API Gateway Use Cases

An API Gateway acts as a proxy for all incoming requests from clients to the underlying microservices or backend applications. It provides a centralized entry point and a set of common functionalities that can be used across multiple microservices. Here are some common use cases for an API Gateway:

1. API routing and versioning: An API Gateway can route requests to the appropriate microservice based on the request URL or HTTP headers. It can also support versioning of APIs by routing requests to different versions of the same API based on the version number specified in the request.

2. Security: An API Gateway can handle authentication and authorization for all incoming requests. It can also enforce security policies such as rate limiting, throttling, and access control.

3. Load balancing: An API Gateway can distribute incoming requests across multiple instances of a microservice to ensure that the system remains responsive and available.

4. Caching: An API Gateway can cache responses from microservices to reduce response times and improve performance.

5. Protocol translation: An API Gateway can translate between different protocols or data formats to ensure that clients can communicate with microservices in a standardized way.

6. Monitoring and logging: An API Gateway can collect metrics and logs for all incoming requests, allowing developers and operators to monitor the performance and health of the system.