How to Manage and Secure Microservices Using MuleSoft

Microservices and their related architectures are gaining a lot of attention lately in the tech field. However, the concept of Microservices and Microservices Framework is still a black box to many of the key IT decision-makers.

Essentially, a Microservice means that an application is divided into small chunks which are independent of each other and are not dependent on a specific coding language.

Gluing up these independent, small chunks (which are the building blocks of the application) means that all the functionalities of a large-scale and highly complex application are met. In this article, we will be talking about how you can manage and secure Microservices using Mulesoft.

When we are talking about security in the field of Microservices, we must first talk about the security aspects in the form of APIs.

An API must be reliable, confidential, and should have good integrity and availability. An API Management policy is also an important factor in securing the Microservices.

MuleSoft’s Any point platform offers a wide array of tools and services that helps us better manage and secure the APIs.

1. API Designer: It is a graphical web-based tool that lets us design and document the API and share the logic and the design with our team members. It also gives us the option to reuse specific components such as the security schema of an API.
2. API Manager: It’s an important interface provided by Mulesoft which allows developers to manage and secure the API. It helps secure connections to the backend-data sources and create policies regarding throttling and API calls.
3. Any point Analytics: As the name suggests, this is an analytical tool that helps us to track the API Metrics such as performance and usage. It’s also very efficient in handling the root cause of any performance issue.
4. Any point Visualizer: It is used for mapping API and their dependencies in real-time and the graphical interface makes it simple, fun and easy to use.

The microservices and the API access points must contain a built-in measure for visibility and security. A

 Microservice needs to be well defined and designed to solve a particular business problem.

There is no need for the developer to be a security expert to leverage microservices, but the developer needs to understand the domain and work to find out who should have access and why it is important for them to have the access.

MuleSoft (being an Integration platform running on Mule ESB and Cloudhub) is a Java-based middleware that makes communication accessible between applications.

ESB (being a distributed middleware system) integrates different applications and consists of a set of service containers that it integrates. ESB works on the inbound and outbound flow of messages with different types of connectors meant for different requests. These messages are picked from the queue with the help of inbound flow and processed in the system.

We hope now you got a clear understanding of how MuleSoft manages these Microservices and why it is important for us to secure them. Microservices are the tools of the future and understanding their management and security must be a top concern.

If you have any questions about securing Microservices with Mulesoft, we’re here to help.