Frontends

Frontends in NetFoundry Frontdoor are the public entry points that your consumers use to access your services. They serve as the public-facing addresses through which traffic reaches your backend services securely and efficiently. Understanding the different types of Frontends available is necessary for designing your service architecture and choosing the right approach for your use case.

What is a Frontend?

A Frontend is a public-facing address and listener managed by NetFoundry that serves as the ingress point for your externally reachable services. When you create a Share, you bind it to a Frontend to make your backend service accessible from the internet.

Frontends provide publicly accessible URLs that users can reach from anywhere on the internet while NetFoundry handles all underlying infrastructure, SSL/TLS certificates, and security management. They route incoming requests to backend services through secure tunnels using global accelerator deployment for optimal response times. The SSL/TLS connection terminates at the Frontend rather than the backend service, supporting both standard and custom authentication providers while providing comprehensive DDoS protection and rate limiting through industry best practice security features.

Types of Frontends

NetFoundry Frontdoor supports two types of Frontends both managed by NetFoundry, each designed for different organizational needs and use cases.

NetFoundry Standard Frontends

Standard Frontends are pre-provisioned, globally available ingress points that are centrally managed by NetFoundry. These provide immediate access to the platform without any setup requirements.

Characteristics: Standard Frontends are available immediately without any configuration or setup, being fully managed by NetFoundry including SSL certificates, DNS, and infrastructure. They use NetFoundry-provided domain names such as shares.netfoundry.io and are included as part of your NetFoundry Frontdoor subscription without additional cost. These Frontends provide global distribution across multiple regions for optimal performance using global accelerators and utilize NetFoundry's standard authentication providers.

URL Pattern: Standard Frontends typically use the pattern:

https://{share-name}.shares.netfoundry.io

Example Use Cases:

• Development and testing environments
• Internal tools and dashboards
• Proof of concepts and prototypes
• Quick service sharing without custom branding requirements

Custom Frontends

Custom Frontends allow you to bring your own hostname and domain branding while still benefiting from NetFoundry's managed infrastructure. These are ideal for organizations that need custom branding or specific domain requirements.

Characteristics: Custom Frontends allow you to use your own domain name such as api.yourcompany.com while still being fully managed by NetFoundry. They require domain ownership verification through DNS records and NetFoundry handles SSL certificate provisioning and renewal automatically. These Frontends maintain your organization's brand identity and support advanced authentication through custom authentication providers configured via Auth Providers.

URL Pattern: Custom Frontends use your specified domain:

https://api.yourcompany.com
https://services.example.org

Setup Requirements:

1. Domain ownership verification
2. DNS record configuration (provided by NetFoundry)
3. SSL certificate provisioning (handled automatically)

Example Use Cases:

• Production customer-facing services
• Public APIs requiring custom branding
• Partner integrations with specific domain requirements
• Enterprise applications requiring corporate domain alignment

Key Differences

Aspect	Standard Frontend	Custom Frontend
Setup Time	Immediate	Requires DNS setup
Domain	NetFoundry-provided	Your custom domain
SSL Certificates	Managed by NetFoundry	Managed by NetFoundry
Branding	NetFoundry branding	Your custom branding
Cost	Included	May have additional costs
DNS Management	Not required	DNS validation required
Use Cases	Development, testing, internal	Production, customer-facing

Choosing the Right Frontend Type

Use Standard Frontends When:

Standard Frontends are the optimal choice when you need rapid development capabilities and want to quickly share services for development or testing environments without any setup delays.

They excel in scenarios where the service is primarily for internal use or team collaboration, providing immediate access without complex configuration requirements. Standard Frontends are particularly valuable when cost sensitivity is a primary concern, as they allow you to minimize additional costs and complexity while still accessing the full power of NetFoundry's infrastructure.

These Frontends are ideal for temporary access scenarios where you need ephemeral service access that can be created and destroyed as needed. Additionally, Standard Frontends provide an excellent foundation for prototyping activities, enabling you to build proof of concepts and demos quickly without the overhead of custom domain setup and validation processes.

Use Custom Frontends When:

Custom Frontends become essential when your organization has specific brand requirements that demand consistent branding across all services, ensuring that your public-facing endpoints align with your corporate identity and brand standards. They are the preferred choice for customer-facing services that will be accessed by external customers or partners, as they provide the professional appearance and domain consistency that external users expect.

Custom Frontends are necessary when corporate policies require services to use company-owned domains, ensuring compliance with organizational standards and security requirements. They provide the professional appearance needed when your services require a branded, polished presentation that reflects your organization's commitment to quality and attention to detail.

Custom Frontends also address specific integration requirements where third-party integrations require particular domain patterns or when partner systems expect services to be available on your organization's domains rather than third-party infrastructure domains.

Best Practices

General Frontend Practices

Select the Frontend type that appropriately matches your specific use case and requirements while considering future growth needs when choosing between Standard and Custom Frontends. Monitor performance using available metrics to understand Frontend performance and user experience, and prioritize security by implementing appropriate authentication regardless of the Frontend type you choose.

Standard Frontend Best Practices

Use descriptive Share names since they become part of the public URL and consider including the NetFoundry domain in your service documentation. Plan for potential migration to Custom Frontends when transitioning from development to production environments.

Custom Frontend Best Practices

Ensure proper DNS management and monitoring while implementing appropriate domain security policies including CAA records and other protective measures. Establish contingency plans for potential domain or DNS issues to maintain service availability during unexpected problems.

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Frontend Not Available Verify that your account has access to the desired Frontend type and check that Custom Frontends are properly provisioned with DNS correctly configured.

SSL Certificate Issues For Custom Frontends, ensure DNS validation records are properly configured and verify both domain ownership and DNS propagation have completed successfully.

Access Problems Confirm the correct Frontend selection in your Share configuration and verify that Auth Provider configuration is properly set up for Custom Frontends.

Next Steps

• Learn how to create Shares that use Frontends
• Configure Auth Providers for Custom Frontend authentication
• Explore the Frontend API for programmatic management
• Set up Custom Frontends for branded domains