Objective
Implement rate limiting with XecureAPI Gateway to regulate and control the number of requests from clients, ensuring optimal performance, preventing abuse, and safeguarding the backend services.
Scenario
An e-commerce platform that provides various APIs to serve its web and mobile applications. The platform experiences a surge in traffic during special events or promotions, leading to a higher volume of API requests. Without proper controls, this sudden influx of requests can overwhelm the backend services, resulting in performance degradation and potential service outages.
Components
- miniOrange XecureAPI Gateway
- Rate limiting Policy
Solution
The XecureAPI gateway provides a built-in Rate Limit mechanism to enhance the security of your APIs. Using XecureAPI gateway dashboard, E-commerce website handlers can configure the rate limit policy based on the request handling capacity of their backend server. This policy can limit the number of requests sent to backend services for a particular time duration.
Now, when an e-commerce platform user sends an API request, it gets routed through the XecureAPI gateway. The request is sent to the backend services only if the request falls under the specified limit. If the request exceeds the limit, it gets denied with an appropriate error message.
This mechanism serves to protect against excessive data traffic, contributing to the sustained optimal performance of the e-commerce website backend services.
Also, The XecureAPI gateway logs the API usage for auditing purposes. You can analyze your API performance and security by using the monitoring and auditing features provided by the XecureAPI gateway.
Benefits
- Improved Performance: Rate limiting ensures that the backend services are not overwhelmed, maintaining optimal response times for legitimate users.
- Prevention of Abuse: Limiting the number of requests from a single client prevents malicious attacks or unintended misuse of the API.
- Scalability: The API Gateway provides a scalable solution that can handle varying levels of traffic, adapting to the platform's growth and demand.
Conclusion
By implementing rate limiting in the API Gateway, the e-commerce platform ensures a more resilient and secure API infrastructure. It can effectively manage and control the incoming traffic, providing a seamless experience for users even during peak periods while safeguarding the integrity of its backend services.