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Azure APIM with Cloudflare integration

Thaw Zin Myo 0 Reputation points
2025-06-30T16:57:45.0266667+00:00

My current development environment includes:

  • Cloudflare
  • Azure API Management (APIM) for API routing
  • DigitalOcean Kubernetes Cluster (DOKS) with services exposed via NGINX Ingress Controller

I have configured DNS A records in Cloudflare (e.g., stock-dev.example.com pointing to the ingress load balancer IP), which allows public access to services in the DigitalOcean Kubernetes Cluster(DOKS). While this setup works for development, I rightly noted that it’s not ideal for production. Now, when I call stock-dev.example.com/health, it responses 200.

Our developers have configured APIM to route requests to backend services (e.g., https://stock-dev.example.com, https://user-dev.example.com) via Cloudflare. This flow — APIM → Cloudflare → Backend Services — is currently functioning as expected. For example, in the Postman, I type APIM endpoint with the necessary headers and test it. It was success. This is just confirmation for current work flow.

However, I am now looking to reverse the flow to:

Cloudflare → APIM → Backend Services

To achieve this, I am seeking guidance on how to configure Cloudflare to route traffic to APIM (e.g., apis-dev.example.com → APIM endpoint), and what changes may be needed within APIM to support this architecture.

  1. I will call the https://apis-dev.example.com/dev/v1/member-service
  2. It should redirect to our backend service but now, I got the "HTTP Error 404. The requested resource is not found."
  3. I already configured APIM Endpoint in the Cloudflare DNS Record as CNAME( apis-dev.example.com >>> APIM Endpoint) but I got the error in the step 2.

So, what did I miss configure? Any correction! I did not find in the Google. Some are suggest to use Virtal Network (External) and then in the NSG, Azure APIM allow Cloudflare's IPs. I am not sure it is related the current issue. Thanks

Azure API Management
Azure API Management
An Azure service that provides a hybrid, multi-cloud management platform for APIs.
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  1. hossein jalilian 11,055 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2025-06-30T17:02:43.4266667+00:00

    Thanks for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum

    To properly route traffic through Cloudflare → Azure API Management → Backend Services, make sure your custom ___domain is configured inside APIM. This includes adding it under Custom domains and uploading a valid SSL certificate. Without this, APIM will reject requests with a 404 or 503 error due to host header mismatch.

    Additionally, verify your DNS setup in Cloudflare: use a CNAME pointing to the APIM gateway and enable proxy if needed. Ensure your API path is correctly mapped in APIM and that your NSG/firewall rules allow traffic from Cloudflare. Once these steps are complete, test the full flow using your custom ___domain URL.

    Please don't forget to close up the thread here by upvoting and accept it as an answer if it is helpful

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