Overview

Backend (or physical) REST APIs and SOAP services are those developed and deployed by the customer. Physical services and APIs typically provide the actual implementation of the business data processing and associated business logic. Sentinet adds automated management for your REST APIs and SOAP services by enabling them with design-time API Governance and run-time API Management. To enable your backend services and APIs with Sentinet automated management, they must be registered in the Sentinet Repository and then exposed (virtualized) as Virtual Services hosted on the Sentinet Node(s) (a.k.a. API Gateways).

Sentinet high-level architecture diagram below shows Sentinet Core components. Installation and initial configuration of the Sentinet components are described in the following two chapters.

Sentinet manages RESTful APIs and SOAP services in the same manner, and through similar User Interface interactions. Managing SOAP Services and Managing REST APIs chapters in this tutorial describe basic steps for each type of service (Sentinet User Guide provides complete documentation for all product features including management and exposure of SOAP services as REST APIs). We recommend reading the entire tutorial even if you are only interested in REST APIs or SOAP services.