API Gateway

An API Gateway is a server that acts as an intermediary between client applications and backend services, facilitating communication and managing requests. In modern microservices architectures, where different services communicate via APIs (Application Programming Interfaces), an API Gateway centralizes and manages API calls, ensuring seamless interaction between clients and multiple services.

The API Gateway handles various tasks, such as routing API requests to the appropriate services, load balancing, rate limiting, authentication, and logging. It also consolidates multiple backend service calls into a single client request, improving efficiency and reducing the complexity of interactions for client applications.

By acting as the front door for microservices, API Gateways enhance security by enforcing policies and protecting against malicious attacks like DDoS. They can also be configured to handle protocol translations, making communication between different service protocols easier. Additionally, API Gateways improve performance by caching frequently requested data and optimizing response times.

Overall, API Gateways are critical for managing the complexities of microservice-based applications, ensuring reliability, security, and scalability.