you begin

These instructions assume you have already set up your Apigee hybrid installation. The IAM service accounts and Kubernetes service accounts are created during initial installation. See The Big Picture for an overview of installing Apigee hybrid.

For installations on AKS, Make sure you have enabled the OpenID Connect (OIDC) issuer. You must enable this feature so that Workload Identity Federation can access the OpenID Connect metadata and the JSON Web Key Set (JWKS) for the cluster.

Configure your cluster to use Workload Identity Federation.

Check that the current gcloud configuration is set to your Google Cloud project ID with the following command:
```
gcloud config get project
```

If needed, set the current gcloud configuration:

gcloud config set project PROJECT_ID

Enable the Security Token Service API:
Check that the Security Token Service API is enabled with the following command:
```
gcloud services list --enabled --project PROJECT_ID | grep sts.googleapis.com
```
If the API is not enabled:
Console

Enable the Security Token Service API.
Roles required to enable APIs
To enable APIs, you need the Service Usage Admin IAM role (roles/serviceusage.serviceUsageAdmin), which contains the serviceusage.services.enable permission. Learn how to grant roles.
Enable the API
Command line

Enable the API with the following command:
```
gcloud services enable sts.googleapis.com --project PROJECT_ID
```
Create the workload identity pool and provider.
Required roles
To get the permissions that you need to configure Workload Identity Federation, ask your administrator to grant you the following IAM roles on the project:
- Workload Identity Pool Admin (roles/iam.workloadIdentityPoolAdmin)
- Service Account Admin (roles/iam.serviceAccountAdmin)
For more information about granting roles, see Manage access to projects, folders, and organizations.

You might also be able to get the required permissions through custom roles or other predefined roles.
Alternatively, the IAM Owner (roles/owner) basic role also includes permissions to configure identity federation. You should not grant basic roles in a production environment, but you can grant them in a development or test environment.
To create a workload identity pool and provider, do the following:
1. Determine the issuer URL of your AKS cluster:
  AKS
  az aks show -n NAME -g RESOURCE_GROUP --query "oidcIssuerProfile.issuerUrl" -otsv
  Replace the following:
  - NAME: The name of the cluster.
  - RESOURCE_GROUP: The resource group of the cluster.
  The command outputs the issuer URL. You will need the issuer URL in one of the following steps.
  
  If the command doesn't return an issuer URL, verify that you've enabled the OIDC issuer feature.
  EKS
  aws eks describe-cluster --name NAME --query "cluster.identity.oidc.issuer" --output text
  Replace NAME with the name of the cluster.
  
  The command outputs the issuer URL. You need the issuer URL in one of the following steps.
  Other Kubernetes
  
  Connect to your Kubernetes cluster and use `kubectl` to determine your cluster's issuer URL:
  kubectl get --raw /.well-known/openid-configuration | jq -r .issuer
  You need the issuer URL in one of the following steps.
2. Optional: If your OIDC issuer is not publicly accessible, download the cluster's JSON Web Key Set (JWKS):
  Note: This step requires kubectl access to your cluster.
  
  Tip: When using the JWKS file, you will need to upload a new JWKS file whenever you rotate the signing keys for the cluster.
```
kubectl get --raw /openid/v1/jwks > cluster-jwks.json
```
  To check if your OIDC provider is publicly available, you should be able to access your provider URL with a CURL command and receive a 200 response.
3. Create a new workload identity pool:
```
gcloud iam workload-identity-pools create POOL_ID \
  --location="global" \
  --description="DESCRIPTION" \
  --display-name="DISPLAY_NAME"
            
```
  Replace the following:
  - POOL_ID: The unique ID for the pool.
  - DISPLAY_NAME: (Optional) The name of the pool.
  - DESCRIPTION: (Optional) A description of the pool that you choose. This description appears when you grant access to pool identities.
  For example:
```
gcloud iam workload-identity-pools create my-wi-pool --display-name="My workload pool" --description="My workload pool description"
```
4. Add the cluster as a workload identity pool provider. Choose the command to create the provider depending on whether your OIDC issuer is publicly accessible or not publicly accessible:
  Publicly accessible
  
  If your OIDC issuer is publicly accessible, create the provider with the following command:
  gcloud iam workload-identity-pools providers create-oidc WORKLOAD_PROVIDER_ID \ --location="global" \ --workload-identity-pool="POOL_ID" \ --issuer-uri="ISSUER" \ --attribute-mapping="google.subject=assertion.sub"
  Not publicly accessible
  
  If your OIDC issuer is not publicly accessible, create the provider with the following command:
  gcloud iam workload-identity-pools providers create-oidc WORKLOAD_PROVIDER_ID \ --location="global" \ --workload-identity-pool="POOL_ID" \ --issuer-uri="ISSUER" \ --jwks-file="cluster-jwks.json" \ --attribute-mapping="google.subject=assertion.sub"
  Note: If you rotate your keys, you must upload the new JWKS with each key rotation.
  The command doesn't validate the cluster's JWKS. If the JWKS is malformed or expired, subsequent authentication attempts might fail with an error message Error connecting to the given credential's issuer.
  Replace the following:
  - WORKLOAD_PROVIDER_ID: A unique workload identity pool provider ID of your choice.
  - POOL_ID: The workload identity pool ID that you created earlier.
  - ISSUER: Use the issuer URL you determined earlier for the issuer URI .
  attribute-mapping="google.subject=assertion.sub" maps the Kubernetes subject to the IAM subject.

