Set up App and API Protection for Ruby in Kubernetes

Docs > Datadog Security > App and API Protection > Enabling App and API Protection > Enabling AAP for Ruby > Set up App and API Protection for Ruby in Kubernetes

You can enable App and API Protection for Ruby services with the following setup options:

If your Ruby service doesn't have APM tracing set up, you can easily enable App and API Protection with Datadog's Automatic Installation
Otherwise, keep reading the following manual setup instructions

Overview

App and API Protection works by leveraging the Datadog Ruby library to monitor and secure your Ruby service. The library integrates seamlessly with your existing application without requiring code changes.

For detailed compatibility information, including supported Ruby versions, frameworks, and deployment environments, see Ruby Compatibility Requirements.

This guide explains how to set up App and API Protection (AAP) for Ruby applications. The setup involves:

Installing the Datadog Agent
Enabling App and API Protection monitoring
Run Your Application
Verifying the setup

Prerequisites

Kubernetes cluster
Ruby application containerized with Docker
kubectl configured to access your cluster
Helm (recommended for Agent installation)
Your Datadog API key
Datadog Ruby tracing library (see version requirements)

1. Installing the Datadog Agent

Install the Datadog Agent by following the setup instructions for Kubernetes.

2. Enabling App and API Protection monitoring

Install and configure the datadog gem in your Ruby application.

APM Tracing Enabled

Add the datadog gem to your Gemfile:

gem 'datadog', '~> 2.0'

Configure Datadog library by adding an initializer:

Datadog.configure do |c|
  c.service = 'your_service_name'
  c.env = Rails.env

  c.agent.host = 'your_agent_host'

  c.tracing.enabled = true

  # Tracing instrumentation for Rails has to be explicitly enabled
  c.tracing.instrument :rails

  c.appsec.enabled = true
  c.appsec.api_security.enabled = true

  # Rails instrumentation is required for App and API Protection
  c.appsec.instrument :rails
end

Add the datadog gem to your Gemfile and require auto-instrumentation:

gem 'datadog', '~> 2.0', require: 'datadog/auto_instrument'

Set environment variables for your application. Add these to your deployment configuration file:

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: your-app
spec:
  template:
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: your-app
        image: your-app-image
        env:
        - name: DD_APPSEC_ENABLED
          value: "true"
        - name: DD_API_SECURITY_ENABLED
          value: "true"
        - name: DD_SERVICE
          value: "<MY_SERVICE>"
        - name: DD_ENV
          value: "<MY_ENV>"
        command: ["bin/rails"]
        args: ["server"]

APM Tracing Disabled

To disable APM tracing while keeping App and API Protection enabled, you must set the APM tracing configuration to false.

Add the datadog gem to your Gemfile:

gem 'datadog', '~> 2.0'

Configure Datadog library by adding an initializer:

Datadog.configure do |c|
  c.service = 'your_service_name'
  c.env = Rails.env

  c.agent.host = 'your_agent_host'

  # Disable APM Tracing
  c.tracing.enabled = false

  # Tracing instrumentation for Rails has to be explicitly enabled
  c.tracing.instrument :rails

  c.appsec.enabled = true
  c.appsec.api_security.enabled = true

  # Rails instrumentation is required for App and API Protection
  c.appsec.instrument :rails
end

Add the datadog gem to your Gemfile and require auto-instrumentation:

gem 'datadog', '~> 2.0', require: 'datadog/auto_instrument'

Set environment variables for your application. Add these to your deployment configuration file:

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: your-app
spec:
  template:
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: your-app
        image: your-app-image
        env:
        - name: DD_APPSEC_ENABLED
          value: "true"
        - name: DD_API_SECURITY_ENABLED
          value: "true"
        - name: DD_APM_TRACING_ENABLED
          value: "false"
        - name: DD_SERVICE
          value: "<MY_SERVICE>"
        - name: DD_ENV
          value: "<MY_ENV>"
        command: ["bin/rails"]
        args: ["server"]

3. Run your application

Apply your updated deployment:

kubectl apply -f your-deployment.yaml

4. Verify setup

To verify that App and API Protection is working correctly:

Send some traffic to your application.
Check the App and API Protection Service Inventory in Datadog.
Find your service and check that App and API protection is enabled in the Coverage column.