Planning your deployment

Review the following topics to plan your API Connect deployment.

Prerequisite skills for administering API Connect
The background knowledge and skills that are required to install and manage an API Connect deployment.
Key concepts: Custom Resources, Operators, and Operands
API Connect uses Custom Resources (CRs) and the Kubernetes Operator pattern.
Deployment overview for endpoints and certificates
When deploying API Connect, you must define endpoints for the subsystems. TLS certificates are automatically generated for all endpoints, but you can configure custom certificates for the user-facing endpoints.
Deployment profiles, topologies, and strategies
Review the available deployment topologies, profiles, and strategies for high-availability and disaster recovery, and choose the best option for your organization.
Kubernetes ingress controller prerequisites
Describes the prerequisite settings for the ingress controller for a Kubernetes runtime environment.
Persistent Volume (PV) requirements
Review the persistent volumes (PVs) required by your API Connect installation.
Load balancer configuration
When deploying API Connect for High Availability, it is recommended that you configure a cluster with at least three nodes and a load balancer. A sample configuration is provided for placing a load balancer in front of your API Connect Kubernetes deployment.
Firewall requirements
Diagram for port configuration, and list of active ports, for an IBM® API Connect deployment on Kubernetes or OpenShift.
Planning your analytics deployment
Plan your API Connect analytics deployment by reviewing options for deployment profile and estimating required persistent storage space.
Key Concepts: Cert-manager, Issuers, and Secrets
By default API Connect uses an open source product that is called cert-manager to handle the issuing and renewal of the certificates that are used by API Connect. The cert-manager has its own Kubernetes pods and runs in its own namespace. The cert-manager adds some additional resources to the Kubernetes environment. The API Connect administrator needs to be familiar with these additional resources:
Webhooks deployed and managed by the API Connect Operator
The API Connect Operator deploys and manages various Kubernetes API webhooks in the cluster to assist in management of its custom resources.
Administering API Connect in your container environment
How to manage your API Connect subsystems in Kubernetes and OpenShift environments.

Parent topic: Kubernetes, OpenShift, and Cloud Pak for Integration