Extending Your SOA in the API Economy

Transcription

1 Extending Your SOA in the API Economy

2 Contents Abstract Service Orientation Basics The Benefits of SOA Ubiquitous Mobile Computing Introduces New Requirements Limitations of SOA To Do Apps Well, You Need More Introducing Apigee, the API Platform Comparing Apigee and SOA/ESB Connectivity and More Apigee Complements SOA Summary

3 Abstract Today the combined forces of social, mobile, and cloud computing are driving a change in how enterprises interact with employees, customers, and partners. Enterprises need to figure out how to expose systems to be easily consumed by third-party applications in a secure and trusted way; need to reach many different devices; need to figure out how to drastically reduce the time and cost of working with their systems, and improve the customer experience. The shift underway in enterprises is one from a world of messaging platforms to one of collaboration platforms - platforms for real-time connectivity and collaboration across boundaries and firewalls that enable machine-to-machine, person-to-person, B2B, and B2C interactions and transactions. The growing App economy is at the heart of this transformation, placing new demands on companies but also opening up unprecedented opportunity. SOA has traditionally addressed the needs of corporate information system integration, but apps and APIs interconnect corporate information systems with remote systems and mobile devices everywhere, addressing the needs of the App Economy in a way that a corporate SOA or ESB alone, cannot. Service Orientation Basics In Service Oriented Architecture, discrete information systems or components are modeled as services, which are accessible over the network via well-defined and standard protocols and data formats. The most commonly used protocols include HTTP and TCP; the most common data formats include XML, SOAP (which is XML that uses a specialized schema), and JSON. The aim of SOA is to promote re-use of software systems or information functions within enterprises via intersystem communication. Formally defining the network interfaces or contracts over which disparate systems can connect within SOA allows independent development and evolution of cooperating systems, without the need to employ a common technology base. This allows companies flexibility in managing discrete business functions, which translates to operational efficiency. 3

4 The Benefits of SOA Many companies have benefited greatly from employing SOA as the preferred architectural approach for IT integration in other words the preferred way of connecting disparate information systems across the enterprise. Before SOA, information assets such as an inventory control system or an order validation system were effectively isolated systems; they were accessible only via product-specific or vendor-specific mechanisms, or via novel or incompatible programming interfaces. The result of this was ineffective IT integration, or inefficient IT operations. SOA breaks down the walls between systems by establishing ground-rules and principles for interconnection between disparate systems. As SOAP and Web services toolkits became popular in the early 2000 s, the influence of SOA among IT practitioners grew. XML and SOAP libraries went mainstream. Packaged apps bundled web services support into their products. Support tools arrived, including ESB Enterprise Service Bus products, which provide a management and control point for SOAP communications. SOA succeeded in connecting enterprise building blocks. Many companies have greatly improved the efficiency and effectiveness of their information systems by embracing SOA. Ubiquitous Mobile Computing Introduces New Requirements In June 2007, Apple s iphone became generally available, and immediately became a disruptive influence in wireless telephony, consumer music, and later, information systems. There are now over 1 billion smartphones on the planet; the iphone and other smart phones have democratized connected, mobile computing. Now, people carry the Internet around in their pockets. Larger format devices such as tablet computers have brought richer connected experiences into everyday life; greatly adding to the momentum of ubiquitous connected computing. At the same time, advances in web browser technologies including markup and styling (HTML5 and CSS3), JavaScript engines (v8, SpiderMonkey, Chakra), programming metaphors (AJAX), data formats (JSON), and app frameworks (jquery, Mootools, Sencha) have brought new interactivity, style, and power to web applications. 4

