What Is API Management?

To understand the benefits of API management, it helps to know the goals that IT organizations set for API management. Companies that develop and deploy APIs do so to enable broad, flexible application integration and related capabilities. They want the business benefits that arise from their investment in APIs. This invariably means wanting APIs that perform as expected and cause few security problems. In practical terms, this means governing their APIs.

One of the main benefits of API management, therefore, is the ability to operationalize any number of API governance and security policies. For example, if there is a corporate policy mandating the protection of personally identifiable information (PII), which is often a regulatory requirement, then API governance should ensure that any API that handles PII will do so with adequate protections in place, such as encryption.

API management offers the further benefit of API monetization. Some organizations look at APIs as products, rather than just bits of technology. They do this because an API may represent something of value to a paying customer. For example, if an API allows access to a stock market trading algorithm, investors might pay to use it. The API management platform can facilitate the usage agreement and related transactions.

API analytics, a subset of API management, give API owners insights into how well their APIs are performing. It provides data and reporting that shows if APIs are producing data of expected quality and responding to API requests in accordance with SLAs.

Agility is a further benefit of well-executed API management. The faster an organization can connect its applications and data sources to business partners and customers, the more agile it will be in the marketplace. Such agility is a tangible, desirable business outcome that is not easily achieved without API management.

The other benefits of API management have to do with efficiency. An effective API management tool, for instance, will make it possible to automate the many labor-intensive processes required to build and manage an API throughout its lifecycle. It will enable the automation of API provisioning and configuration, as well as API endpoint management and monitoring.

The API management tool generally sets up an API directory and developer portal, so developers and other stakeholders can quickly discover the APIs they need. This might also include a searchable repository of API documentation and any relevant legal agreements and SLAs.

An API management solution incorporates a variety of components. Some of these are run from an API management platform. Most are not stand-alone solutions, either. They usually connect with other systems.

The components of API management map to the API lifecycle, starting with development. There will be tools devoted to developing the APIs themselves, as well as for connecting APIs with software in the DevOps process. An API developer portal contains documentation for APIs, along with onboarding processes and API administration features that developers need to connect their code with APIs. The portal may bring various people and corporate entities together in an API community that allows for sharing of information about APIs.

As APIs go into production, the API gateway emerges as the central component of most API management programs. At runtime, an API gateway is a unitary point of connection between APIs and their clients. It may cache APIs, making them available to API clients directly without having to ask the API for the data. In some cases, the API gateway enables the orchestration of multiple APIs, which may be necessary for putting business processes into operation.

An API gateway is also usually a centralized point for API policy enforcement. For example, if an API client has to be authenticated with an OAuth token, that token will be bound to the API request at the gateway. On a related note, the API gateway may provide for failover. If an API goes down, the gateway can automatically start routing requests to a second instance.

An API monitoring tool is another component of API management. Typically part of the API management tool, the monitoring tool stays on top of API performance in real time, or near to it. It measures API response times and alerts admins if an API is failing its SLAs. The monitoring tool feeds data into the API analytics solutions, which is also a component of API management.

An API lifecycle manager, yet another component of API management, lets admins keep track of API versions. It facilitates workflows that ensure that the right version of an API is in use. The lifecycle manager also makes sure that out-of-date APIs are retired and don’t become “zombie APIs” that no one knows about.

API management works differently depending upon the use case. Take access control. Most of the time, an API is set up with limits on its accessibility. The API management tool can enforce the access control policies, e.g., use of certificates for authentication and “rate limiting” that sets the volume and pace of requests the API will handle before shutting off access.

API stakeholders have their choice of API management tools. What determines the right one? The best way to answer the question, arguably, is to look at the API functionality the tool makes possible, versus the characteristics of the tool itself. Yes, the API management tool needs to be a reliable, well-made piece of software. However, what’s more important is how well APIs function under its management.

For instance, does an API reliably respond to requests with the right data when it’s managed by a certain tool? Is it dependable in terms of performance and availability? Can the API be used in an agile manner? Is API provisioning fast and accurate? Are the costs of running the API suitably low? These are all reflections on the quality of the API management tool. The best tool will be one that delivers desired outcomes.

In today's digital landscape, organizations increasingly operate in multicloud environments, where APIs must function seamlessly across multiple cloud providers. API management solutions enable businesses to create APIs that can communicate across different platforms, ensuring flexibility and scalability. With multicloud capabilities, APIs can run on diverse infrastructure environments without sacrificing performance, security, or functionality.

By utilizing API management in a multicloud strategy, companies can ensure that their APIs are resilient, maintaining performance and availability across cloud environments. This end-to-end management allows teams to track the behavior of APIs in real time, ensuring that they meet business requirements, regardless of the underlying cloud providers they are deployed on.

API management is not just about securing and optimizing APIs — it also improves the developer experience. A robust API management solution provides clear and concise API documentation, making it easier for developers to integrate APIs into their apps and services. Self-service portals enable developers to quickly read and understand how to use an API, reducing the time required for onboarding and integration.

APIs should be intuitive, and API management tools help ensure that APIs are easy to use while adhering to strict security and authentication standards. Effective API governance also ensures that APIs are standardized, stay well-documented, and consistently perform as expected. By simplifying API discovery and usage, organizations can drive more innovation and faster development cycles.

One of the most critical aspects of API management is ensuring API security. As APIs are increasingly used to expose sensitive data and functionality to external developers and third-party applications, they become prime targets for cyberattacks. The right API management solution will include robust security features such as authentication, authorization, and encryption to protect APIs from unauthorized access and breaches.

A best practice is to integrate OAuth 2.0 and JWT (JSON Web Tokens) for authentication and access control. These technologies help secure the API access tokens used to validate and authorize user sessions, ensuring that only authorized users can access specific endpoints. Additionally, API gateways often act as the first line of defense by enforcing security policies and filtering out malicious traffic before it can reach the back-end servers.

Another security benefit of API management solutions is the real-time monitoring and alerting of suspicious activity. By tracking API traffic and metrics, IT teams can identify potential security threats such as unusual access patterns or spikes in API requests that may indicate an attempted denial-of-service (DoS) attack. Automated security policies, like rate limiting and IP denylisting, further enhance API security by preventing overloads and blocking potential attackers.