Create the credential configuration files

To deploy a Kubernetes workload that can access Google Cloud resources, do the You first need to create a credential configuration file for each IAM service account:

List the IAM service accounts (also called "Google service accounts") with the following command:

gcloud iam service-accounts list --project PROJECT_ID

You will need to create the credential configuration files for the following IAM service accounts:

Prod

For production environments:

DISPLAY NAME                 EMAIL                                                              DISABLED
apigee-cassandra             apigee-cassandra@my_project_id.iam.gserviceaccount.com             False
apigee-mart                  apigee-mart@my_project_id.iam.gserviceaccount.com                  False
apigee-metrics               apigee-metrics@my_project_id.iam.gserviceaccount.com               False
apigee-runtime               apigee-runtime@my_project_id.iam.gserviceaccount.com               False
apigee-synchronizer          apigee-synchronizer@my_project_id.iam.gserviceaccount.com          False
apigee-udca                  apigee-udca@my_project_id.iam.gserviceaccount.com                  False
apigee-watcher               apigee-watcher@my_project_id.iam.gserviceaccount.com               False

If you are using Monetization for Apigee hybrid on v1.15.1 and later, you will also need to create the credential configuration file for the apigee-mint-task-scheduler service account.

DISPLAY NAME                 EMAIL                                                              DISABLED
...
apigee-mint-task-scheduler   apigee-mint-task-scheduler@my_project_id.iam.gserviceaccount.com   False
...

Non-prod

For non-production environments:

DISPLAY NAME         EMAIL                                                      DISABLED
apigee-non-prod      apigee-non-prod@my-project.iam.gserviceaccount.com      False

Create a credential configuration file for each IAM service account in the previous list. You will need these credential configuration files to configure Apigee hybrid to use Workload Identity Federation:
Code
```
gcloud iam workload-identity-pools create-cred-config \
  projects/PROJECT_NUMBER/locations/global/workloadIdentityPools/POOL_ID/providers/WORKLOAD_PROVIDER_ID \
  --service-account=SERVICE_ACCOUNT_EMAIL \
  --credential-source-file=/var/run/service-account/token \
  --credential-source-type=text \
  --output-file=SERVICE_ACCOUNT_NAME-credential-configuration.json
  
```
Example
```
gcloud iam workload-identity-pools create-cred-config \
  projects/123123123123/locations/global/workloadIdentityPools/my-wi-pool/providers/my-wi-provider \
  --service-account=apigee-cassandra@myhybridporg.iam.gserviceaccount.com \
  --credential-source-file=/var/run/service-account/token \
  --credential-source-type=text \
  --output-file=apigee-cassandra-credential-configuration.json
  
```
Where:
- PROJECT_NUMBER: The project number of the project containing the workload identity pool. This must be the project number instead of the project ID.
  Tip: You can find the project number by using the following command:
```
gcloud projects describe PROJECT_ID --format="value(projectNumber)"
```
- POOL_ID: The ID of the workload identity pool
- WORKLOAD_PROVIDER_ID: The ID of the workload identity pool provider
- SERVICE_ACCOUNT_EMAIL: Email address of the service account, if you configured your Kubernetes ServiceAccount to use IAM service account impersonation.
Important: credential-source-type must be set to text.

Note: Do not create a credential configuration file for the apigee-logger service account.

The credential configuration file lets the [Cloud Client Libraries](/apis/docs/cloud-client-libraries), the gcloud CLI, and Terraform determine the following:
- Where to obtain external credentials from
- Which workload identity pool and provider to use
- Which service account to impersonate
Note: Unlike a service account key, a credential configuration file doesn't contain a private key and doesn't need to be kept confidential. Details about the credential configuration file are available at https://google.aip.dev/auth/4117.

Configure Apigee hybrid to use Workload Identity Federation

Copy or move each output file (SERVICE_ACCOUNT_NAME-credential-configuration.json) into the following chart directories (or subdirectories thereof). These were the files you created in the Create the credential configuration files step.