5 Finally, the cumulative effect of Moore s Law has driven the cost of server compute resources CPU, storage, and network - down sharply, while cloud technologies in the area of Big Data and Virtual Networking have matured to take advantage of farms of networked server computers. Not long ago, server compute time was a scarce, expensive resource; it is now plentiful, cheap, and easily scaled. With these advances in greater connectedness and interactivity, and with the improved economics, companies have new opportunities to better connect to their customers. Apps that run on these mobile devices and in modern browsers deliver the experiences that delight and attract customers. As a result, companies are compelled to adopt and expose APIs, enabling those apps and the developers who build them, to win new business. What is an API, anyway? At one time, the term API referred to an Application Programming Interface exposed by a library. A standalone program running on a single computer needed to link to that library to use the API. An API was a contract that said to developers: if you include in your program a call to a specifically-named function, and pass a set of arguments of a given type, the library exposing the API will perform a specific function. These days, the term API implies a network interface that is HTTP-based. When a company offers an API, they re effectively saying to developers: if your app sends a particular message to a specific HTTP endpoint, it will receive a particular response. For example: If you send an HTTP GET message to example.com with this URL path: /weather/5day/palo Alto, then I will send you an XML document containing a 5-day weather forecast for Palo Alto, California. Obviously, APIs can be sophisticated, with Limitations of SOA many options for message request and Is SOA well suited to supporting connections from mobile apps? Is it well suited response payloads, headers, and query parameters. But the basic idea is this: an app sends a message that conforms to a to enabling connected web experiences? Let s consider. SOA is focused on ticular response. simple specification, and receives a par- enabling interconnection between existing systems deployed in a corporate network. Participants in SOA networks are long-lived, and purposefully slow to change; the pace of application development is correspondingly deliberate. Data models are formal and rigorous. 5

6 Apps are different. Mobile apps get conceived, designed, and built at an entirely different pace. The evolution of apps to satisfy new customer desires is rapid and continuous. Apps don t speak SOAP; they speak JSON, and use APIs to connect. This implies different data models and looser, more flexible and dynamic data formats. There are very different security requirements. At a coarse level, SOA and the App+API philosophies are similar: they both are focused on interconnectivity. But there are differences as well. Aspect SOA / ESB Apps and APIs Core goal Enable Internal developers and systems to connect, while complying with IT department standards. Enable developers, either external or internal, to build nifty, compelling apps, and allow users to run them. Network Low-latency, trusted. High-latency, untrusted. (Mobile wireless network) Developer Audience Internal, well trained, methodical. External or internal, internet savvy. Development Style Deliberate, structured, governed by process. Rapid, iterative, experimental. Connected Platform High-powered server. Any connected device. Data Contract Formal, strict. Flexible, dynamic. Data Format XML, JMS, SOAP, EDI, JSON and XML. possibly many others. Communications TCP, MQ, HTTP, others. HTTP. Authentication and Authorization Internal mechanisms, LDAP. Internet standards including OAuth. Usage Analytics Limited use, secondary importance. Of primary importance. While SOA addresses the needs of connecting existing enterprise systems, it was never conceived to address the key requirements in the different world of APIs and connected mobile apps. 6

7 To Do Apps Well, You Need More The above comparison focuses on the communications capability. In the world of apps and APIs, there are very important considerations outside this realm. The popularity of applications running on powerful mobile devices has lead to what can be called the App Economy, where apps can be a key differentiator for a business. Outsized benefits accrue to those who get it right. To do so means addressing requirements beyond basic communications: Developers: Recruiting, enabling, and managing developers. Platform: Making it easy for developers to build rich applications. Agility: Analysis to understand trends in performance and usage and iterating to respond. Developers In the App Economy, because apps are a key differentiator, the recruitment and enablement of developers is critical. There are many platforms and opportunities competing for their attention. Companies need to appeal to developers by making it super easy to understand the APIs that are available, to try things out quickly, to get started on their own. API providers also need to manage the developers their access rights, quotas, and the binding commercial terms. Companies also need to encourage community, so that developers can collaborate and support each other without active involvement by the API provider. This fosters innovation and the development and evolution of new ideas - for example combining the company s API capabilities with external services can extend a company s brand in powerful ways. Platform The API - the programmable interface into the company s systems - is the centerpiece of the unique platform a company offers to developers. But there are many aspects of a platform that developers view as not specific to a particular company. Things like social integration, location-aware services, or a general-purpose cloudbased key/value store, programmatically accessible from any app. In short, a simple API is not enough. 7

