Key Concepts and Terminology

Service

A Service is an API that can be defined as a discrete unit of functionality and that can be accessed remotely by its consumers.

Discrete means the Service represents an independent piece of functionality that is useful on its own in satisfying a specific purpose for its consumers. Remotely means that the Service is not invoked locally (within the process space) and requires a network call to be invoked.

Service Version

Different instances of the same Service representing different versions (for example, 1.1, 1.2, if the version string is represented through a semantic versioning model).

Service Implementation

The connectivity logic associated with a Service version. Currently, the only supported implementation type is a Kong Gateway proxy, which consists of proxy configuration objects such as a Service object and Route object.

Service Connectivity Platform

A platform that enables reliability, accelerated performance, and insight by providing common, out-of-the-box connectivity logic, executed through runtimes that capture data in motion and managed through functionality modules across points of connectivity.

Edge Connectivity

Connectivity management between organizational boundaries.

Inter-app Connectivity

Connectivity management between application boundaries and teams.

In-app Connectivity

Connectivity management within the services that constitute a single application.

Connectivity Endpoint

The remote access endpoint (often involving a port/IP address) through which a Service’s connection is exposed for consumption. When a Service’s connectivity endpoint is exposed through a connectivity runtime, then the runtime can apply connectivity logic to manage the endpoint’s traffic.

Connectivity Runtime

A process that enables the execution of connectivity logic on connectivity endpoints.

Connectivity Logic

Logic that addresses concerns such as ensuring that incoming requests are authenticated, authorized, rate-limited, and logged, or that, as a new version of a service is introduced, requests from incompatible older versions of the service’s consumers are routed to the older version.

Functionality Module

Functionality, delivered as a service or in a self-hosted manner, that leverages connectivity runtimes to provide a connectivity management capability (for example, Dev Portal).