ASF Project Spotlight: Apache APISIX
Yilia LinPosted by The ASF December 5, 2023Community, Projects
Q: Can you tell us a bit about the project such as when it was started and why?
A: Apache APISIX is a dynamic, real-time, and high-performance API gateway. The project started in 2019 to help enterprises solve new problems in cloud-native and microservices environments. The goal was to provide a robust solution that could efficiently handle the complexities of modern API management, including traffic control, load balancing, authentication, and more.
The project has since grown into a 13k+ starred open-source software project on Github, with 6M+ downloads and 600+ open-source contributors, making it a popular choice for organizations looking to manage their APIs effectively.
Q: What technology problem is APISIX solving?
A: Apache APISIX addresses the challenge of managing and securing APIs in modern, distributed systems. As applications become more complex and reliant on microservices, the need for a dynamic and scalable API gateway becomes paramount. APISIX provides a solution by offering rich traffic management features such as load balancing, dynamic upstream, plug-in extensibility, and more, making it a versatile tool for handling API-related tasks.
Q: Why is this work important?
A: Efficient API management is crucial for the success of microservices architectures, and Apache APISIX plays a vital role in ensuring the reliability, security, and scalability of API-based applications. By providing a feature-rich, open-source API gateway, the project empowers developers and organizations to streamline their API infrastructure, reducing development time and operational overhead.
Q: The ASF’s mission is to provide software for the public good. In what ways does your project embody the ASF mission and way?
A: APISIX fosters openness and collaboration in the API management space with the Apache way. By offering a free, accessible, and community-driven solution, APISIX empowers organizations of all sizes to enhance their API infrastructure, contributing to the broader goal of advancing technology for the benefit of society.
Q: Are there any use cases you would like to tell us about?
A: APISIX has been adopted by various organizations across different industries. Some notable use cases include:
Lenovo adopted Apache APISIX due to its high performance, lightweight deployment, dynamic hot reloading, and flexible plugin customization. This shift led to improved performance, increased security, enhanced scalability, and streamlined API lifecycle management, empowering Lenovo to achieve greater efficiency and innovation in their API ecosystem.
Airwallex, a global financial technology company, faced the challenge of data sovereignty in its cross-border payment scenarios. To address this, they adopted Apache APISIX for intelligent routing, creating a two-layer gateway for dynamic, multi-data center routing. This solution enabled Airwallex to efficiently handle complex business operations, ensuring compliance with data sovereignty regulations and optimizing global data management at the gateway level.
Before APISIX, WeCity faced complex data exchange issues, relying on custom-made and hard-to-maintain solutions, limiting control for data owners. With APISIX, WeCity streamlines data exposure, applies specific plans and policies to datasets, and seamlessly integrates them into their architecture, significantly enhancing data management capabilities for a sustainable and efficient mobility ecosystem.
Q: How can others contribute to this project – code contributions being only one of the ways?
A: Everyone is welcome to join and contribute to APISIX and in multiple ways, not only with code contributions. Contributions like asking questions, reporting bugs, proposing new features, improving documentation, adding to the website, organizing events, or writing blog posts among other contributions, are welcome and recognized.
Here are a few ways to contribute:
The ASF is home to nearly 9,000 committers contributing to more than 320 active projects. With the support of volunteers, developers, stewards, and more than 75 sponsors, ASF projects create open source software that is used ubiquitously around the world. This work helps us realize our mission of providing software for the public good.
This blog series aims to shine a spotlight on the projects that help make the ASF community vibrant, diverse, and long lasting. We want to share stories, use cases, and resources among the ASF community and beyond so that the hard work of ASF communities and their contributors is not overlooked.
If you are part of an ASF project and would like to be showcased, please reach out to markpub@apache.org.
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Written by
Yilia Lin
Yilia Lin
Technical Writer at API7.ai