Having a single, centralized API gateway can be a good way to minimize complexity and costs at first. However, as the API landscape grows more distributed, relying on one gateway can create costly bottlenecks that slow down processes and waste resources on simple tasks.
The challenges of a single gateway compound over time, such as delayed new API releases, and unexpected traffic spikes that overwhelm capacity. A centralized gateway will increase latency and bottleneck API availability and agility.
By embracing multiple API gateways tailored to internal teams, public products, geographic regions, or specific use cases, you can accelerate API delivery, isolate issues, and scale elastically.
This blog covers the most solid reasons to have multiple API Gateways
10 Reasons To Have Multiple API Gateways
Your business should rely on multiple API gateways to manage diverse traffic loads, enforce specific security protocols, and support different API types. Adopting a multi-gateway strategy provides better performance and customizable handling and ensures compliance and low latency across regions. Here are the key reasons to implement this approach:
1. Scalability
Multiple gateways allow for easier scaling by distributing traffic loads. This approach also segments APIs based on risk and compliance needs, protecting sensitive data and improving security.
2. Performance Optimization
Customizing each gateway to handle specific types of APIs optimizes handling for better speed and reliability.
3. Security Segmentation
Multiple API gateways provide the ability to isolate sensitive APIs. Each gateway can be configured with stricter security measures, limiting access to critical endpoints and reducing the likelihood of security breaches.
4. Compliance Requirements
When operating in multiple regions, deploying API gateways ensures compliance with local data sovereignty regulations. By positioning gateways in different geographical locations, you process and store data according to regulations like GDPR, CCPA, or others specific to their region.
5. API Specialization
Tailoring gateways to specific API types, such as REST, GraphQL, or gRPC, helps optimize performance. Each gateway is designed to handle the unique demands of its respective API. For example, a REST gateway efficiently processes HTTP requests, while a GraphQL gateway manages complex queries.
6. Geographic Redundancy
Deploying multiple API gateways across various regions offers geographic redundancy. This ensures high availability and fault tolerance, allowing organizations to maintain uptime even during disruptions in one location.
7. Traffic Management
Multiple gateways allow you to configure intelligent traffic management protocols. Request routing occurs based on factors such as geographic location, API type, or service health, ensuring optimal routing decisions.
8. DevOps Efficiency
Using multiple API gateways streamlines DevOps workflows. Isolating different environments, such as development and production, through separate gateways reduces the risk of disruptions to live services.
9. Centralized Governance
By managing all APIs from a single control plane, you can enforce uniform security measures, monitor traffic, and ensure compliance. This centralized approach reduces the risk of vulnerabilities and simplifies API management.
10. Future-Proofing
With dedicated gateways for different technologies and API types, your businesses can integrate innovations swiftly. This future-proof setup allows for easy adaptation to shifting requirements, ensuring the API ecosystem remains flexible and responsive to technological advances.
Architectural Complexity and Challenges of Multiple API Gateways
While multiple API gateways can improve your architecture and offer benefits, these gateways introduce complexities in configuration management, security protocols, performance monitoring, and team coordination to name a few, more challenges are:
- Synchronization Issues: Ensuring consistent configurations across all instances can be difficult when managing multiple gateways. Changes made in one gateway must be replicated in others to prevent discrepancies in functionality or security. To manage this, use centralized configuration management tools, version control systems, and automated deployment pipelines.
- Performance Parity: Gateways might experience different performance levels due to factors like network latency, Infrastructure, or resource allocation. These variations can affect API response times and overall user experience. Mitigate this by implementing load-balancing strategies, optimizing gateway configurations, and continuously monitoring performance metrics.
- Security Consistency: Maintaining consistent API security, authentication, and authorization across multiple gateways is crucial. A vulnerability in one gateway could compromise the entire system. Create a centralized security policy framework, use shared identity management systems, and implement strong logging and instantaneous monitoring to detect and address security threats quickly.
