Overview of Azure API Management

Azure API Management (APIM) is a hybrid, multi-cloud management platform that enables you to take any backend service, whether it's REST or SOAP, and publish them as secure APIs. It provides the critical elements that are necessary to manage the published APIs for your consumers. For more information, see What is Azure API Management?

Key features and capabilities

API Management helps organizations:

Secure APIs: Implement robust security measures like authentication, authorization, and rate limiting to protect your APIs from abuse and unauthorized access.
Discover APIs: Provide a developer portal where consumers can easily discover, understand, and test your APIs.
Analyze API usage: Gain insights into API traffic, performance, and usage patterns through comprehensive analytics and monitoring tools.
Transform APIs: Modify requests and responses on the fly to adapt APIs to different client needs or to integrate with legacy systems.
Version APIs: Manage different versions of your APIs effectively, allowing for smooth transitions and backward compatibility.
Monetize APIs: Implement sophisticated usage quotas and billing plans to generate revenue from your API offerings.

Components of API Management

An API Management service instance consists of the following main components:

API Gateway

The API Gateway is the front door for all API consumers. It handles request validation, routing, rate limiting, and other management policies. It is the component that your API consumers interact with directly.

Developer Portal

The Developer Portal is a self-service portal where API consumers can discover, learn about, test, and consume your APIs. It provides documentation, interactive consoles, and SDK generation capabilities.

Management Plane

The Management Plane is used to configure and manage your API Management service. This includes defining APIs, setting up policies, managing users, and viewing analytics.

Analytics

The Analytics component provides insights into API usage, performance, and errors. This data helps you understand how your APIs are being used and identify areas for improvement.

Common use cases

Azure API Management is ideal for a variety of scenarios, including:

Exposing internal services: Securely expose existing internal microservices or legacy systems to external developers or partners.
Modernizing legacy applications: Create modern API facades over existing SOAP services to make them accessible via RESTful interfaces.
Building a digital platform: Provide a consistent and managed interface for various services to build a comprehensive digital platform.
Partner integration: Enable seamless integration for business partners by offering well-documented and secure APIs.

Getting started

To start using Azure API Management, you'll typically perform the following steps:

Create an API Management instance: Provision a new service instance in the Azure portal.
Import or define APIs: Import your existing APIs using OpenAPI specifications or manually define them.
Configure security and policies: Apply authentication, authorization, rate limits, and other policies to protect and manage your APIs.
Publish APIs: Make your APIs available to consumers through the developer portal.
Monitor and analyze: Track API usage and performance using the built-in analytics tools.

For a hands-on experience, try the Quickstart tutorial.

Pricing and support

API Management offers several pricing tiers to suit different needs, from developer-focused testing to enterprise-grade production workloads. For more details, visit the Azure API Management pricing page.

You can find comprehensive support and community resources on the Azure API Management support page.

Example of an API definition (OpenAPI Specification):


openapi: 3.0.0
info:
  title: Sample API
  version: 1.0.0
paths:
  /items:
    get:
      summary: Get a list of items
      responses:
        '200':
          description: A list of items
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                type: array
                items:
                  type: object
                  properties:
                    id:
                      type: integer
                    name:
                      type: string