Shared flows - Wanted!

[maxi1555]

Hi experts,

This is blog is intended to improve as always the SAP Integration Suite ( our Swiss Knife in the cloud 🙂 ).

Definition:

"You can combine policies and resources into a shared flow that you can consume from multiple API proxies, and even from other shared flows. Although it's like a proxy, a shared flow has no endpoint. It can be used only from an API proxy or shared flow that's in the same organization as the shared flow itself.

By capturing in one place functionality that's useful in multiple places, a shared flow helps you ensure consistency, shorten development time, and more easily manage code."

For more info --> HERE

Since when are they available in apigee?

Since 2016.09.21, yeah "4 years, 9 months and 23 days" ago.

For more info --> HERE

What is the unacceptable workaround?

The usage of "Service Callout", why?, well this is one of the anti-patterns:

Invoking one API proxy from another API proxy incurs unnecessary network hops, that is the request has to be passed on from one Message Processor to another Message Processor.

For more info --> HERE

On top of this in SAP API Management:

• Extra unnecessary authentication is executed


• Maintenance of credentials for the call


• This count as an API call, which does not contribute anything in "analytics"


• Performance of the APIs are seriously affected


• This "shared api proxy" are automatically published in the "Test Console" of "API Business Hub Enterprise"

MY VISION

Imagine that you can define your own "flow templates"(sequence of "checks"), and within them that you can include more "flow templates"( different variants of those "checks"), reusing the 100% of your "policies".

Let me define "checks":

• Authentication method


• Error handling


• Principal propagation


• Rewrite URLs


• ACL


• Spike Arrest


• Quotas


• etc.

If you did not get the point yet then let me put it in an easy words, I'm requesting the equivalent of  "process direct" of SAP Cloud Integration, but for "SAP API Management".

CONCLUSION

Nowadays the APIs are in all our developments, and it is time to be able to reuse each policy created in SAP API Management, do it once and reuse it 😉

If you believe that this missing feature is relevant for you then vote this “improvement Request” LINK

 

Max.