How to run apigee without incurring any costs for learning?

[moojjoo]

I was charged for a simple, Hello Guest! API for around $25.00.  I understand why because I exposed the api to the internet via load balancer, processer, etc. etc.  How can I test and learn using Apigee without incurring any cost?  I have very little time as I am a Dad with a daughter that is 17 and has been suffering from hidradenitis suppurativa stage 3 illness along with other GI issues, then I am a software engineer full time.   Just trying to ensure I stay up-to-date with technology and API(s) are the key to success in the software engineering/developer world.

[moojjoo]

I did find this with a quick Google Search - https://cloud.google.com/apigee/pricing#:~:text=You%20can%20evaluate%20Apigee%20for,need%20support%2....  However does that expose the API to the Internet so I can use Postman to make requests to get responses?

[ganadurai · Accepted solution]

Yes, you found the right docs page. Apigee offers 60 day Eval license for Free tier access.  On the free tier you can try the option to ssh into the "managed-instance-group" instance and issue curl command to test your apis. This way you can avoid the cost on the loadbalancer. And you can reduce the managed-instance-group size be 1. Also make sure you are using the GCP free trial credit for 300$ This will cover your MIG instance costs.

After installing Apigee X, use the below steps to access your apigee deployed proxy endpoint and test it. 

From my scratch notes :

#ssh into the MIG (managed-instance-group) instance

gcloud config set project $PROJECT_ID;
TOKEN=$(gcloud config config-helper --force-auth-refresh --format json | jq -r '.credential.access_token')
AUTH="Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

export APIGEE_INSTANCE_IP=$(curl -H "$AUTH" https://apigee.googleapis.com/v1/organizations/$PROJECT_ID/instances -s | jq -r '.instances[0].host'); 
export ENV_GROUP_HOSTNAME=$(curl -H "$AUTH" https://apigee.googleapis.com/v1/organizations/$PROJECT_ID/envgroups -s | jq -r '.environmentGroups[0].hostnames[0]')

echo $ENV_GROUP_HOSTNAME
echo $APIGEE_INSTANCE_IP

#After you have a proxy with basepath "/hello-world" deployed, you can access it via curl

curl https://$ENV_GROUP_HOSTNAME/hello-world --resolve $ENV_GROUP_HOSTNAME:443:$APIGEE_INSTANCE_IP -k -i

Hope this helps with your evaluation of Apigee and keep the costs to a minimum.

Thanks.

[moojjoo]

Ganadurai,  thank you for the response.  I had no knowledge of the FREE TRIAL credit.   Could have used that.  Hind sight is 20/20.  

For know I shut everything down to ensure I do not incur any cost.

Robert