Distributed API Gateway Plugin Architecture
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Solution Overview
Problem
Deploying and managing multiple APIs is challenging due to the need for individual configuration and scaling, especially when dealing with tens of thousands of APIs and millions of clients, leading to reduced system productivity.
Innovation Solution
A distributed microservices API gateway architecture with middleware installation and auto-documentation generation through monitoring and parsing of requests and responses, centralizing common functionalities across a cluster of gateway nodes and enabling plugin-based extensions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If APIs are deployed individually with separate configuration, then each API can be customized and managed independently, but the system complexity and deployment time increase significantly when managing tens of thousands of APIs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the monolithic API gateway into distributed microservice nodes, each capable of independent configuration and deployment. This allows individual APIs to be customized and managed independently while the overall system handles tens of thousands of APIs through horizontal scaling rather than vertical complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a universal plugin architecture that can be applied across all API gateway nodes. Common functionalities such as authentication, rate limiting, and logging are standardized as plugins that can be deployed uniformly across the distributed system, reducing deployment complexity while maintaining customization capability through selective plugin installation.
2Productivity
If multiple gateway nodes are deployed to handle high load, then system scalability improves, but the effort to install and configure middleware on each node increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses containerization technology to create identical, pre-configured gateway node templates. When scaling horizontally, new nodes are instantiated by copying this template rather than installing middleware from scratch on each node. This dramatically reduces deployment time while maintaining system scalability through rapid node provisioning.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary configuration of middleware and dependencies during the container image build process, before deployment. All necessary software components are pre-installed and configured in the base image, so when new gateway nodes are added to handle increased load, they are ready for immediate operation without requiring time-consuming on-node installation procedures.
3Ease of manufacture
If individual API configurations are maintained separately, then each API can be optimized independently, but maintenance and updates become increasingly difficult with tens of thousands of APIs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a centralized configuration management system that acts as an intermediary between API definitions and gateway node implementations. Configuration changes are made centrally and automatically propagated to relevant gateway nodes through the plugin architecture. This maintains API configuration flexibility while simplifying maintenance, as updates are managed through a single interface rather than manually updating thousands of individual API configurations across distributed nodes.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed embodiments are directed at systems, methods, and architecture for providing microservices and a plurality of APIs to requesting clients. The architecture is a distributed cluster of gateway nodes that jointly provide microservices and the plurality of APIs. Providing the APIs includes providing a plurality of plugins that implement the APIs. As a result of a distributed architecture, the task of API management can be distributed across a cluster of gateway nodes. The gateway nodes effectively become the entry point for every API-related request. Some embodiments of the disclosed technology describe an auto-documentation plugin that can automatically generate documentation for an API by monitoring, parsing, and sniffing requests/responses to/from the API.