The core principles of API Management

API Management is the method of constructing and publishing APIs (Application Program Interfaces), as well as implementing their usage guidelines, regulating access, cultivating the subscriber base, obtaining and evaluating usage figures, along with conveying their performance. Having a sound definition in hand allows us to discover the principles of API Management. First up, API Catalog.

API Catalog

An API Catalog is an excellent place to start. Like a library, companies need to also catalog their APIs. What exactly does this mean in layman’s terms? By including data and other elements into the API Catalog, it works to enforce the state of an API. Additionally, API Management needs to provide the means to act within the catalog. This means exposing APIs to external or internal communities with security in place.

Some other sweet perks for having an API Catalog are having consolidated authentication, a central hub for traffic management, monitoring, insights and alerts, strategies, onboarding and support. And let’s not forget API utilization which enhances the catalog with information about runtime behavior, as well as specifics of an API that are key performance indicators.

Bottom line: With an API Catalog as a core principle, you can reduce costs and strife of API usage. The end result is a better API experience all around—internal and external. API Catalogs are all about innovation.

API Client Registry

Another key function of having an effective API Management in place is being able to have an inventory of an organization’s APIs that allows API consumers to process the qualities of an available API. This includes:

Qualities: This explains what the API can do along with what the API is designed to accomplish.

Configurations: This allows for a further description of APIs and their background features.

Abilities: Do you know what is the foremost load that an API can handle? This gives the performance outlook a platform.

Tolerance: This ability gives you the knowledge to know if the API can consume or expose data that can be called out by regulatory or privacy constraints, e.g., credit card payments, data, etc.

The API registry allows you to digest this ability. Another feature is that the API registry helps to manage the lifecycle of an API. Discover more: What does it mean to be a Leader in the Gartner 2019 Full Life Cycle API Management?

API Gateway

An API Gateway is the modern gatekeeper of sorts, as well as the real deal of where API Management takes place. As the Gateway that sits in front of the API interface, its use as a sole point of admission is key to API Management. Further, it holds many responsibilities and reveals a company’s APIs to its users.

From the characteristics of manifestation, security, entitlement and logging, the API Gateway is another core principle of API Management. Discover the role of the API Gateway in the modern enterprise.

Developer Portal

Last but not least, you need a Developer Portal. The basic role of the Developer Portal is that it is the human element and interface for a company’s APIs. This provides a better experience for the user while delivering resources for constructing applications that ingest the API. Additionally, it gives developers the ability to manage user engagement with the company.

Principles of API Management

Overall, the Developer Portal plays a vital role in learning, exploration and implementation for APIs while allowing the developer to better understand statistics and measurements.

At the end of the day, “It takes a village” to have all the principles for API Management to run successfully.