API Delegation Module for Risk Mitigation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Modern web and mobile applications face risks when adopting new service APIs in production due to incomplete testing, as they often require production data for full validation, but this can expose the applications to unforeseen issues.
Innovation Solution
A risk mitigation architecture is introduced, which includes a client interface, legacy and new API modules, and a delegation module that selectively returns results based on feature selectors, along with a data comparator to compare legacy and new API results, ensuring data consistency and reducing adoption risks.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If new APIs are adopted in production before full validation, then data coverage for testing is improved, but system reliability deteriorates due to unforeseen issues
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a delegation module as an intermediary layer between the client and API modules. This module selectively routes requests to either legacy or new API modules based on feature selectors, allowing controlled exposure of new APIs to production traffic while maintaining the ability to fallback to proven legacy APIs, thus balancing data coverage needs with system reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts the proportion of traffic routed to new versus legacy APIs through configurable feature selectors. This allows the system to progressively validate new APIs with real production data while controlling risk exposure, and to shift traffic patterns based on validation results without requiring complete system redesign
2Reliability
If new APIs are fully tested in non-production environments, then system reliability is improved, but data coverage deteriorates due to test data limitations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements partial action by allowing new APIs to be exposed to a controlled portion of production traffic rather than fully blocking them. The delegation module enables gradual validation with real production data for a selected subset of requests, providing better data coverage than non-production environments while maintaining overall system safety through selective routing
3Adaptability or versatility
If delegation module selectively routes to new API modules, then adaptability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The delegation module is designed as a universal component that handles multiple functions: request routing, feature flag evaluation, fallback management, and progressive validation. This multi-functional approach consolidates complexity into a single manageable module rather than distributing it across multiple specialized components, making the system more adaptable while controlling overall complexity
Data Source
AI summary
A risk mitigation architecture for new application programming interface service adoption includes a client interface configured to generate an API call, a legacy API module configured to generate a legacy API result in response to receiving the API call, a new API module configured to generate a new API result in response to receiving the API call, and a delegation module configured to selectively return the legacy API result to the client interface or the new API result to the client interface, according to at least one specified feature selector. The architecture includes a data comparator in communication with the delegation module, the data comparator configured to compare the legacy API result with the new API result according to at least one specified comparison configuration, to generate an API comparison result indicative of the legacy API result and the new API result having same or different output data.