Azure API Management (APIM) - Cheat Sheet

Prakriti
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🎯 What is APIM?

Fully managed service to publish, secure, transform, maintain, and monitor APIs in a centralized platform.

🧠 Core Purpose

Purpose	Description
Centralized Gateway	Front door for all APIs (internal/external)
Security Layer	Authentication, rate limits, quotas
Developer Portal	Customizable portal for API exploration
Policy Control	Add caching, transformation without backend changes
Analytics	Usage patterns, health, performance metrics

💪 Key Features

🔐 Security

OAuth 2.0, JWT, subscription keys
IP filtering and CORS policies

⚡ Performance

Response caching
Compression
CDN integration

🧩 Traffic Control

Rate limiting
Quotas per user/subscription
Throttling policies

🔄 Transformation

Modify headers, query strings
Request/response manipulation
Protocol translation (REST ↔ SOAP)

📈 Monitoring

Azure Monitor integration
Real-time analytics dashboard
Custom alerts and metrics

🧰 Version Management

Multiple API versions
Revisions for safe updates
Rollback capabilities

🌍 Global Distribution

Multi-region deployment
Low-latency access
High availability

👨‍💻 Developer Portal Features

✅ Self-service sign-up & subscription
📘 Auto-generated documentation
🔍 Interactive testing console
💳 Free/paid subscription plans
🔑 API key management
📊 Usage analytics for developers

🚀 Benefits Summary

Category	Benefits
Security	Tokens, keys, IP filtering, throttling
Scalability	Handle thousands of concurrent calls
Flexibility	Modify API behavior via policies
Speed	Caching + compression = faster responses
Insights	Built-in monitoring and reporting
Monetization	Enable paid API subscriptions

🧭 Common Use Cases

Microservices Gateway - Expose microservices securely
Partner Integration - Third-party API access
API Monetization - Paid subscription models
Governance - Lifecycle management and compliance
Legacy Modernization - Safely migrate old APIs
Mobile Backend - Unified API layer for apps

🏗️ Architecture Components

┌─────────────┐
│   Clients   │ (Web, Mobile, Partners)
└──────┬──────┘
       │
┌──────▼──────────────────────┐
│   Azure API Management      │
│  ┌──────────────────────┐   │
│  │  Gateway (Proxy)     │   │
│  └──────────────────────┘   │
│  ┌──────────────────────┐   │
│  │  Developer Portal    │   │
│  └──────────────────────┘   │
│  ┌──────────────────────┐   │
│  │  Management Portal   │   │
│  └──────────────────────┘   │
└──────┬──────────────────────┘
       │
┌──────▼──────────────────────┐
│   Backend Services          │
│  (APIs, Microservices)      │
└─────────────────────────────┘

📋 Quick Policy Examples

Rate Limiting

xml

<rate-limit calls="100" renewal-period="60" />

XML

Caching

xml

<cache-lookup vary-by-developer="true" /><cache-store duration="3600" />

XML

IP Filtering

xml

<ip-filter action="allow">    <address>13.66.201.169</address></ip-filter>

XML

Transform Response

xml

<set-header name="X-Powered-By" exists-action="delete" /><set-status code="200" reason="OK" />

XML

🎓 Key Concepts

Product : Container for APIs with access control
Subscription : Key-based access to products
Policy : XML-based rules for API behavior
Operation : Individual endpoint within an API
Revision : Non-breaking API update mechanism
Version : Breaking change requiring new endpoint

💡 Best Practices

✓ Use policies for cross-cutting concerns
✓ Enable caching for read-heavy APIs
✓ Implement rate limiting per subscription
✓ Use named values for configuration
✓ Enable logging for troubleshooting
✓ Configure alerts for critical errors
✓ Use API versions for breaking changes
✓ Test policies in non-production first

📊 Pricing Tiers

Tier	Use Case
Developer	Dev/test environments
Basic	Small production workloads
Standard	Medium production workloads
Premium	Enterprise with multi-region
Consumption	Serverless, pay-per-request