One of the issues we frequently see is clients having issues with moving to active external monitoring from internal testing or testing through their API documentation system (like Apiary, Postman or others). The challenge is simple – if you've been making calls to your APIs from within your firewall you may not have experience in the issues that impact those calls. This post explores some of the common issues we see.
Custom Endpoint Name
When using our import service to pull in from a documentation system, the root URL of the API call might be specific to the documentation server rather than the actual API call you will deploy. While this can be acceptable for testing, you may want to be able to change that later.
Lack of Auth/API Key
Depending on the security used for the production API, you may need an API key or an OAuth Token for the API. If the call has been tested without the security layer, which is often set up in the gateway or API management system, this can be a forgotten step. Typically, this results in a 4XX error. APIContext handles all forms of API security natively, but call security settings must be configured before proceeding.
Unhandled Parameters and Variables
Bulk importing an API call saves time, but it's not magic. If your calls use variables or require data sourced by another process or API call, then you won't be able to make the call successfully. Typically, this also results in a 4XX style error. Before setting up live calls, make sure all the required parameters and variables are correct. APIContext understands all of these issues – and we're happy to help you get your first external, active API call made if you would like us to. Why not contact us to get started today?