The components of API Connect- Digital Transformation with IBM API Connect
By Isabella Morgan / June 11, 2024 / No Comments / IBM and Microsoft Exams, Managing the disposition of records
There are four major components of API Connect and two additional add-on components that integrate and provide added value to developers. Those components are as follows:
- Cloud Manager
- API Manager Server
- The Developer Portal service
- Gateway
- The Analytics subsystem
- Local Testing Environment (LTE; an add-on)
- API Connect Test and Monitoring (an add-on)
The two add-on components are discussed, in greater detail, in Chapter 4, API Creation, and Chapter 13, Using Test and Monitor for Unit Tests.
Note
Cloud Manager and API Manager can be considered separate components, but when you deploy the API Connect cloud, these two components are part of the same service. These two components comprise a management cluster. We’ll discuss these separately in the coming sections because each has different capabilities and responsibilities that require different roles from users.
The following diagram gives you a high-level picture of the components and their relationships:

Figure 2.2 – The API components
Here, the solid lines represent the integration between the components. The dashed lines represent users interacting with the Cloud Manager user interface and the API Manager user interface. You will learn, in the Introduction to the CLI commands section, all about the CLI interface, which also allows administrators and developers access to the Cloud Manager and API Manager components.
You are probably wondering how you will be able to take all that you learn here and put it into practice. There are several places where you can get access to API Connect:
- Your company’s implementation of API Connect, whether it’s on-premises or a part of CP4I.
- If you are an IBM business partner, then you can download the full API Connect product and/or the LTE.
- Utilize the IBM Cloud platform and subscribe to an API Connect service.
You should be aware that the IBM Cloud version might be some levels behind and not on the same version as this book.
Understanding the integration between the individual components will be very helpful. You’ll learn about this next.
Cloud Manager
Cloud Manager is where the administrator will construct the cloud topology. The administrator is responsible for configuring the cluster, which comprises the Gateway, Portal, and Analytics services:

Figure 2.3 – Cloud Manager
Setting up High Availability (HA) and Availability Zones (AZs) is also a part of the responsibilities of the administrator. These can be very simple or very complex depending on the desired implementation. For instance, gateways can be placed in different zones (such as west, east, and other designations), and these zones can be in different clouds, providing the capability to put host runtimes closer to user communities or provide compliance standards for situations such as Payment Card Industry (PCI) security compliance.
The cloud topology is where you set up the AZs for API Connect. Additionally, this is where you establish which services are within the AZ. Figure 2.4 shows the default AZ with three components registered (the Analytics service, DPGatewayV5, and Developer Portal):

Figure 2.4 – Cloud Topology for API Connect
Additional responsibilities include creating Provider organizations. Provider organizations are the creators of APIs, and they manage the deployment and life cycles of the APIs that are created.
In addition to this, the administrators set roles for other activities within the cloud along with the setup of alternative administrators. All administrators are responsible for the health of the API Connect cloud.
Other activities that the administrators might configure include the following:
- The Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP) server for notifications (along with default email templates)
- User registries such as local registries, the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), Uniform Resource Locator (URL), common services, and more
- Roles
- Catalog gateway defaults
- Audit settings
- Notification and timeout settings
From a developer’s perspective, you won’t be interacting with Cloud Manager, but there are areas you should be aware of. For instance, you should have a solid understanding of the following:
- Provider organizations enable your team to work on API Connect.
- If you have special requirements for gateway implementations (for example, if you are building APIs on AWS), you can have a gateway service deployed in AWS that is associated with the API Connect Management service to improve performance.
- If you have the need for external registries, you can have facilities such as Okta or Ping registries associated by your administrator.