S3E15 - Azure API Management - Manage and Secure your APIs at scale
Apr 14, 2023
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Alan and Sam discuss Azure API Management, emphasizing the importance of prior knowledge in APIs. They explore integration and benefits of using Azure API Management, publishing applications, API monetization, gateway management, workspace segregation, and pricing tiers. They also mention future episodes and upcoming discussion on Azure firewall and securing Azure networks.
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Quick takeaways
API management provides features like versioning, documentation, and security for web APIs.
API management allows for secure exposure of APIs to third parties, faster collaboration within organizations, and transformation of legacy APIs for seamless integration.
Deep dives
What is API Management?
API management is a platform that allows different systems to communicate with each other through application programming interfaces (APIs). APIs provide a common communication protocol for systems written in different languages, enabling them to interact with each other. APIs are used everywhere in computing, with the most popular specification being REST API. API management focuses on web APIs, providing features like versioning, documentation, and security.
Benefits and Use Cases of API Management
API management offers several benefits and use cases. It can help in securely exposing APIs to third parties, whether they are trusted partners, suppliers, or even the public. It accelerates the publishing and consumption of internal APIs, enabling faster collaboration within an organization. API management also supports legacy APIs by transforming them into a different format for seamless integration. It allows organizations to customize and control the documentation, authorization, and subscription of APIs, providing a better developer experience. Monetizing APIs is another use case, where organizations can set up quotas and limits and integrate with payment gateways.
Security and Integration with Azure Services
API management offers several security features, including integration with Azure Active Directory for authentication and authorization. It supports various authentication mechanisms like certificates and OAuth schemes. Policies can be implemented to set IP address limits, rate limiting, and sensitive information stripping. DDoS protection is also available. Integration with Azure services like Key Vault, Application Insights, and Virtual Networks is supported. API management tightly integrates with Azure's first-party API-building solutions, such as Azure Functions, Logic Apps, and Web Apps, providing a seamless development experience.
Collaboration, Pricing, and Scaling
API management facilitates collaboration among teams by offering workspaces, allowing teams to have different RBAC models while utilizing the same platform. Pricing for API management is tiered based on the features and throughput required. The consumption-based serverless option offers cost-effective pricing based on usage. Monthly paid SKUs include developer, basic, standard, and premium, each providing more features and higher throughput. Workspaces are free for developers and the first five are free for standard and premium SKUs. Self-hosted gateways are available for a separate cost. API management can scale out and supports multi-region deployment for increased availability and performance.
