The Evolving Role of API Gateways in Scalable Microservices Architecture
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.63282/Keywords:
Microservices Architecture, API Gateway, Service Communication, Request Routing, Authentication and Authorization, Rate Limiting, Protocol Translation, Scalability, Service Mesh, Cloud-Native Systems, Serverless Computing, Edge ComputingAbstract
Microservices architecture has become a widely adopted approach in modern software development for building scalable, modular, and resilient systems. However, its distributed nature presents challenges in service communication, security, observability, and lifecycle management. This review examines the critical role of API Gateways in addressing these challenges by providing centralized control over routing, authentication, rate limiting, and protocol translation. The paper analyzes key architectural patterns and placement strategies of API Gateways, highlighting their contributions to improving security, scalability, and operational efficiency, while also addressing limitations such as performance bottlenecks and deployment complexity. In addition, it compares API Gateways with complementary technologies like service meshes and presents real-world use cases from companies such as Netflix and Amazon. Finally, it discusses emerging trends including serverless API Gateways, AI-driven traffic management, and edge computing. This review underscores the strategic importance of API Gateways as foundational components in evolving microservices ecosystems and identifies directions for future research and innovation
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References
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