Mastering API Architecture: Design, Operate, and Evolve Api-Based Systems (Paperback)

Most organizations with a web presence build and operate APIs; the doorway for customers to interact with the company's services. Designing, building, and managing these critical programs affect everyone in the organization, from engineers and product owners to C-suite executives. But the real challenge for developers and solution architects is creating an API platform from the ground up.

With this practical book, you'll learn strategies for building and testing REST APIs that use API gateways to combine offerings at the microservice level. Authors James Gough, Daniel Bryant, and Matthew Auburn demonstrate how simple additions to this infrastructure can help engineers and organizations migrate to the cloud; and open the opportunity to connect internal services using technologies like a service mesh.

• Learn API fundamentals and architectural patterns for building an API platform
• Use practical examples to understand how to design, build, and test API-based systems
• Deploy, operate, and configure key components of an API platform
• Use API gateways and service meshes appropriately, based on case studies
• Understand core security and common vulnerabilities in API architecture
• Secure data and APIs using threat modeling and technologies like OAuth2 and TLS
• Learn how to evolve existing systems toward API- and cloud-based architectures

Why Should You Read This Book?

This book has been designed to provide a complete picture on designing, operating, and evolving an API architecture. We have shared our experience and advice through both our writing and an accompanying case study that mimics a real-life event-management conference system that enables attendees to view and book presentation sessions. The case study runs throughout the book, with the goal of you exploring how abstract concepts sometimes translate into practical application. If you want a high-level overview of the evolution of the case study, you can find this in Chapter 10.

We also believe in allowing you to make your own decisions. To support this, we will:

• Be clear when we have a strong recommendation or guidance.
• Highlight areas of caution and problems that you may encounter.
• Supply an Architecture Decision Record (ADR) Guideline to help inform the best possible decision given the circumstances of your architecture and provide guidance on what to consider (because sometimes the answer is “it depends”).
• Highlight references and useful articles where you can find more in-depth content.

The book is not just a greenfield technology book. We felt that covering existing architectures with an evolutionary approach toward more suitable API architectures would provide the most benefit for you. We also tried to balance this with looking forward to newer technologies and developments in the API architecture domain.