Security
- Authentication: API gateways can enforce authentication mechanisms (e.g., OAuth, JWT) to ensure that only authorized clients can access the services.
- Authorization: API gateways can enforce authorization rules to control which clients can access specific resources or perform certain actions.
- Encryption: API gateways can encrypt data in transit to protect it from unauthorized access or interception.
Why do we need API gateway?
An API gateway is a server that acts as an intermediary between clients (such as mobile apps or websites) and backend services (such as databases or other services). It is a key component in microservices architecture, providing a single point of entry for clients to access multiple services.
The API gateway handles all the tasks related to accepting and processing incoming requests, such as routing requests to the appropriate service, performing authentication and authorization, enforcing rate limits, and aggregating responses from multiple services.
Let’s understand why we need an API gateway: