Hello, integration maestros! welcome to another symphony of integration that will harmonize your understanding of Azure Logic Apps and Azure API Management (APIM). In this orchestration of data and API, i invite you to take a front-row seat in the theater of API connectivity.

Data flows like a cosmic symphony, and the harmony of information is the secret of unlocking success, Azure logic Apps and Azure API Management shine as conductors of this modern integration orchestra

With this orchestral vision in mind, let’s now explore the dynamic interplay between Azure Logic Apps and Azure API Management, starting by questionning : Why API orchestration is essential?

The Power of API Orchestration

A Symphony of Data

The entry point to understand API orchestration is Data, you can imagine data like a puzzle with many pieces. Each piece holds important information, and the challenge is to make them all fit together seamlessly. This is where API orchestration comes into play. it’s like being the conductor of an orchestra, where each instrument represents a different part of your data. Azure Logic Apps and Azure API Management are the tools that help make this happen.

API orchestration is about making data flow smoothly from one place to another. Imagine you have data in one system, and you need it to work in another system. API orchestration is what allows these systems to talk to each other and perform tasks automatically.

Practical Solution for Businesses

For example, think of an online store, When you buy something, the website needs to check if the item is in stock, process your payment, and update the inventory. All of this happens through API orchestration. it’s like having a conductor ensuring that each part of the process plays its role at the right time.

API orhcestration isn’t just a fancy idea; it’s a practical solution for modern businesses. it helps save time, reduce errors, and offer better services to customers. With Azure Logic Apps and Azure API Management (APIM), you have the tools to make this happen without needing to be a programming expert :).

Azure’s API Orchestration Symphony: A Duett of Logic Apps and Azure API Management

Azure Logic Apps and Azure API Management are the stars of the show, working in harmony to create a symphony of data integration. Let’s take a closer look at their unique roles in this dynamic performance.

Azure Logic Apps: The Maestro of Workflows

Azure Logic Apps can be likened to the maestro of data workflows, directing each step in the orchestration. Their brilliance lies in their ability to:

Connectors and Triggers:

Imagine each connector as a different instrument in an orchestra. These connectors allow Logic Apps to seamlessly interact with various services, systems, and data sources. Triggers are like the cues for the performance, initating actions based on specific events. With a vast array of connectors and triggers, Logic Apps create a symphony of data connectivity.

Workflow Design:

Orchestrating workflows is intuitive as composing a beautiful melody :). – a user-friendly visual interface simplifies the process.

Orchestration:

Just like a maestro ensures that evey musician plays in harmony, Azure Logic Apps excel at orchestrating data and processes. They can transform data, schedules tasks, Logic Apps are your trusted conductor.

Azure API Management: The Bridge and Gatekeeper

Azure API Management serves as the bridge and gatekeeper in this digital symphony, ensuring that data flows smoothly and securely. Here’s why it’s indispensable:

API Exposure:

Consider Azure API Management as the gatekeeper who constrols access to your APIs. it simplifies the process of making your APIs accessible, much like managing entry to a concert :). with it, you decide who gets to enjoy the performance.

Access Control:

Like a vigilant gatekeeper, Azure API Management provides you with the tools to control who can access your APIs. Implement authentication, authorization, and rate limiting to protect your resources.

Scalability:

Just as performances can vary from a small audience to a grand symphony hall, Azure API Management ensures that your APIs can handle an important levels of traffic, it auto-scales to meet the demands of the moment.

Monitoring and Analytics:

Much like a music producer reviews, you can monitor and analyze API usage. Azure API Management offers detailed analytics, providing insights into how your API are being used.

Together, Azure Logic Apps and APIM create a harmonious symphony of data integration. The maestro conducts worfklows seamlessly, and the gatekeeper ensures the smooth and secure flow of data.

Let’s proceed to examine their individual contributions.

Building the API Orchestration Ecosystem

We’ll start with creating a new API in APIM. This section provides a step-by-step guide to set up your API and configure it for the symphony ahead.

I assume you’ve already taken the first step – setting up an Azure API Management service in your Azure subscription. This service is our conductor podium :), where you’ll organize and manage your APIs. With that in place, let’s delve into the process of creating a new API within service:

The creation of a new Azure API Management service can be done via two manners :

• Via Azure Portal
• Via Visual Studio Code

Creating a New API in Azure API Management

In the Azure API Management service, select the « APIs » option from the left-hand menu, and click « API » to start the creation process.

Azure API Management offers various types of APIs for different scenarios.

HTTP API: The one we gonna use in this scenario, This is one of the most common types, allowing you to define APIs that communicate over HTTP. You can create RESTful APIs, SOAP services, or other HTTP-based APIs.