Prod

Service account	Apigee Helm chart directory
`apigee-cassandra`	`apigee-datastore/`
`apigee-mart`	`apigee-org/`
`apigee-metrics`	`apigee-telemetry/`
`apigee-mint-task-scheduler` (If using Monetization for Apigee hybrid)	`apigee-org/`
`apigee-runtime`	`apigee-env/`
`apigee-synchronizer`	`apigee-env/`
`apigee-udca`	`apigee-org/` `apigee-env/`
`apigee-watcher`	`apigee-org/`

Non-prod

Service account	Apigee Helm chart
`apigee-non-prod`	`apigee-datastore/` `apigee-telemetry/` `apigee-org/` `apigee-env/`

Make the following global changes to your cluster's overrides file:

Code

gcp:
  workloadIdentity:
    enabled: false # must be set to false to use Workload Identity Federation
  federatedWorkloadIdentity:
    enabled: true
    audience: "AUDIENCE"
    credentialSourceFile: "/var/run/service-account/token"

Example

gcp:
  workloadIdentity:
    enabled: false
  federatedWorkloadIdentity:
    enabled: true
    audience: "//iam.googleapis.com/projects/123123123123/locations/global/workloadIdentityPools/my-wi-pool/providers/my-wi-provider"
    credentialSourceFile: "/var/run/service-account/token"

Where: AUDIENCE is the allowed audience of the Workload Identity Provider. You can find the value by searching any of the credential configuration files for the term audience: . The audience value is the same in each credential configuration file.

For example, in the following sample apigee-udca-credential-configuration.json file:

{
  "universe_domain": "googleapis.com",
  "type": "external_account:,"
  "audience": "//iam.googleapis.com/projects/123123123123/locations/global/workloadIdentityPools/my-wi-pool/providers/my-wi-provider",
  "subject_token_type": "urn:ietf:params:oauth: token-type:jwt",
  "token_url": "https://sts.googleapis.com/v1/token",
  "service
  "impersonation_url": "https://iamcredentials.googleapis.com/v1/projects/-/serviceAccounts/apigee-udca@my-project.iam.gserviceaccount.com:generateAccessToken",
  "credential_source": {
    "file": "/var/run/service-account/token",
    "format": {
      "type": "text"
    }
  }
}

The audience value is //iam.googleapis.com/projects/123123123123/locations/global/workloadIdentityPools/my-wi-pool/providers/my-wi-provider.

Configure the overrides for each component using Workload Identity Federation. Select the instructions for JSON files, Kubernetes secrets, or Vault as appropriate for your installation.

Cert file

Replace the value of serviceAccountPath with the credential source file for the corresponding IAM service account. This must be the path relative to the chart directory. For example:

envs:
- name: ENVIRONMENT_NAME
  serviceAccountPaths:
    synchronizer: apigee-synchronizer-credential-configuration.json
    runtime: apigee-runtime-credential-configuration.json
    udca: apigee-udca-credential-configuration.json

mart:
  serviceAccountPath: apigee-mart-credential-configuration.json

connectAgent:
  serviceAccountPath: apigee-mart-credential-configuration.json

metrics:
  serviceAccountPath: apigee-metrics-credential-configuration.json

mintTaskScheduler: # Required for Monetization for Apigee hybrid (v1.15.1 and later)
  serviceAccountPath: apigee-mint-task-scheduler-credential-configuration.json

udca:
  serviceAccountPath: apigee-udca-credential-configuration.json

watcher:
  serviceAccountPath: apigee-watcher-credential-configuration.json

K8s Secret

Create a new Kubernetes secret using the credential source file for each credential configuration file.

kubectl create secret -n APIGEE_NAMESPACE generic SECRET_NAME --from-file="client_secret.json=CREDENTIAL_CONFIGURATION_FILE"

For example:

kubectl create secret -n apigee generic udca-workload-identity-secret --from-file="client_secret.json=./apigee-udca-credential-configuration.json"

Replace the value of serviceAccountRef with the new secret. For example:
```
udca:
  serviceAccountRef: udca-workload-identity-secret
```

Vault

Update the service account key, SAKEY for each service account in Vault with the corresponding credential source file. The procedure is similar for all components. For example, for UDCA:

SAKEY=$(cat .apigee-udca-credential-configuration.json); kubectl -n APIGEE_NAMESPACE exec vault-0 -- vault kv patch secret/apigee/orgsakeys udca="$SAKEY"

See Storing service account keys in Hashicorp Vault for more information.

