Another cloud offering from IBM is CP4I. CP4I is a platform that runs on OpenShift and offers IBM integration products that have been containerized to run on top of OCP. One of those products is API Connect.
CP4I has the following capabilities:
- API management: This capability is the API Connect implementation.
- Application integration: This is App Connect Enterprise, and it allows you to integrate a system of record, SaaS, B2B, and more.
- Event streaming: This enables you to build responsive applications using Kafka and integrate with the other capabilities listed.
- Enterprise messaging: This allows asynchronous messaging for the enterprise that extends into hybrid architecture.
- End-to-end security: The containerized DataPower form factor has been implemented to support your security needs.
- High-speed data transfer: This capability allows extremely fast secure file transfer using a product called Aspera.
Referencing the hybrid reference architecture you learned about earlier in Chapter 1, Digital Transformation and Modernization with API Connect, the features in CP4I provide all of the necessary toolings to address your digital modernization.
Important Note
The AWS marketplace has now added CP4I as one of its offerings: Quick Start for IBM Cloud Pak for Integration. This is a great addition for organizations that want to use IBM integration products on AWS. To learn more, please visit https://aws.amazon.com/quickstart/architecture/ibm-cloud-pak-for-integration/.
IBM Cloud (reserved instance)
You already know that you can quickly spin up an instance of API Connect on IBM Cloud. If you recall, this instance provides you with the ability to create and manage APIs using API Manager. Since it’s a managed service instance, what is transparent to you is that you are part of a shared deployment. For customers who would prefer to have their own segregated instance, there is also a reserved instance for API Connect.
The reserved instance also runs version 10 of API Connect. The value customers get with the reserved instance is that it is managed and monitored by the IBM team, so your operations teams need not be involved. Additionally, since it’s an isolated environment, you do not need to worry about users who are using the same IBM Cloud public service.
When you visit IBM Cloud and review the offers, you will see the reserved instance option, as shown in Figure 2.16:
Figure 2.16 – A Reserved instance of API Connect
As you can see, there are many cloud deployment models. You now have the ability to choose how and where you want to implement API Connect based on cost, skillset, digital modernization directives, and tooling. The one model that we haven’t discussed yet is hybrid cloud. Let’s discuss that next.
Hybrid cloud
The last deployment model is Hybrid cloud. As you review the following diagram, you should be able to view where the separation between on-premises and the cloud is demarcated. While the diagram specifies any cloud, an example might be helpful for you:
Figure 2.17 – The Hybrid cloud reference architecture
As an example, let’s use a company that is building new APIs in support of Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR). The company has decided to use AWS to develop the APIs, but the data is still within the on-premises data center. This group of providers is autonomous. Perhaps it is a newly acquired software company. The challenge is how to make this work seamlessly.
If you have deployed API Connect in AWS, you can manage all of the FHIR APIs to the FHIR server. Your backend to the data and system of records is on-premises, but you also have API Connect implemented on-premises to accept calls from the AWS APIs and support API integration between various departments.
Of course, having multiple deployments of API Connect is not necessary. You can implement your API Connect on-premises and still have the APIs developed on AWS. With the configuration options within API Connect, you can place your gateways in AWS to improve performance while still having gateways in your DMZ and inside the firewall to support other APIs.
The benefit of this is that you are no longer hindered by preexisting infrastructure and antiquated legacy applications. You can mix and match your deployment to match your digital modernization as you wish.
We can’t wrap up this section without a brief discussion on HA in API Connect. So, let’s review that next.