Building and Deploying a Simple Airline Service with Azure API Management

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Introduction

In this era of digital transformation, businesses are constantly seeking efficient ways to expose their services to the world. Azure API Management is a powerful tool that enables organizations to securely manage, publish, and analyze their APIs. In this blog post, we’ll guide you through the process of building a simple airline service, deploying it as an API in Azure API Management, and monitoring its usage via the Azure portal. We’ll also explore how to adjust permissions, and set up authorization and authentication for your API.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, ensure that you have the following prerequisites:

1. An Azure subscription.
2. Azure API Management instance.
3. Basic knowledge of RESTful APIs.
4. Visual Studio or your preferred code editor.
5. Azure Functions or Azure App Service for hosting your airline service.

Part 1: Building the Airline Service

1. Create an Azure Function or Azure App Service: You can build your airline service using Azure Functions or Azure App Service. Both are serverless compute services that make it easy to create HTTP-triggered functions. Implement your business logic here and expose them as HTTP endpoints. There is another post in our series that demonstrates how to program an airline service using azure functions.
2. Define Endpoints: Define endpoints for functionalities like booking flights, checking flight status, or listing available flights. Ensure that your endpoints adhere to RESTful principles with meaningful URLs and HTTP methods.
3. Implement Logic: Write the logic for each endpoint, and ensure that your service can handle requests and return appropriate responses in a structured format, such as JSON or XML.
4. Secure Your Service: Implement basic authentication mechanisms if necessary. You can use API keys, OAuth 2.0, or other authentication methods to secure your endpoints.

Part 2: Deploying the Airline Service to Azure API Management

1. Create a New API in Azure API Management:

• Go to your Azure API Management instance in the Azure portal.
• Click on “APIs” and then “Add a new API.”
• Provide a name and specify the API URL.
• You can add your airline service endpoints as operations under this API.

1. Configure Policies:

• In the API Management instance, you can use policies to modify, filter, or route requests and responses. These policies can include rate limiting, transformation, and much more. For example, you can implement caching or logging policies.

1. Import API Definitions:

• If you have API definitions like OpenAPI (formerly known as Swagger), import them to provide clear documentation and enable automatic validation of incoming requests.

Part 3: Monitoring API Usage via Azure Portal

1. View Analytics:

• Azure API Management provides detailed analytics about API usage. In the Azure portal, navigate to your API Management instance, and select the “Analytics” tab. Here, you can monitor traffic, errors, and other metrics.

1. Set Up Alerts:

• Configure alerts to notify you when specific usage thresholds are reached. This helps you proactively manage your API’s performance.

Part 4: Adjusting Permissions and Authorization

1. Control Access:

• In Azure API Management, you can manage access by specifying who can call your APIs. You can restrict access to specific client applications or groups.

1. Authentication:

• Implement authentication mechanisms such as OAuth, API keys, or client certificates for your APIs. You can configure these settings in the “Security” section of your API.

1. Rate Limiting:

• You can set rate limits to prevent abuse of your APIs. Define rate limits at the product or API level to control how many requests can be made within a specific time frame.

Conclusion

Azure API Management is a versatile tool that simplifies the process of building, deploying, and managing APIs, like our simple airline service. With robust monitoring and security features, you can confidently expose your services to the world while maintaining control over usage and ensuring data security. By following this guide, you’ll be well on your way to efficiently managing your APIs with Azure API Management.