Apply the changes to each affected component with the helm upgrade command:

If you updated the Vault service account keys, update the apigee-operator chart.

helm upgrade operator apigee-operator/ \
  --namespace APIGEE_NAMESPACE \
  --atomic \
  -f overrides.yaml

Update the rest of the affected charts in the following order:

helm upgrade datastore apigee-datastore/ \
  --namespace APIGEE_NAMESPACE \
  --atomic \
  -f overrides.yaml

helm upgrade telemetry apigee-telemetry/ \
  --namespace APIGEE_NAMESPACE \
  --atomic \
  -f overrides.yaml

helm upgrade $ORG_NAME apigee-org/ \
  --namespace APIGEE_NAMESPACE \
  --atomic \
  -f overrides.yaml

Update the apigee-env chart for each env, replacing $ENV_RELEASE_NAME abdENV_NAME each time:

helm upgrade $ENV_RELEASE_NAME apigee-env/ \
  --namespace APIGEE_NAMESPACE \
  --atomic \
  --set env=$ENV_NAME \
  -f overrides.yaml

See the Apigee hybrid Helm reference for a list of components and their corresponding charts.

Grant the access to the Kubernetes service accounts

List the Kubernetes service accounts with the following command:
```
kubectl get sa -n APIGEE_NAMESPACE
```
Note: The Apigee hybrid charts created the necessary Kubernetes service accounts for each component when you ran the helm upgrade commands.

Important: You will not be using every Kubernetes service account that is listed by this command.

Grant the Kubernetes service accounts access to impersonate the associated IAM service accounts as shown in the following table. The table shows the default Apigee IAM service account names. If you are using custom service account names, use the corresponding IAM service accounts:

Kubernetes service accounts	IAM service account
Org-level Kubernetes service accounts
`apigee-connect-agent-ORG_NAME-ORG_HASH_ID`	`apigee-mart`
`apigee-mart-ORG_NAME-ORG_HASH_ID`	`apigee-mart`
`apigee-metrics-apigee-telemetry`	`apigee-metrics`
`apigee-open-telemetry-collector-apigee-telemetry`	`apigee-metrics`
`apigee-mint-task-scheduler-ORG_NAME-ORG_HASH_ID` (If using Monetization for Apigee hybrid)	`apigee-mint-task-scheduler`
`apigee-udca-ORG_NAME-ORG_HASH_ID`	`apigee-udca`
`apigee-watcher-ORG_NAME-ORG_HASH_ID`	`apigee-watcher`
Env-level Kubernetes service accounts
`apigee-runtime-ORG_NAME-ENV_NAME-ENV_HASH_ID`	`apigee-runtime`
`apigee-synchronizer-ORG_NAME-ENV_NAME-ENV_HASH_ID`	`apigee-synchronizer`
Cassandra backup and restore (if enabled)
`apigee-cassandra-backup-sa`	`apigee-cassandra`
`apigee-cassandra-restore-sa`	`apigee-cassandra`

Where:

ORG_NAME: The first 15 characters of the name of your organization.
ORG_HASH_ID: A unique hash ID of your full organization name.
ENV_NAME: The first 15 characters of the name of your environment.
ENV_HASH_ID: A unique hash ID of your organization and environment names.

For example:

apigee-connect-agent-myhybridorg-123abcd
apigee-runtime-myhybridorg-prodenv-234bcde

Grant each Kubernetes service account access to impersonate the appropriate IAM service account with the following command:

gcloud iam service-accounts add-iam-policy-binding \
  IAM_SA_NAME@PROJECT_ID.iam.gserviceaccount.com \
    --member="principal://iam.googleapis.com/projects/PROJECT_NUMBER/locations/global/workloadIdentityPools/POOL_ID/subject/MAPPED_SUBJECT" \
    --role=roles/iam.workloadIdentityUser

Where:

IAM_SA_NAME: the name of the service account.
PROJECT_ID: the ID of the project that is associated with the Apigee Org.
PROJECT_NUMBER: the project number of the project where you created the workload identity pool.
POOL_ID: the workload identity pool ID.
MAPPED_SUBJECT: the Kubernetes ServiceAccount from the claim in your ID token that you mapped to google.subject. For example, if you mapped google.subject=assertions.sub and your ID token contains "sub": "system:serviceaccount:default:my-kubernetes-serviceaccount", then MAPPED_SUBJECT is system:serviceaccount:default:my-kubernetes-serviceaccount.

For more information about Workload Identity Federation and best practices, see Best practices for using Workload Identity Federation.

Except as otherwise noted, the content of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, and code samples are licensed under the Apache 2.0 License. For details, see the Google Developers Site Policies. Java is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.

Last updated 2026-06-11 UTC.

Enabling Workload Identity Federation on AKS and EKS Stay organized with collections Save and categorize content based on your preferences.

Overview

Set up Workload Identity Federation

Before you begin

Configure your cluster to use Workload Identity Federation.

Console

Command line

Required roles

AKS

EKS

Other Kubernetes

Publicly accessible

Not publicly accessible

Create the credential configuration files

Prod

Non-prod

Code

Example

Configure Apigee hybrid to use Workload Identity Federation

Prod

Non-prod

Code

Example

Cert file

K8s Secret

Vault

Grant the access to the Kubernetes service accounts

Enabling Workload Identity Federation on AKS and EKS