There is wide adoption of REStful services across
enterprise. Initially we had exposed services on OSB even though the json
support was not that great with OSB. There used to be lot of custom java codes
that needs to be used to maintain these services. All oracle 11g products were
fully focused on the XML , so the json support want great. The overhead of maintaining
and converting the payload from xml to json and back was bit taxing on the service
performance. Other issue we had was onboarding of App developers who are the
real consumers for this API.Even though we had WIKI it had to kept updated
based on the enhancements that happen during each sprint. In case the process
is missed the Wiki will be outdated. The new App developers had to be helped to
troubleshoot to resolve integration issues with services, and this steps are repeated for each App. There was no
way they could interact with the developer and then use the knowledge base for
the issues already documented. That’s when we started at exploring the option
of onboarding a API Gateway which should help us in interaction with our
consumers. SOA software or now rebranded AKana was chosen. I have been working
extensively on SOA Software /Akana API Gateway for past 8 months. The tool had
some initial hiccups to be molded into the client’s environment. But once it
became stable, it has been really good. The more familiarity you get on the
tool the easier it becomes to debug issues.
The architecture is sort made of 3
components.
•Community Manager - API Enablement Tool /App
Developer Portal
•Policy
Manager: Database of run-time policies, access contracts, service
definitions and related metadata•
•Network
Director: The proxy service that receives virtual service requests,
queries Policy Manager for run-time instructions as to how to deal with the
requests, then sends the requests to the physical service. The physical service
responds, and Network Director applies any policies, and then sends the
response.
The CM helps App developers to interact easily
with the API developer using a Board and ticketing dash board.
The
policy manager helps in adding all the non-functional requirements.-API
Security .traffic monitoring, throttling, QOS Management, caching.
Network director acts as the proxy or the
gateway which internally uses the PM .
It really simplifies the virtualizing of
service. There is a small process engine to do aggregation of services or
orchestrating different services. The out of the box REST support, json and Oauth 2.0 support helps in exposing the RESTful services in quick time and keep up to date the
new standards.
