Integration Digest: October 2023

Articles

🔍 12 best books on API design to read in 2023

This article underscores the significance of API design principles in influencing API performance, security, scalability, and reusability. It provides a curated list of the 12 best books on API design to read in 2023, emphasizing the importance of security considerations and scalability in API design.

🔍 5 Best Practices for Securing Your API Gateway

This article focuses on securing API gateways and the potential risks associated with poorly secured gateways. It presents five best practices for enhancing API gateway security, including rate limiting, CORS-based origin restrictions, robust authentication and authorization mechanisms, real-time monitoring and anomaly alerting, and the adoption of a zero trust approach.

🔍 A Look at Problem Details for HTTP APIs RFC

This article delves into the application of problem details for HTTP APIs. It explains the concept of problem details and their necessity in providing contextual information for error handling in HTTP APIs. The article provides insights into using problem details effectively to enhance error resolution.

🔍 An Emphasis on the Politics of APIs

This article delves into the author's perspective on the politics of APIs and their significance. It also outlines the author's vision for the future of API Evangelist, emphasizing the role of APIs in politics, business, and society. The article underscores the importance of connecting various aspects of the API landscape.

🔍 Contentsquare Uses Microservices and Apache Kafka for Notification Delivery

This article delves into Contentsquare's implementation of microservices and Apache Kafka for notification delivery. It discusses the challenges faced in building a scalable notification system and details the components within Contentsquare's notification system. Notable points include the adoption of a microservices architecture and the use of Apache Kafka for inter-microservices communication.

🔍 How Is Apache APISIX Fast?

This article uncovers the performance-enhancing techniques of Apache APISIX, emphasizing its utilization of etcd as a configuration center, hash tables for IP address handling, and radix trees for efficient routing. The piece highlights how these choices enable Apache APISIX to deliver high performance, making it distributed and scalable.

🔍 How To Manage Multi-Protocol API Ecosystems

This article explores the advantages and challenges of managing multi-protocol API ecosystems. It discusses benefits such as increased flexibility and interoperability, alongside challenges related to protocol integration, data format inconsistencies, and security. The article also offers practical tips for effectively managing multi-protocol API ecosystems, such as adhering to consistent standards, comprehensive documentation, and regular testing and monitoring.

🔍 My API Platform or Yours?

This piece provides insights into the complex world of API platforms, drawing distinctions between enterprise-based platforms and API service providers' platforms. It stresses the need for enterprises to strengthen their own platforms. The article also discusses the potential for distributed and federated API platforms to drive industry change, along with the associated challenges.

🔍 Open Source Educational Resources on Modern APIs

The author highlights the lack of accessible educational resources for APIs and suggests the need for a community-owned open source project to provide a comprehensive API glossary and curriculum. They emphasize the importance of involving commercial API service providers while focusing on modularity and openness. The author expresses a willingness to contribute but believes new leadership is necessary, as they plan to focus on other aspects of API work.

🔍 Positive API Behavioral Reinforcement

This article narrates the author's journey into the realm of REST APIs, triggered by criticism from the REST community in 2010. It highlights the importance of fostering positive behaviors and outcomes in API design. The author introduces the use of API governance, employing Spectral rules to identify and incentivize correct API design practices. This approach aims to enhance the constructive and productive nature of API development while tackling issues like technical debt and API proliferation.

🔍 Strongly Typed API Operations

This article delves into the concept of strongly typed API operations, underlining their importance in standardizing and improving API development and management. The author proposes a shared schema for describing API operations, acknowledging developer resistance to standardization while advocating for its necessity to progress.

🔍 The Evolution to a Multi-Cloud API Strategy

This article delves into the transition towards a multi-cloud API strategy, examining the key drivers behind the move from single-cloud to multi-cloud adoption. These driving forces encompass the growing accessibility of cloud services, the escalating intricacies of cloud computing, and the surging need for enhanced agility and flexibility. Additionally, the article elucidates various scenarios in which multi-cloud adoption proves beneficial, such as enhancing performance, bolstering reliability, cost reduction, strengthening security, and ensuring compliance with regulations. Ultimately, the article closes with an exploration of the implications of multi-cloud on API management security and outlines measures organizations can implement to mitigate the associated risks.

