Table Of ContentDigital
Transformation and
Modernization with
IBM API Connect
A practical guide to developing, deploying,
and managing high-performance and secure
hybrid-cloud APIs
Bryon Kataoka
James Brennan
Ashish Aggarwal
BIRMINGHAM—MUMBAI
Digital Transformation and Modernization
with IBM API Connect
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To my wife, Cheryl Bertini, who has been my life partner for 36 years.
The last 2 years have been difficult, but together we have thrived. To my
mentors over my career, Wil Kimura, Lynn Bailey, and Peter Ling, for their
career/business coaching and friendship. And finally to Dale Nilsson, who
introduced me to his passion for writing books. Now you only play golf and
that, my friend, will be my next passion.
– Bryon Kataoka
To my wife, Jennifer Brennan, and my three beautiful children, Emily,
Patrick, and Madison, who give me the drive and support to do my best
to succeed every day. They have stood by my side and encouraged me
even though the demands on my time are significant at times. To my
parents, who instilled a sense of pride in me, and to God, who has provided
me with the ability to learn, grow, and flourish.
– James Brennan
To the heavens, for providing me with infinite growth opportunities. To my
parents, for their blessings. To my wife, Nidhi, and my children, Dhruv and
Devika, for their endless faith, love, and support.
– Ashish Aggarwal
Foreword
Throughout my 20+ years at IBM, I've had the pleasure of working in a wide range of roles
in product development, as well as spending several years working onsite with customers
as a Software Services Consultant. A formative part of that development timeline was my
role as a Technical Lead through the first five releases of IBM API Connect from 2012
until I moved to another role in the Integration space at the beginning of 2017. I then
returned to the API Connect space in 2020 as the Senior Technical Staff Member for the
Cloud Pak for Integration, of which API Connect is a key part.
There is a consistent theme across all the product releases and client engagements over
that time. This theme is the appetite and enthusiasm our customers have for content
that goes beyond the typical task-based description we provide in the formal product
documentation to illustrate not just the "what" but also the "why" of a product. By
incorporating practical experience and lessons learned from real-world project scenarios
we significantly enhance the value of the information we provide. I saw this personally
in 2016 when I wrote the first API Connect Deployment Whitepaper, which presented
practical guidance on high availability production deployment scenarios, based on
my experiences with customers and leadership of the API Connect SaaS service. The
emphatically positive reaction to that publication cemented in my mind the value of
practitioner-driven product content.
Fast-forward five years and that's why I'm excited to introduce you to this major work
from Bryon, Jim, and Ashish. Their combined track record of successfully delivering API
Connect and DataPower gateway solutions to customers makes them the ideal candidates
to codify their knowledge so that everyone can benefit from it! Between them, they have
decades of experience and have led implementation projects across the spectrum of
customers and industries, and you will see the fruits of that labor permeate through
these pages.
As a reader, you'll find this book provides a single reference that covers the entire breadth
of the API Connect product. It begins with the business context in which the product
should be used, before progressing through the basic introductory concepts. Having
established these foundations, the majority of the book then provides detailed and easily
reusable examples of the powerful features that will enable you to be successful in your
API journey.
My current role as CTO for the IBM Integration portfolio gives me broad visibility across
the Integration space, and it is examples like these where our partners and practitioners
share their experience that makes me truly excited to be a part of the IBM ecosystem.
It's my sincere hope that you find this book a highly-valuable companion to your use of
API Connect and that it enables you to accelerate the successful delivery of your digital
transformation projects!
Matt Roberts
Chief Technology Officer, IBM Integration
Winchester, UK
Contributors
About the authors
As Trusted Advisor and CTO of the iSOA Group, Bryon Kataoka has established
a reputation as a leader in architecture and technology, focused around IBM API
Connect, Red Hat OpenShift, and DataPower gateways. Bryon has developed his style
of professionalism, where education and knowledge is the driving innovative force to
success. Bryon participates in IBM certification exams, has presented at conferences,
and has authored The WebSphere Application Server Bible. He is a father of four, a home
winemaker with his own vineyard, a decent golfer, and practices blues guitar.
As an owner and lead consultant of McIndi Solutions, James Brennan is a recognized
leader in the DataPower and IBM API Connect space. Jim has participated in developing
IBM certification exams, has spoken at several IBM internal and customer-facing
conferences, and is a coauthor of the IBM WebSphere DataPower SOA Appliance
Handbook, as well as the individual IBM DataPower volumes available. He is an
accomplished musician with a prior career in musical performance, a father of three,
and a fitness enthusiast.
As the CEO and Technology Advisor of ANDD Techservices (USA and India), Ashish
Aggarwal leads complex application modernization, integration, and API/SOA
enablement projects. He has helped numerous industries, including telecoms, E&U,
e-tailers, BFSI, and animal disease management implement API/SOA-oriented solutions.
He has extensive architectural, operational, and development experience in multiple
IBM integration products; for example, APIC, DataPower, ACE/IIB, and MQ. Ashish is
a graduate of Harvard Business School and Delhi University.
About the reviewers
Sudhir Mohith is a Technology Partner Architect at IBM with 25 years of experience
in the computer industry, working with business partners and clients all over the world
on complex enterprise-scale solutions. Outside of work, he devotes his time to his two
children and enjoys DIY, hiking, and traveling.
Ricky Moorhouse is a Cloud Architect for the IBM API Connect cloud service with 16
years of experience working with APIs and automation. He has worked at IBM for over
20 years and has been part of the API Connect team since the product's inception,
primarily leading the team that operates and manages the hosted API Connect services
in IBM Cloud.
Table of Contents
Preface
Section 1: Digital Transformation and
API Connect
1
Digital Transformation and Modernization with API Connect
API-led digital transformation 4 Your responsibilities for APIs 18
A journey back in time 4
Digital modernization and APIs 18
Fast forward to the 21st century 6
Approaches to modernization 19
Business transformation to a digital
transformation framework 9 API Connect enabling
Digital framework considerations 11 digital transformation 20
Hybrid reference architecture 14
API Connect aligns with the goals
of digital transformation 21
API-led architectural
approach 15
Summary 26
API flavors 15
2
Introducing API Connect
Technical requirements 28 Hybrid cloud 53
API Connect 28 HA 54
The components of API Connect 31 Introduction to the CLI
commands 56
Deployment models 48
Having fun playing with FHIR 58
The on-premises implementation 49
Cloud implementations 50 Summary 66
