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Azure API Management Service Now Available to Developers
API developers can now use Azure API Management Service to publish APIs for others to use, as well as programmatically monitor usage and health of APIs.
Among a number of Azure-related announcements, Microsoft announced a nugget for developers: the general availability of the Azure API Management Service. That nugget is among a slew of Azure improvements that Microsoft announced last week, mostly on the IT end: Azure alerting, role-based access control, and enhancements to the Azure Websites service.
The Azure API Management Service was announced back in May as a preview. Scott Guthrie, executive vice president of the Microsoft Cloud and Enterprise group, blogs that the service is aimed at companies developing APIs who want to be able to publish them for use by others. (Prior to heading that group, Guthrie had been instrumental in founding and developing .NET.)
Besides being able to publish APIs, Azure API Management allows for programmatic access to API process analytics, to help with monitoring and usage. Guthrie wrote in a blog from last month that this "[opens] up host of integration and automation scenarios, including directly monetizing an API with your commerce provider of choice, taking over user or subscription management, automating API deployments and more."
Azure API Management services can be used to set usage limits or throttle APIs, track health and errors, and " expose a developer portal for your APIs that provides documentation and test experiences to developers who want to use" them.
A new feature with the GA release is the addition of OAuth support. It allows API developers who are developing OAuth-supported APIs to be able to register OAuth Authorization Servers directly within the Developer Portal.
There are two tiers to the service: Standard, which is free with a formal service-level agreement, and a Developer tier for $49 per month, for developers who want to use it outside the confines of an SLA.
To start working with the Azure API Management Service, go here.
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