The Knox API Gateway functions as a reverse proxy, prioritizing flexibility in policy enforcement and backend service management for the requests it handles. It encompasses various aspects of policy enforcement, including authentication, federation, authorization, auditing, dispatch, host mapping, and content rewriting rules. A chain of providers, specified in the topology deployment descriptor associated with each Apache Hadoop cluster secured by Knox, facilitates this policy enforcement. Additionally, the cluster definition within the descriptor helps the Knox Gateway understand the structure of the cluster, enabling effective routing and translation from user-facing URLs to the internal workings of the cluster. Each secured Apache Hadoop cluster is equipped with its own REST APIs, consolidated under a unique application context path. Consequently, the Knox Gateway can safeguard numerous clusters while offering REST API consumers a unified endpoint for seamless access. This design enhances both security and usability by simplifying interactions with multiple backend services.