Everyone can see that the API economy is flourishing right now. Some are saying that this happened because of cryptocurrencies, which are all the rage right now. While most people are familiar with the phrase “API Management” most don’t really know what it means.
Of course, the main problem is that the term doesn’t have an official definition. What’s worse, it seems like a ton of people in the development community can’t agree on what API management means.
In order to grasp this concept firmly, you need to know two things: Why is API management important and how to implement it inside their software. In order to help you understand, and later take advantage of API management, we’re going to go through its main principles.
Defining API Management
There are two ways of managing an API: an external way and an internal way. Both of these will provide the users with the solutions they need, give them more security, and more importantly, allow them to make sure their project gets done on time. Here are a few things API management can help you with:
- For starters, it can help you catalog your API properly, which may sound mundane, but is actually pretty important. Cataloging will help you with describing the API, providing well-written documentation, and creating a complete API design guide.
- After the cataloging APIs, API management needs to provide ways to act on the catalog. By doing that, it will reveal API`s inside data to external/ internal developers.
- In the end, API management will become the fuel for API utilization. Clearing all the unnecessary things from the catalogs and giving it all the information that the catalog needs. Some requests per second, the number of API keys registered, etc.
API Management Components
- API Registry
- The crucial thing for efficient API management is inventory. That inventory should consist of the organization`s API characteristics. Those characteristics include:
- Features that define APIs goal in a language understandable to the average consumer
- Structures that describe the API and give you some additional resources
- Capabilities that describe the limitations of the API and show you where its peak is
- Sensitivities that show information that requires more information than others
- API Gateway
- Some of the people in the business say that the API registry is the brain of the API management. If that is the case, we can safely say that the API gateway is something like the hands of management. That’s because of the gateway does all the dirty jobs. API gateway covers all the important parts of API management, which includes
- Security, which establishes all of the safety measures that are needed to keep the users feeling like they are in safe hands
- The manifestation that exposes the APs to the public and serves as a proxy, which leads the requests from outside calls to the system itself
- Logging and data capture is there to get all of the information that’s needed for understanding the implementation process
- Standardization as its name is saying, standardizes the API for consumers.
- Entitlement is allowing access to APIs on rates that are agreed.
- Developer Portal
- The final component of API management is the developer portal. It contains all of the tools and resources the user needs to have a good experience with the API. The developer portal has some features, which are pretty important, including:
- The learning feature provides all the facilities external developers need
- Exploration provides a mechanism that allows external developers to experiment with the API.
- The implementation feature helps the developers manage the interaction between the API and their application.
The Bottom Line About API Management Principles
Although there is no consensus on the API management`s ultimate definition is, there are still some components and principles most people agree on. And if you want your API to see the light of day, this is actually enough. So instead of looking for definitions, simply learn and follow the principles we laid out above, and start managing your API design process with confidence.
We hope that the article was both fun and informative. If you have something to add or some questions, just leave a comment in our comment section and we will respond as soon as we can.