An API Gateway is a tool that manages and routes requests between clients and backend services, handling tasks like security, load balancing, and request processing.
Key Features of an API Gateway:
- Request routing: Directs client requests.
- Authentication: Ensures secure access.
- Rate limiting: Controls request volume.
- Load balancing: Distributes traffic evenly.
- Monitoring: Tracks API performance.
- Etc.
Challenge: Increased Complexity with multiple APIs
As systems adopt APIs as the standard data-sharing mechanism, there is an increased complexity in managing all the requests. The consequences include:
- Custom authentication & access control for each system: When sending requests to different APIs, they need to handle the authentication and access control differently for each one. This increases the complexity of integrating systems, wasting resources as a result.
Solution: Centralised API Management with an API Gateway
Managing APIs can have the following benefits:
- Delegation of API management (auth & access control): Delegating the management of APIs to an API Gateway reduces development efforts while increasing the scalability & security of systems.
- Requests to all APIs sent to a single system: Instead of systems handling requests separately for each API, all requests are sent to the API Gateway which handles authorisation, access control and routing to the various endpoints. This greatly reduces efforts needed for integration and optimises resource utilisation.