- Observability Gaps: Tracking API activity across various gateways can complicate debugging and understanding usage patterns. Implement comprehensive tracing solutions that capture data across the distributed Infrastructure. Use distributed tracing tools, establish standardized logging practices, and rely on centralized observability platforms to gain a unified view of your APIs.
- Compliance Hurdles: Managing compliance across multiple gateways can be difficult, especially with industry regulations like GDPR or HIPAA. Set up a clear governance framework, automate compliance checks, and maintain detailed documentation of your gateway configurations and security measures to ensure ongoing compliance.
How Many API Gateways Do I Need?
The number of API gateways your firm needs depends on your application and architecture. There’s no one-size-fits-all answer, but consider this guide for a basic outline.
- Minimum Infrastructure (2 Gateways): Start with two gateways: one for production and another for non-production environments like testing or development. This ensures a clear separation, minimizing risk and maintaining a controlled environment.
- Hybrid Cloud (3+ Gateways): If your application is a hybrid of multiple cloud providers working in tandem with on-premise systems, using three or more gateways helps manage access control across such environments.
- Complex Enterprises (5+ Gateways): Five or more gateways might be necessary for large companies with multiple departments or business units. Each unit can have its gateway, allowing for customized security policies and better accountability.
- High-Traffic APIs: If your APIs handle high traffic volumes, dedicated gateways are essential. They help optimize performance through load balancing, caching, and resource allocation, ensuring smooth operation even during traffic spikes.
- Diverse Security Needs: Different APIs have different security requirements. For example, public APIs might use token-based authentication, while internal APIs need stricter protocols. Separate gateways let you apply customized security measures suited to each API’s needs.
- Microservices Architecture: In a microservices architecture, multiple gateways allow efficient traffic routing, SLA enforcement, and centralized monitoring. Gateways help maintain performance and ensure service integrity within this distributed setup.
- API Composition & Federation: When APIs come from various sources, specialized gateways or aggregators help manage routing, data transformation, and security. This approach simplifies complex API interactions and provides a unified access layer for users.
- Future Growth: Plan for scalability when deciding how many gateways to deploy. Anticipate future API expansion, increased traffic, and changing technological needs to avoid frequent reconfigurations.
How Boomi Helps Manage Multiple API Gateways
To manage multiple API gateways, your business needs to balance performance, security, and observability while addressing each gateway’s challenges. You can maintain a fast and secure API architecture by implementing centralized management tools, optimizing configurations, and prioritizing security.
With Boomi API Management, you can improve how you manage multiple API gateways. The solution offers a centralized, innovative platform for discovering, governing, and optimizing APIs, making them easy to securely integrate with various environments. Here’s a list of the key features.
- Comprehensive API Discovery: Boomi discovers and catalogs all APIs across environments, reducing redundancy and enhancing visibility, ensuring effective management of the entire API ecosystem.
- Centralized Governance: The software enforces consistent security and compliance policies across all APIs, providing strong protection and minimizing security risks.
- Shadow API Control: It detects and manages shadow APIs, mitigating potential security threats and data breaches by bringing unsecured APIs under control.
- Federated Management: Boomi supports managing multiple API gateways from different vendors without requiring replacements, allowing easy integration with existing systems.
- Performance Analytics: It monitors API usage and identifies bottlenecks, optimizing operational efficiency and improving API performance.
- Developer-Friendly Portal: Simplifies API adoption with intuitive documentation and self-service features.
- Flexible Integration: Your organizations can scale without disrupting existing Infrastructure as you can integrate with both on-premises and cloud systems.
- Low-Code Platform: Enables rapid API productization with drag-and-drop tools, streamlining development and deployment.
- Improved Adoption Strategies: Improves API usage by providing clear documentation and resources, encouraging team adoption.
- Audit-Ready Features: Ensures compliance with corporate policies by offering tools that streamline security and quality checks, making auditing simpler.
Learn more about how you can simplify the complexities of managing multiple API gateways by taking a guided tour of Boomi API Management.