Gravitee.io : A quick introduction
Have you ever heard of an API, or an Application Programming Interface ? If you have, you might have noticed that it’s quite the popular term in IT nowadays. A relatively new concept has emerged with it : API management. It’s linked to the OpenData dynamic, which is growing at a fast pace, because many companies caught onto the fact that it’s the way to go to be efficient enough to keep up with the competition. Now, if you’re new to this, don’t worry : we’re here to explain.
Wether you are a provider or a client, API management concerns you as soon as you have partners with whom you need to share information. You might need to access it or let them access it, but most importantly, you’re going to need this to happen in the safest way possible. Exposing sensitive data, in particular clients’ information, can be quite tricky without effectively ruining any semblance of confidentiality. This is why API Management is so important, and we’ll take a few minutes to tell you all about it.
But first, you might be wondering : what is an API ?
Well, an API is basically a messenger. It takes a request to the appropriate receiver, and then takes the answer back to the origin of the request. This messenger is what allows two pieces of code to communicate with each other, as they are unable to do so on their own.
In this particular context, we’re talking about APIs because they are the tools that are used to ask for a specific piece of information from a database. Which is why they’re valuable, and why we need to know how to manage them.
Exposing an API to external developers is something that’s more and more frequent nowadays, as it opens up a company’s perspectives. It’s a way of getting in touch with new potential partners. But it does come with some challenges :
- How can someone discover APIs ?
- How can someone control who accesses their API ?
- How can someone secure that access and make sure only people with the right authorization can get information ?
It’s really all about making APIs an asset, and not a burden. Without the proper approach, it can easily turn into a time consuming management monster. But this isn’t the goal, and that’s why we’re here today.
We present you with the answer to these challenges : Gravitee.io is an open source software that makes managing APIs accessible and easy, both for a publisher and a consumer. It’s incredibly lightweight, so running it doesn’t put your equipment at risk of slowing down. And yet, we managed to cram a global solution for API management into it, as well as a safe way of identifying and giving access to clients. We separated these two parts into different softwares, that work seamlessly together : Gravitee.io API Management, and Gravitee.io Access Management. Separating these two sides of the problem is a way to ensure even more security, and keep data as safe as possible.
Gravitee.io is the only tool you need to start moving into an OpenData and OpenAPI dynamic, and get even more efficient. Blazing fast response from the software guarantees that you won’t spend hours battling it into submission, and that you will be able to see actual results very soon.
Switching to an OpenData dynamic can be quite challenging, as well as maintaining one, but the world is moving fast, and we all need to keep up with the new rhythm. Opening your APIs to external developers can help you do just that, if they’re well managed.
Managing APIs can be done from two perspectives : the Publisher, and the Consumer.
An API Publisher is going to make that API available to others, so publish it on a platform, so that an API Consumer can subscribe to it, in order to access the data that the Publisher made available through this specific API.
Let’s get more into the specific features of Gravitee.io. How does it operate on your side ? We’re about to get you more familiar with its interface.
Let’s take this from the Publisher’s side first. The part that’s going to get a publisher’s full attention is, of course, registering APIs into the platform. But that’s only the beginning : once the API is registered, and made public, you can manage subscriptions to it through the platform. Managing subscriptions and plans is a key feature in Gravitee.io, because it allows a publisher to easily regulate who gets access to information from a specific database, and how they access it. For example, to avoid weighing the API too much, you can implement an access rule that states how often a consumer can access the API. By doing this, the publisher can restrain the flow of requests sent to the API, and keep it as efficient as possible.
If you plan on consuming APIs, you can browse through all of the registered APIS on the platform and subscribe to the ones that are interesting to you. From there, you can see what your subscriptions are, and keep track of them.
There are many more features available on the platform, and we invite you to go check our documentation for more information on the subject. If you’re interested in trying it out for yourself, you can download the latest version of our software right on our homepage.
Stay tuned to this blog for updates about Gravitee.io !
