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nginxgoogle-cloud-platformmetadatagoogle-cloud-runmixed-content

How to call http://metadata.ggogle.internal from within web app loaded over https


I have an Angular web app running on Cloud Run (nginx webserver) (more info here) from which I want to get access token from the GCP metadata server. I have tried to make a call to https://metadata.google.internal ( using curl from Cloud Shell) but the connection was rejected. Calls to HTTP are working well.

When I make the call from my app (which is loaded over https) to the metadata server over HTTP - logically I get a mixed content error. When trying to access the metadata server over HTTPS - I am getting error 504 Gateway timeout, I assume due to the reason that the metadata server refuses the calls on HTTPS.

I will really appreciate any idea of how to solve this issue.


Solution

  • The URL endpoint metadata.google.internal is only accessible from inside the instance (Cloud Run). This endpoint is not accessible outside of the instance such as via an HTTP or HTTPS call. A clue is the TLD (Top Level Domain) internal.

    If you want to access this endpoint remotely via a web browser, you will need to make a request from the browser to Cloud Run (an endpoint in your code) which then makes the internal request to the metadata server and returns the response to the client.