🔍 The Role of APIs in the Automotive Sector

This piece explores the role of APIs in automobiles, elucidating how they facilitate the connection of various vehicle systems, such as entertainment and engine control. APIs also enable cars to interact with external devices like smartphones, making them increasingly crucial in the automotive industry's journey towards greater connectivity.

🔍 Tips on Building an API Monetization Stack

This piece explores the concept of an API monetization stack and its current trend. It discusses critical factors to consider when selecting a monetization model and outlines operational considerations. Emphasizing the importance of understanding API gateway capabilities and planning for various scenarios, it offers guidance on embarking on an API monetization initiative.

🔍 What is API Modeling & Profile?

This article introduces API modeling and profiling, highlighting their roles and benefits in API development. It outlines the structure of an API profile, emphasizing how API modeling aids in crafting comprehensive profiles that guide API design by capturing essential characteristics, such as name, scope, operations, and emitted events.

Confluent

🔍 Using Data Contracts with Confluent Schema Registry

This article delves into data contracts, which formalize agreements between data producers and consumers to ensure data quality and consistency in event streams. It offers a step-by-step guide to transforming schemas into data contracts, covering schema definition, metadata, data quality rules, custom rule executors, and schema evolution through migration rules. Data contracts empower data producers to enhance data quality and interoperability, fostering transparency in complex streaming architectures.

Google Apigee

🔍 Introducing Actions and Alerts in Advanced API Security

This article introduces Actions and Alerts in Advanced API Security, explaining their purpose and benefits in automating the detection and response to API security threats. Actions and Alerts streamline threat resolution and proactive API security, reducing response time and potential impact on organizations.

Gravitee

🔍 How Gravitee protects against the OWASP top 10 for API security, part 3

The third part of this series focuses on the last four threats from the OWASP Top 10 API security list: Server Side Request Forgery (SSRF), Security Misconfiguration, Improper Inventory Management, and Unsafe Consumption of APIs. It provides insights into the risks associated with each threat and discusses OWASP's recommendations for prevention. The article also highlights specific Gravitee features that address these security concerns, offering a comprehensive overview of safeguarding APIs against these vulnerabilities.

RabbitMQ

🔍 RabbitMQ 3.13 Feature Preview: Stream Filtering

This article explains the concept of stream filtering and its potential to save bandwidth. Stream filtering involves filtering messages on the broker side before delivering them to consumers. It details how filter values are associated with messages, allowing consumers to specify which filter values interest them. This approach minimizes data transfer over the network.

🔍 RabbitMQ and WebSockets, Part 1: AMQP, MQTT, and STOMP

This article introduces RabbitMQ and WebSockets, explaining their use in combination. It also provides insights into the underlying protocols that support RabbitMQ and WebSockets, including MQTT, AMQP, and STOMP.

🔍 RabbitMQ and WebSockets, Part 2: Web-MQTT, Web-STOMP and Web-AMQP

In this part, the author discusses RabbitMQ plugins like Web-STOMP and Web-MQTT, enabling browser-based applications to communicate with RabbitMQ using WebSockets. It also introduces the "websocket-tcp-relay" solution, facilitating AMQP over WebSockets in RabbitMQ. The article includes a performance comparison between Web-MQTT, Web-STOMP, and Web-AMQP, evaluating their ability to handle connections and resource usage in different scenarios.

Releases

🚀 Apache Kafka 3.6

This release highlights the latest features and enhancements, including the capability to transition Kafka clusters from ZooKeeper to KRaft. It also anticipates the forthcoming deprecation of ZooKeeper in Kafka 4.0. Notable additions encompass tiered storage, support for delegation tokens in KRaft, and reduced memory consumption during record deserialization.

🚀 Apache Pulsar 3.1

Explore the newest features in Apache Pulsar 3.1.0, such as pluggable topic compaction, flexible partition assignment, metadata size threshold for compression, on-demand creation of offload resources, and seamless compatibility between releases.