Define API Details

You will now enter the basic details of your API:

• Name: Give your API a descriptive name, A unique name for the API
• Display Name: This is how your API will be displayer in the developer portal.
• Web service URL: Specifies the backend service implementing the API and the operations that the API supports.
  • This is the path of your API, in this example i have created my API using a free tool to generate the strcuture of my API (GET/POST/PUT) and the URLs associated to each operations, you can use Swagger Editor.
  • In this article i have create « Employee Management API »
• API URL suffix: The suffix appended to the base URL for the API Management service. API Management distinguishes APIs by their suffix, so the suffix must be unique for every API for a given publisher.

Here is the full settings of my « Employee Management API » created API.

Design your API (Example: Employee Management API)

Once you have defined your API details, it’s time to design your API.

Here is the the JSON structure of my simple API:

{
    "type": "object",
    "properties": {
        "Job Title": {
            "type": "string"
        },
        "Last Name": {
            "type": "string"
        },
        "First Name": {
            "type": "string"
        }
    }
}

I suppose you’ve created your API using Swagger or any other free API generator tool.

Create API Operations

An API exposes one or more operations. in this section, you’ll add an operation to the HTTP API you created. In the « Design » section, you’ll create operations that your API can perform.

In the « Design » section, create operations that your API can perform. Click on the « Add operation »

For each operation, you’ll define:

• Display name: The name that is displayed in the developer portal.
  • Value: Test call
• Name: Unique name of your API,
  • Value: test-call
• URL: A URL path for the API.
  • The URL template that trigges this operation.
• Description: Optional description of the operation, used to provide documentation in the developer portal to the developers using this API.

Operation 1: GET / GET Employees data

Here the « Get Employee » operation allows to retrieve a list of all employees in the system. it’s a read-only operation that provides a comprehensive overview of the exisiting employee records.

Operation 2: POST / CREATE Employee

The « Create Employee » operation allows to add a new employee to the system. It’s a write operation that requires providing essential information such as the employee’s First Name, Last Name, and Job Title. Upon a successful request, a new employee record is added to the system.

Implement Policies

Response mocking in Azure API Management is a feature that allows you to simulate API responses without actually calling the backend API. It is particularly useful during the development and testing phases of your API when the backend services might not be fully implemented or when you want to isolate the API testing from the actual backend.

• In the Inbound processing window, select + Add policy.
• Select Mock responses from the gallery.

• In the API Management response textbox, type 200 OK, application/json. This selection indicates that your API should return the response sample you defined in the previous section.

Test the mocked API

After adding your Inbound Policy, ensure that your API well configured and make a test call.

The HTTP response displays the JSON provided as a sample in the first section of the tutorial.

Orchestrating Data with Azure Logic Apps

Now that we’ve created our API in Azure API Management, it’s time to explore how to orchestrate and integrate data with Azure Logic Apps. This section will guide you through the process of setting up Azure Logic Apps and using them to interact with your API.

Design your Workflow

• After your Logic App is created, open the Logic App Designer.
• You’ll start by defining a trigger, which initiates your workflow, here i’m scheduling my Logic Apps to be executed 1 time per week.

Parse JSON Action:

In this action i’m calling the ParseJSON action, to parse a JSON string and return an object representing the JSON structure.

Call Azure API Management API Action:

The « Call an Azure API Management API » action within Logic Apps allows you to initiate HTTP requests to the APIs managed by your Azure API Management instance. This action serves as a bridge, enabling your logic workflows to interact with your APIs, facilitating the orchestration of data and services.

Create new Azure APIM Connection

Specifiy the connection name of your Azure APIM connection to the APIM instance. you can see the name of our APIM service and the associated API created in the instance. Select the API you want to call.

Call your API Operations

Specify the operation or endpoint within the chosen API that you want to target. This allows you to be specific about the action you want to perform.

Specify the API Parameters

If your API operation requires specific parameters, you can define them within the action. These can include query parameters, request headers, and request body content, depending on the needs of the API.

Run your Azure Logic Apps workflow

After configuring our Azure Logic Apps workflow, I executed and ran the workflow. As a result, the employee record was successfully added to the JSON list using Azure Logic Apps. Furthermore, the Azure API Management was seamlessly called with the specified parameters, demonstrating the effective orchestration of data and services through this integration

Conclusion

API orchestration is no longer a complex endeavor, thanks to Azure Logic Apps and Azure API Management. This combination simplifies data integration and workflow orchestration, enabling businesses to harness the full potential of their data. With Azure Logic Apps and Azure API Management, your data integration symphony is ready to take the stage.

Original Post https://dynvision365.com/2023/11/01/azure-logic-apps-and-azure-api-management-a-symphony-of-integration/