How to Install the reCAPTCHA Integration

reCAPTCHA is an integration to block attacks from bots, SPAM and others.

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reCAPTCHA is a serverless integration available at Azion Marketplace. This type of integration is mainly used for protecting domains against bots. It allows you to monitor traffic in your website by using the Google Dashboard for reCAPTCHA.

reCAPTCHA is a CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) integration designed to protect websites from bots and automated scripts by using a challenge-response test to determine whether the user is a human or a machine.

Google maintains and owns reCAPTCHA and uses the data collected by reCAPTCHA to improve their services.

Getting the integration

To install the reCAPTCHA integration provided by Azion Marketplace, you have to:

  1. Access Azion Console > Marketplace.
  2. On the Marketplace homepage, select the integration’s card.
  3. Once the integration’s page opens, click the Install button.

You’ll see a message indicating that your integration was successfully installed.

You can search any integration by browsing through the cards, using the filters, or typing a keyword in the search bar.

Getting the keys on Google’s reCAPTCHA site

To use the Azion reCAPTCHA integration, you have to provide two keys: your secret-key and your site-key. To get these credentials, you’ll have to register at Google.

To do so, follow these steps:

  1. Go to Google reCAPTCHA admin dashboard.
  • If you don’t have a Google Account, you’ll be prompted to create one.
  1. Once you’ve signed-up to the reCAPTCHA account, you’ll be redirected to the website’s register page.
  2. On this page, you have to fill in:
    • A label for your new reCAPTCHA site.
    • The version of reCAPTCHA you want to use (you can choose from v2 or v3).
      • If you choose v2, you’ll be prompted to choose what kind of test you want to apply on your website. The options are: “I’m not a robot checkbox”, “Invisible reCaptcha”, and “reCaptcha Android”.
      • Important: Azion reCAPTCHA integration was conceived to work with the v2 invisible option.
    • The domain you want to run the reCAPTCHA. Remember to ignore the http:// or https:// for the domain name. If you’re testing through an Azion hostname, add it here as well (see Troubleshooting).
    • You have to accept the reCAPTCHA terms of service.
    • You have to choose if you want to receive alerts from Google about your site, such as misconfigurations and others.
  3. Once you fill in all the information, click the Submit button.

Now you have your site registered to use the reCAPTCHA. In the next screen, you’ll receive your keys: Site Key and Secret Key.

These two keys will be used to configure the Azion reCAPTCHA integration later on.

Configuring the integration

Setting up a firewall

To start the configuration of the reCAPTCHA integration, follow these steps:

  1. On the Products menu, select Firewall in the SECURE section.
  2. Click the + Firewall button.
  3. Give an easy-to-remember name to your firewall.
  4. Click the Functions switch to enable functions.
  5. Click the Save button.

Done. Now you have instantiated the rule for your function.

Setting up the Firewall function

To instantiate the reCAPTCHA integration, while still on the Firewall page:

  1. Select the Functions Instances tab.
  2. Click the + Function Instance button.
  3. Give an easy-to-remember name to your instance.
  4. On the dropdown menu, select the reCAPTCHA function.
  • This action will load the Arguments tab.
  1. In the Arguments tab, you’ll pass the two keys you get on the reCAPTCHA site and your variables:
{
"site_key": "efdb42c7-10ee-4969-8013-cfcb5f7ad007",
"secret_key": "0x11c8eB6e78Bd45f058876aF59ac2fB782nbdswqu",
"cookie_secret": "A key to sign the cookies",
"expiration_in_seconds": 3600,
"origin_address": "https://xxxxxxxx.map.azionedge.net",
"origin_headers": {
"X-Custom": "value",
"X-Another-Custom": "another-value"
},
"captcha_args": {
"theme": "dark",
"size": "compact",
"custom_message": "My message",
"custom_html": "<html>... <!-- azion_captcha --> .. </html>"
}
}

Where:

VariableRequiredDescription
site_keyYesThe site key you obtained at the reCAPTCHA page
secret_keyYesThe secret key you obtained at the reCAPTCHA page
expiration_in_secondsYesThe time in seconds until the reCAPTCHA expires
origin_addressYesYour domain from which the function will fetch the content after the user solves the CAPTCHA challenge
origin_headersNoWhenever the access to the origin requires the usage of specific request headers
captcha_argsNoThese args modify and customize the layout of the challenge box
custom_messageNoA customized message you want to show to the users
custom_htmlNoThe customized HTML to render the reCAPTCHA challenge box
cookie_secretYesThis cookie is generated by the function and used in order for the functions not to be re-run

Due to the algorithm used in cryptography, any string of any length can be used as cookie_secret.

  1. Click the Save button to save your configuration.

Done. Now your reCAPTCHA instance is saved.

Setting up the Firewall Rules Engine

To finish, you have to set up the Rules Engine to configure the behavior and the criteria to run the function.

Still on the Firewall page:

  1. Select the Rules Engine tab.
  2. Click the + Rule Engine button.
  3. Give a name to the rule.
  4. Select a criteria to run and catch the domains that you want to run the integration on.
  • Example: if Host matches yourdomain.com.
  1. Below, select a behavior to the criteria. In this case, it’ll be Run Function.
    • Select the adequate function according to the name you gave it during the instantiation step.
  2. Click the Save button.

On the Console, you must now configure your domain so your firewall protects it.

  1. On the Products menu, select Workloads.
  2. Click on the domain you want to protect with your reCAPTCHA function.
  3. In the Settings section, click on the Firewall selector and choose the firewall you created.
  4. Click the Save button.

Done. Now the reCAPTCHA integration is running for every request made to the domain you indicated.

Since requests to your application are processed through Azion’s infrastructure, Google’s reCAPTCHA service validates the domain from which the challenge is served — which will be your Azion domain (for example, yourdomain.map.azionedge.net or your custom domain). If this domain isn’t registered in your Google reCAPTCHA settings, the challenge will fail. To fix this, go back to the Google reCAPTCHA admin dashboard, select your site, and add your Azion domain to the Domains list. This ensures Google accepts reCAPTCHA validations originating from your Azion-powered application.

Watch a video about how to install the reCAPTCHA integration through Azion Marketplace on Azion’s YouTube channel:

Troubleshooting

reCAPTCHA not working on Azion domain

Symptom: reCAPTCHA fails to load or returns an error when accessing your application through an Azion hostname (for example, xxxx.map.azionedge.net).

Cause: Google reCAPTCHA validates requests against a list of authorized domains. If the Azion hostname isn’t registered in your reCAPTCHA settings, Google will reject the challenge, causing the integration to fail.

Solution: Add your Azion domain to the list of authorized domains in the Google reCAPTCHA admin console.

  1. Go to the Google reCAPTCHA admin console.
  2. Select the site you registered for this integration.
  3. Under Domains, click Add a domain.
  4. Enter your Azion hostname. For example: xxxx.map.azionedge.net.
    • If you’re using a custom domain, add that domain as well.
  5. Click Save.

After saving, reCAPTCHA will recognize requests coming from the Azion hostname and the integration will work as expected.

During development and testing, add your Azion internal hostname (*.map.azionedge.net) to the authorized domains list. Once you point your custom domain to Azion, add that domain too and remove the internal hostname if it’s no longer needed.