Key concepts and terms
The following definitions can help you follow the instructions in this document.
API Gateway terms
Term | Definition |
---|---|
API consumer | A user, machine, or application that interacts with an API. |
API definition file | A file in an OpenAPI (Swagger) or RAML format that includes information about your API configuration. |
API endpoint | An application that hosts one or more API resources with a common base path. The representation of an API endpoint is a unique URL that includes a hostname and a base path. |
API gateway | A single-point software layer between one to many API services and their consumer applications. |
API key | A unique identifier that enables edge servers to authenticate, track, and manage API consumers. |
API resource | A service within an API endpoint represented by a URI. You can interact with an API resource via its allowed methods. |
Behavior | In Property Manager, an element in a rule that specifies a feature to apply to requests. A rule can have many behaviors or only one. |
Digital property | An identifier that indicates which property file and application to use when processing incoming HTTP requests. Often, the digital property is the full, end-user-facing hostname or fully qualified domain name of your application. For instance, |
Edge hostname | A customer-specific subdomain on a domain that maps incoming requests to edge servers. Typically, customers specify edge hostnames in Canonical Name (CNAME) records. |
Edge server | An Akamai -owned server that receives end-user requests and provides an integrated suite of services for content and application delivery, content targeting, edge processing, and business intelligence. |
Origin server | The server where you keep your content. Akamai retrieves content from the origin server and serves it from edge servers. |
Origin server hostname | The hostname mapping to the customer’s origin server where edge servers retrieve your content. |
Property Manager | The application that you use to provision, configure, test, and activate your digital properties. |
Rule | In Property Manager, an instruction that controls how Akamai applies features to requests. Rules consist of two parts: match criteria and behaviors. If a request fulfills the requirements given in a rule’s match criteria, Akamai applies the features configured in that rule’s behaviors. A configuration typically has multiple rules. |
Updated 3 months ago