Creating Successful APIs in the Enterprise

Creating SuccessfulAPIs in the

EnterpriseRoss Mason

Founder, MuleSoft

@rossmason #GWOcon

About me

• Created the Mule project• Founded MuleSoft• Background in

distributed systems• I want to connect

everything

@rossmason #GWOcon

All contents Copyright © 2013, MuleSoft Inc.

Why would an enterprise middleware company buyProgrammableWeb.com?

+ = ?

@rossmason #GWOcon


Web APIs are the

Playbook for the

enterprise

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…or 13,000 ideas

to steal adapt

@rossmason #GWOcon

All contents Copyright © 2013, MuleSoft Inc.#MuleSoftWebinar

RESTful APIs

@rossmason #GWOcon

Open APIs are the tip of the iceberg

13,000

@rossmason #GWOcon

Open APIs are the tip of the iceberg

13,000

1,000,000sof APIsin the

enterprise

@rossmason #GWOcon

What makes an Enterprise API successful?

• Secure?• Reliable?• Reusable?• Discoverable?• RESTful?

@rossmason #GWOcon

What makes an Enterprise API successful?

• Secure?• Reliable?• Reusable?• Discoverable?• RESTful?

IT NEEDS TO BE USEFUL AND USABLE FIRST

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• KEY: DELIGHT YOUR USERS!

An Old Success Strategy Re-Emerges

how?

• design for them• iterate quickly• model cleanly and consistently• engage

Codify Req

’s

Design API

Valid

ate Publish

CaptureFeedback

•UI UX

•API APX

Design For Your Users, Iterate

@rossmason #GWOcon


Enterprise APIs = API delivery at scale

- 3Cs: Clean, Clear, Consistent- Across teams, across orgs- Rapid creation, iteration, lifecycle

management

@rossmason #GWOcon

SOA

API

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Enterprise SOA

- 3Cs: Clean, Clear, Consistent- Across teams, across orgs- Rapid creation, iteration, lifecycle

management

@rossmason #GWOcon

APIs in the Enterprise

Your APIs

Developer

Customers

Partners

AffiliatesMobile

Internal projects

Your Assets

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What we see in the Enterprise

Your APIs

Developer

Customers

Partners

AffiliatesMobile

Internal projects

Your Assets

@rossmason #GWOcon

• Orchestrating service provider…

• …or core single-purpose service?

• Back end…

• …or front end?

• Straight-through proxy…

• …or new façade?

What is your value add?consumer devs

@rossmason #GWOcon

Think APX!

Don't expose dirty laundry

users

products

ordersinvoices

Craft it for your users: what will they love?

• This is a long-lived interface, ladies and gentlemen

@rossmason #GWOcon

my focus today• SOAP and WSDL over HTTP• REST: HTTP taken seriously

• e.g. GET /users a page/data representing users• Mix & match:

• Google protocol buffers over HTTP• <something> over websockets

•API facades:• the RESTmullet (REST in front, SOAP in back)• mobile REST/GPB/MQTT on top of SOA

Forms of APIs

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The 3Cs in Action(Clean, Clear, Consistent)

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• Nouns: resources• Carefully consider your domain objects• Query params are refinements on resources• /users• /users?zip=94301&subscribed=true• /users/me• /users/5638• /users/5638/books• /users/5638/books/20467• /books• /books/20467

Practical REST, be Clear

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• Verbs: methods

Practical REST, be Clear and Consistent

GET retrieve (idempotent!)

POST create in container

PUT update – replace (usually)

PATCH update – partial

DELETE remove

HEAD GET w/o body (headers)

OPTIONS metadata, e.g. methods

Status codes• Standardized• Use them!

• Don't return 200unless it's really OK

• No surprises please

Headers• Standardized• Use them!

@rossmason #GWOcon

•We like RAML: RESTful API Modeling Language

• Clean, clear, powerful• 100% natural & organic• Open, vendor-neutral• Practical• Pattern-based design

is built in

How to describe your specific API?

@rossmason #GWOcon

RAML for Enterprise APIs

• Design, iterate and then code• Clean, clear, open description language• Supports inheritance so that resource behave the

same way• Traits for consistent behaviour

– Security, pagination, signing• Schema support• A human-readable contract between consumers

and producers

@rossmason #GWOcon


DEMO

Anypoint Platform for APIs

http://api-portal.anypoint.mulesoft.com

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The Goal:

beyond APIsto the Layers of Value

leverage

empowerment

crowd-sourcing

SOA

@rossmason #GWOcon

• Jawbone creates device, interface

• If it's closed: I can only consume

• If it's open: I can contribute

Example: Jawbone Up

Find new value…

Suggest new value…

Build new value…

Build platform!@rossmason #GWOcon

The Groundwork is Forming: Open Government

> 90k data sets~ 350 apps> 300 APIs

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The Groundwork is Forming: Intuit

SMB:~ 87% of US companies~ 19 million employees

payroll, taxes, spending…

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Groundwork is Forming: Expedia

Affiliate API generates $2bn of the 4bn company revenue

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Groundwork is forming: Mesh APIs

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29 device APIs8 application APIs2 service APIs

26 Social APIs

Common data as an API(Local, PoI, Location, consumer products) 22 Analytics APIs

A New Software Stack Emerges

1,000,000s

DB aaSmessa

ging aaS

cach

ing

aaS

geolocation aaS

social aaS

shipping aaS

approvals aaS

commerce aaS

finance aaS

anal

ytics

aaS

orchestrationorchestra

tion

orchestration

orch

estr

ation orchestration

orchestration

orch

estr

ation

API API

API

API

API

APIAP

I

APIAPI

orchestration

orchestration

orchestration

@rossmason #GWOcon

• Everything has multiple APIs

APIs Everywhere

APIs on top of APIs

Genetically-diverse, evolving

@rossmason #GWOcon


Successful Enterprise APIs =APIs at scale

- 3Cs: Clean, Clear, Consistent (APX)- Across teams, across orgs (RAML.org)- Rapid creation, iteration, lifecycle

management (anypoint.mulesoft.com)

@rossmason #GWOcon

Good APIs aren't trivial

But with the proper approach…

…they can be your home-court advantage"First one home wins?"

"Deal"

"#$*%!"

@rossmason #GWOcon


Thank you

Twitter: @rossmasonCompany: http://mulesoft.com

Technology

Creating Successful APIs in the Enterprise