API Package OptionNot Visible

[#1]

The API Package option is not visible in the Publish menu. All I see in the Publish menu is Products, Developers, and Developer Apps. How can I get the API Package option available so I can create one?

Thanks

[rajanish]

This option will be available only if monetization feature is enabled for an org. Are you trying this on onpremises or cloud and Do you know if your org has monetization enabled?

[#3]

Hi Rajanish, thank you for your quick reply. No we do not have monetization enabled. We just would like to expose different elements of the API to different users. Say for example, certain users would receive a simplified portion of the API and others would receive an advanced portion of the API. Would this be possible by setting up API Packages? We are not exactly interested in just limiting the API calls depending on the user.

Thank you again.

[rajanish · Accepted solution]

Yes, monetization packages allows segregation of apis by users along with advanced features mentioned here - http://docs.apigee.com/monetization/content/basics-monetization

However if you just want to control accessibility without requiring to have developer contracts and reporting you could control using apiProducts http://docs.apigee.com/developer-services/content/what-api-product

At a high level monetization provides the ability

- to keep track of developer usage

- maintain developer balances

- offer different rateplans for developer for same api product

- usage reports

- enforcement and notifications based on the rate plan developer has subscribed for.

As mentioned before, a good starting point would be http://docs.apigee.com/monetization/content/basics-monetization

[#5]

Great thank you for that informative response. Just one last follow-up question to the apiProducts link, how exactly does controlling accessibility with my APIs with API products work with my use case exactly? There is no example in the documentation that really explains a use case. Do I create one API proxy with two or more API products and each API product talks to the same proxy however depending on the apikeys, one product may have access to basic resources and the other one will have full access? Or must I create two different proxies in order to accomplish this?

Thank you again

[anilsr]

@Antonio Morello ,

Welcome to Apigee Community 🙂

I believe, basically, you are looking for API Management so that you can securely expose your APIs to different stakeholders and control access. It's the most basic functionality in API Management & you actually don't need Apigee Monetization, As said by @rajanish@apigee.com , You can solve your use case using API Products. Let me explain how you achieve same with some relevant links.

• How exactly does controlling accessibility with my APIs with API products work with my use case exactly?
  • The API product is the mechanism through which your APIs are bundled and published so that developers can consume them.
  • Just by creating an API Product doesn't enforce any access restrictions, you need to apply security policies on top of your API Proxy to secure them. It's straight forward and as simple as drag & drop policy like Verify API Key Policy on top of your API proxy request pipeline.
• Do I create one API proxy with two or more API products and each API product talks to the same proxy however depending on the apikeys, one product may have access to basic resources and the other one will have full access?
  • Yes, Exactly, You are in the right path. One API Proxy & Multiple API Products is exactly what you need.
  • You will restrict access to APIs by configuring resources in API Products. See Create API Product docs for more details
  • For advanced restrictions, you can leverage OAuth scopes & define READ, WRITE like access restrictions.
• There is no example in the documentation that really explains a use case.
  • Earlier, we used to have one but due to some third party API that we have used in our earlier documentation broken these docs. We are in process of updating same with more example.
  • We have some basic docs that explains security using API Product here in our getting started tutorial.
  • @docs , Can we extend our Getting Started tutorial with concepts of API Products / Creating a new API Product , Configuring resource level access in API Product ?

Keep us posted if you have any queries while implementing same.