🚀 Camunda 8.3

Camunda 8.3, the latest release of a dynamic process orchestration platform, ushers in a wave of innovations designed to empower organizations to scale their automation efforts. Highlights from this release include multi-tenancy support, the introduction of a marketplace for Connectors, and AI-assisted form creation, all of which promise to streamline processes, save time, reduce costs, and enhance overall efficiency.

🚀 Debezium 2.4

This update unpacks a range of novel features, alterations, and improvements, along with insights into breaking changes. Notably, Debezium now boasts support for ad-hoc blocking snapshots and timezone transformations. It's worth mentioning that Debezium no longer necessitates cluster-wide privileges for MongoDB.

🚀 Gravitee 4.1

An insightful overview of the latest enhancements and capabilities in Gravitee API Management (APIM) version 4.1. This release builds upon the strengths of Gravitee 4.0 with additional capabilities, including new API creation features and the introduction of a Policy Studio. Gravitee 4.1 further augments its functionality with support for endpoint groups, logging for v4 APIs, a dead letter queue, and quality of service configurations. The article also introduces the concept of a DB-less mode, recent access management features like "Remember Me," MFA Challenge policy, and a revamped trial experience for Gravitee users.

🚀 Microcks 1.8

The release of Microcks 1.8 brings a plethora of fresh features, including AI Copilot for generating compliant API samples, support for HAR artifacts to capture live traffic, OAuth2 secured endpoint testing, a lightweight Uber image for hassle-free deployment, seamless Testcontainers integration, and numerous enhancements to the user experience. Additionally, this release reaffirms the project's commitment to open source best practices, community involvement, and its integration into Shift-Left scenarios.

🚀 Mule 4.5

Mule 4.5.0 introduces a spectrum of new features, including the introduction of two release channels: Edge and Long-term Support (LTS). This release encompasses bug fixes, updates to DataWeave, enhancements in the API Gateway, and various general improvements. Notable additions comprise new DataWeave functions for converting strings to LocalDateTime and concatenating Binary values.

🚀 NATS Server 2.10

The 2.10 release centers on enhancing predictability, scalability, and extensibility. Key features include the introduction of cluster routes, auth callout capabilities, and notable changes in file storage, all of which contribute to expanding the range of use cases and elevating overall performance.

Books

📚 Designing IT Systems Integration by Marcin Ziemek

This book delves into the design of IT systems integration, providing a concise guide through the design process. It explores various aspects related to IT systems integration, using UML notation to design integration architectures. By the end of this book, you'll possess the knowledge and skills to design integration architectures independently.

📚 Hacking API's: A Developer's Guide to Exploiting and Securing API's by Timothy Justin Downs

Uncover the intricacies of API security in "Hacking APIs: A Developer's Guide to Exploiting and Securing Web APIs." This comprehensive book takes you on a journey through the world of API hacking and protection, offering real-world examples and practical solutions. Whether you're seasoned in development or new to APIs, this book equips you with the tools to fortify your API infrastructure and stay ahead in the ever-evolving realm of API security.

📚 How to master api design: A Comprehensive Guide to Crafting Robust and User Friendly APIs by Chrissy Edwards

Unlock the secrets of mastering API design with this comprehensive guide. Dive into the realm of APIs and explore best practices, design patterns, and strategies for crafting effective, user-centric APIs. From the foundations of RESTful principles to robust security and thorough documentation, this resource covers it all, equipping both beginners and experienced developers with the knowledge and skills needed to design APIs that excel in today's digital landscape.

📚 How to Master API Design and Development for Modern Software Projects: Mastering API Design & Development for Modern Software: Expert Strategies for Success

Unlock the secrets of crafting exceptional APIs for modern software projects with this comprehensive guide. Learn the principles of API design, interface schema, and development using the latest tools and frameworks. From catering to diverse audiences and avoiding common pitfalls to exploring real-world examples, this practical resource is suitable for both beginners and experts. Elevate your API design and development skills and embark on the journey to building outstanding APIs.

📚 The Art of Data Integration: Creating a Unified View by Louie Hawking

In a world inundated with data, mastering the art of data integration has become essential. This book guides you through techniques and strategies for effectively merging disparate data sources, offering a unified and valuable perspective. Whether you're a data professional or a novice, learn how to transform raw information into powerful insights.