8 Agility Engaging developers and providing a capable and compelling platform is not a one-and-done task. Companies know they need to innovate quickly and iteratively on their products; when APIs are your product the requirement is the same. To iterate, they need to analyze the data around API usage patterns, to understand which APIs get used, when, how, and by which apps. They need to be able to rollout changes and new APIs as rapidly as possible, and adjust course as often as necessary. Doing all of this requires more than SOA. Introducing Apigee, the API Platform Apigee provides the infrastructure to address these needs, complementing the capabilities of SOA. Apigee manages API communications into existing systems, acting as the gateway from the world of apps into a corporate SOA. And, Apigee addresses the novel needs of the API lifecycle: encouraging developers to build better apps, faster; and providing insight into app and API usage. All of this ultimately enables companies to better connections with their customers. Apps APIs Developers API Team Figure 1: Apigee API Platform 8

9 Comparing Apigee and SOA/ESB As a communication interchange approach, Apigee Gateway Services is similar in some ways to an ESB, or to the SOA architectural approach. Common between Apigee and an ESB: message routing, message transformation, rate limiting, security checks and access control, and analytics. SOA and Apigee Gateway Services are similar; both are focused on interconnecting disparate systems, both model systems via network interfaces, both typically use XML or other data formats. There are clear similarities. Connectivity and More Like SOA or an ESB, Apigee provides connectivity and communications management. But the Apigee API Management platform provides much more. Gateway Services management of communications between outside apps and internal systems. The Gateway receives incoming HTTP API requests and performs authentication, authorization checks, rate limiting, auditing and logging, and routing. App Services a backend-as-a-service resource, it provides a core set of commonly used social media application objects, and can be extended to store arbitrary data. It enables developers to get better apps up and running more quickly. Developer Channel Services an extensible portal and set of web-based tools to engage developers, encourage adoption, and speed development of apps that leverage managed APIs. Analytics Services using the traffic analysis gathered by the Gateway, Analytics Services provides insight into API and app usage across developers, apps, and time, so that operators can see how app requests are driving the business. These four functional components comprise Apigee Enterprise, to address the specific needs in the app economy. None of these are functional areas included in the traditional realization of SOA. 9

10 Apigee Complements SOA With this set of features, Apigee is much more than SOA with a longer wire, or a Service Bus for HTTP APIs. For companies with a corporate SOA or ESB, Apigee provides a necessary control point for channeling Internet API calls into the corporate network, integrated with additional features specifically targeted to the App Economy. App Developer API Analyst Developer Channel Analytics Services Apps Web http http TCP/IP SOAP, JMS, HTTP http App Services Gateway Services (Policy Control Point) Management GUI Internal Firewall Internal Systems (accessed via SOAP & Web Services) Figure 2: Apigee API Platform Deployed in the Cloud Apigee can provide a facade to an ESB. The Apigee proxy acts as a point-of-entry API layer to SOAP services, geared toward agile development, developer collaboration, and rapid innovation. App Services can provide back-end services optimized for mobile app usage. Developer Channel Services, and the Developer Portal provides the on-ramp for developers who want to use your APIs. With the Apigee Enterprise Platform, all of these pieces work together, and are managed from a single integrated management interface. The integrated set of capabilities in Apigee Enterprise addresses the needs of companies that seek to fully exploit the potential of the app economy. Apigee complements a SOA, and extends the reach of a company out to the edge of the network right into customers hands. 10

11 Summary SOA addresses the needs of corporate information system integration, but apps and APIs place new demands on companies. Apigee provides a platform to satisfy those demands. Optimized for JSON, XML, and HTTP, Apigee handles internet-scale volumes of transactions, originating from a wide variety of devices into the corporate SOA. Apigee interconnects corporate information systems with remote systems and mobile devices everywhere, in a way that a corporate SOA or ESB alone, cannot. 11

12 About Apigee Apigee is the leading provider of API technology and services for enterprises and developers. Hundreds of companies including AT&T, Bechtel, ebay, Korea Telecom, Telefonica and Walgreens, as well as tens of thousands of developers use Apigee to simplify the delivery, management and analysis of APIs and apps. Apigee s global headquarters are in Palo Alto, California, and it also has offices in Bangalore, India; London; and Austin, Texas. To learn more, go to apigee.com. Find Best Practices to Accelerate your API Strategy Scale, Control and Secure your Enterprise Build Cutting-Edge Apps and Intuitive APIs Apigee Corporation Tel: +1 (408) sales@apigee.com 12