API Platform

Question 1

What is Cloud Endpoints?

Answer 1

• Develop, deploy, protect and monitor your API’s
• NGINX-based proxy (Extensible Service Proxy - ESP) and distributed architecture gives unparalleled performance and scalability.
• Provides insight with Stackdriver monitoring, trace and logging for BigQuery analysis
• Control who has access to your API and validate every call with JSON Web Tokens and Google API keys.
• Choose your own API framework and language, OR choose a Cloud Endpoints Framework in Java or Python
• Cost begins after 2M API calls per month at $3.00/m per million

Question 2

What are the main Cloud Endpoints features?

Answer 2

1. Automatic load-balancing on App Engine
2. User Authentication - JSON Web Token validation and interfaces to Firebase Auth, Google Auth and Auth0.
3. Automated Deployment - deployed with your application on App Engine or as a container on Compute or Kubernetes
4. Logging and Monitoring - Stackdriver
5. Track and rate-limit API’s based on quota rules
6. API Keys - validate on every API call
7. Easy Integration - frameworks and open api

Question 3

What API Frameworks does Cloud Endpoints support?

Answer 3

1. Endpoints Framework - for JSON/REST APIs implemented on App Engine with Java or Python
2. Open API - for any JSON/REST APIs implemented on App Engine flexibile environment, Compute Engine, Kubernetes Engine or Kubernetes
3. gRPC - for full-control over gRPC spec and API

Question 4

What is gRPC, it’s advantages and reasons to use it?

Answer 4

• based on Protocol Buffers for serializing structured data in a language and platform neutral way
• smaller, faster and more efficient than XML or other wire-format protocols
• offers better performance and security over REST+JSON
• promotes use of SSL to encrypt all data exchanges
• Uses HTTP/2, binary stream multi-plexed over a single TCP connection, allowing for efficient, scalable, performant APIs
• Headers are compressed
• Great for microservice developers

Question 5

How is Cloud Endpoints hosted, and how would you develop a REST API with Cloud Endpoints for OpenAPI?

Answer 5

• Cloud Endpoints is optimed for the Docker container environment, hosted on Compute Engine, Kubernetes Engine and App Engine flexible environment

To Devlop a REST API:

• Build your API in any language or REST framework that supports API description using an OpenAPI configuration file.
• Configure Endpoints: in the OpenAPI configuration file, API keys, authentication rules, etc)
• Deploy the Endpoints Configuration: Use the Cloud SDK to deploy your API to Google Service Management, used by Cloud Endpoints to manage your API.
• Deploy the API backend: deploy the proxy and API to a supported Cloud backend, such as Compute Engine