API Knowledge Base
Cloud APIs
API Knowledge Base
Detailed guides to using APIContext to solve critical business problems.
Cloud APIs have taken over the entire world, from controlling light bulbs, to even controlling your smart TV. But what is a Cloud API?
If your business wants to use the cloud in any way, you are going to have to work with cloud APIs. The good news is that the concept isn’t that difficult once you start to think about it. The trick is to get your head around the concept and go from there. Let’s take a look at some of the questions often asked about cloud API.
What Is Meant By a Cloud API?
A cloud API is a program that acts as a gateway to the cloud from your website or app. In that sense it is the cornerstone or backbone of any public cloud based system. It provides both the direct and indirect infrastructure to cloud users.
A cloud API will allocate computing, storage, and network resources for requested cloud applications. It is the gateway to the cloud and from the cloud back to your website or app.
What Is The Role Of APIs In Cloud Computing?
Like with normal APIs cloud APIs facilitate the back and forth sending of data. They allow you to access the cloud and allow the cloud to send information back to you. There are three primary ways in which they do this:
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): Infrastructure APIs provision raw computing and storage.
- Software as a Service (SaaS): Software or application APIs provision connectivity and interaction with a software suite.
- Platform as a Service (PaaS): Platform APIs provide backend architecture for building intensive and feature rich applications.
What Is The Use Of APIs In Cloud Services?
As we mentioned earlier, APIs send information back and forth. Think of being in a restaurant. You don’t go directly to the kitchen. Instead you place your order with a waiter or waitress.
The server is this analogy is the API. He or she goes to the kitchen with your information and then brings back what you were looking for.
A cloud API is basically doing the same thing, but the cloud itself is the kitchen. This may seem simple but accessing the cloud in the background is essential. When a cloud API is used correctly, you don’t notice it. It simply does its job.
In addition a cloud API only accesses the data it needs on both ends. In other words, it doesn’t compromise the entire cloud. It also does not compromise your users’ data. It works to only access the data it needs to get the job done.
Photo courtesy of Sergio Russo
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