By IT Brew Staff
less than 3 min read
Definition:
Application programming interfaces, or APIs, allow computers and software to communicate and share data, ensuring systems work together seamlessly. From a software development perspective, APIs spare developers from having to write lots of customized code so that backend data from one service can populate a website or app.
API gateways route a client’s API calls to the appropriate backend service. For IT teams managing several backend services on an enterprise network, API gateways can help handle external clients’ demands for user authentication, data, and other services while limiting the risk of overuse and abuse. For example, API gateways can prioritize traffic and institute rate-limiting policies, ensuring low latency for services
In addition, API gateways come with monitoring and analytics tools that allow teams to see how clients are utilizing various APIs; if an organization institutes billing for APIs, a gateway allows them to meter customer usage.
In a DevOps context, API gateways can help teams seamlessly provision infrastructure while managing complexity, particularly with initiatives such as serverless computing and microservices that can leverage several third-party providers’ infrastructure.
While there are significant benefits to API gateways, their single point of entry makes it critical for IT teams to configure them correctly or else risk a bottleneck in backend services attempting to deliver data to clients. API gateways are also a ripe target for hackers seeking to infiltrate and compromise multiple backend services simultaneously.
