Why large organisation should migration from Akana to Apigee
First, AKANA is not a recognized APIM vendor in Gartner’s MQ for API management.
For organizations currently using the AKANA API Gateway, migrating to Apigee X presents a compelling opportunity to modernize API infrastructure and unlock a range of benefits as given below.
Migrating to Apigee-X offers a significant competitive advantage through increased agility, improved efficiency, enhanced security, new revenue streams, and a better customer experience. Eventually resulting in long-term business growth and success in the digital economy.
Let’s delve into the detailed steps involved in the akana to apigee migration process
Akana to Apigee Migration Phases
Architecture discovery and Analysis
- Document the AKANA deployment in the existing IT infrastructure and identify the various connectivity requirements, security and other NFRs around the platform.
- Identify Migration Challenges
- Identify Target Apigee-X set up
- Identify the consumer and backend touch points
- Identify other NFRs around the platform like availability, logging and monitoring, metrics, HA etc.
- Create a comprehensive inventory of all Akana APIs, including:
- API Names
- Versions
- Endpoints
- Protocols (REST, SOAP, etc.)
- Authentication mechanisms (API Keys, OAuth, etc.)
- Traffic volumes
- Dependencies
- Understand the functionality of each Akana API:
- Policies (rate limiting, security, transformations)
- Custom code (JavaScript, XSLT)
- Backend integration details
- Protocols (REST, SOAP, etc.)
- Authentication mechanisms (API Keys, OAuth, etc.)
- Traffic volumes
- Dependencies
- Document any specific business logic or requirements to be done manually
Technical mapping: Akana to Apigee
- Export API Models -> OpenAPI Specifications
- API Instances -> API Proxies
- Plans -> API Products or Policy combinations
- Policies -> Apigee Policies
NeosAlpha Migration Accelerator will come in very useful to automate large scale migrations in a consistent and error free manner.
Migration Phase
Prioritize APIs based on business criticality, complexity, and dependencies.
Decide on a phased migration approach (e.g. simpler APIs or critical API or high impact APIs).
Define the Base API Proxy Template:
- Design Apigee API template based on Akana API analysis:
- Define proxy structure, endpoints, and resources.
- Choose appropriate Apigee policies for security, traffic management, and transformations as sharedflows.
- Design error handling mechanisms and response codes as common sharedflows
Automate Policy Conversion:
- Use automated scripts to migrate Akana API policies to equivalent Apigee policies:
- Map Akana security policies (e.g., OAuth, API Key) to Apigee's security policies.
- Use Apigee policies for rate limiting, quotas, and other traffic management features.
- Implement transformations using Apigee's Assign Message, JavaScript, or XSLT policies.
Manually migrate custom code:
- Map Akana security policies (e.g., OAuth, API Key) to Apigee's security policies.
- Adapt any custom code from Akana (e.g., JavaScript, XSLT) to Apigee's policy framework.
- Consider using Apigee's Java Callout or JavaScript policies for complex logic.
Automate Backend Integration:
- A common sharedflow to dynamically inject the backend URLs as per API
- Test the connectivity between Apigee proxies and backend services.
Testing:
- Develop comprehensive test cases to validate the functionality, performance, and security of the migrated API proxies.
- Conduct thorough testing in a development or staging environment before deploying to production.
Deployment and Monitoring
Deployment Strategy:
- Plan a phased deployment approach, starting with lower-risk APIs.
- Monitor closely for any errors or unexpected behavior during deployment.
Monitoring and Logging:
- Set up comprehensive monitoring and logging in Apigee to track API usage, errors, and performance metrics.
- Use Apigee's analytics and reporting features to gain insights into API usage patterns.
CI/CD Integration:
- Consider integrating API proxy deployment with CI/CD pipelines for automated deployment and testing.
Post-Migration Activities
Documentation:
- Update API documentation to reflect the changes made during migration.
- Document any new processes or procedures for managing and maintaining APIs in Apigee.
Training:
- Train development and operations teams on Apigee's features, policies, and best practices.
Continuous Improvement:
- Regularly review and optimize API proxies to improve performance, security, and developer experience.
- Leverage Apigee's advanced features to enhance API program, such as monetization, developer portal customization, and advanced analytics.
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