Unveiling WSO2 APK 1.1: Kubernetes-Native API Management

We're excited to introduce WSO2 API Platform for Kubernetes (WSO2 APK) 1.1, a key update to our Kubernetes-native API management solution. This release leverages the strengths of Kubernetes to offer high-performance and cloud-scale API management, ensuring automation, reliability, and improved developer experiences.

Traditional API management solutions aren't built for Kubernetes environments, leading to issues with performance, scalability, and manual configuration. This is especially problematic for large cloud deployments with many APIs. WSO2 APK is an API management solution built specifically for Kubernetes. It can automatically discover services within Kubernetes, reducing manual configuration and streamlining API management. 

What's New in WSO2 APK 1.1?

APK and API Manager Integration:

WSO2 API Manager is a proven, robust API management solution. With this WSO2 APK release, users will be able to use WSO2 API Manager with their WSO2 APK deployments to address management or control plane aspects:

• WSO2 APK Control Plane: Seamlessly create and manage APIs within the WSO2 APK data plane, enhancing the API development lifecycle. Post-creation, these APIs integrate with the API Manager 4.3 control plane, enabling comprehensive management and deployment to the developer portal.

Figure 1: API development flow for Kubernetes native API design/development

• Gateway Flexibility: Use WSO2 APK as an independent gateway within WSO2 API Manager 4.3, maintaining familiar API development processes while deploying in a cloud native environment. This flexibility bridges traditional and Kubernetes-native API management, providing the best of both worlds.

Figure 2: Configuring WSO2 APK as another gateway for WSO2 API Manager

• Enhanced API Authentication Support: The latest release enhances API security with Mutual SSL Authentication support, introducing two-way SSL authentication to strengthen your API ecosystem. This feature ensures heightened security and trust in API interactions with back-end services by mandating mutual authentication between the gateway and backend server, significantly bolstering data protection and trustworthiness in your API exchanges.

• Extended GraphQL Capabilities: We’ve introduced support for GraphQL, enabling precise data querying and mutation operations in APIs. This simplifies development, and enhances efficiency, allowing developers and consumers to interact with services more flexibly and effectively. By adopting GraphQL, users gain targeted data access, optimizing the API's responsiveness and adaptability in various application scenarios.

• Advanced Monitoring Capabilities with Prometheus: WSO2 APK now comes with Prometheus integration for advanced monitoring within the APK data plane. This enhancement offers detailed insights into API performance and usage, enabling effective troubleshooting and real-time analytics. Users benefit from streamlined monitoring and improved visibility, ensuring robust API reliability and optimized performance.

• API Subscription and Application Support in the Data Plane: This feature introduces API subscription and application support within the data plane, elevating API consumer interactions with APIs. This upgrade allows subscription management and control, enhancing user engagement and providing a more organized and efficient way to handle API access and subscriptions directly within the data plane.

• Virtual Gateway Environment Support: WSO2 APK now enables gateway environment support, allowing for more flexible API deployment and management in virtual settings. This enhancement facilitates cost-effective API handling across varied infrastructural setups, streamlining deployment processes and enabling scalability.

• Semantic API Versioning Support for APIs: This feature allows users to implement a structured versioning strategy, ensuring orderly API updates and compatibility management.

• API Analytics Enhancement to Work with Moesif Analytics OOTB: Integrate Moesif analytics to unlock actionable insights into your API's performance and usage patterns. This integration equips you with the intelligence to refine your API strategies, improving service quality based on real user data, and ultimately driving better business decisions to foster growth and user satisfaction.

In addition to the above features, we’ve included several fixes, improvements, and enhancements to support various use cases. Please refer to the release notes for more information and a detailed improvements list.

Try WSO2 APK Today!

For detailed insights into the latest features, fixes, and how you can contribute to this transformative journey, visit our GitHub repository. We encourage you to try WSO2 APK today. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us here.