To what extent are users using FME Server to both consume Web Services and Rest API's as well as a mechanism to create and expose Web Services and Rest API's for other software and platforms to consume.
This is for both Spatial and Aspatial Data.
Question
I'm interested to know to what extent users and organisations are using FME Server as an Integration Platform/Environment to both Consume and Expose API Endpoints
A short reply based on my own experiences:
- For asynchronous requests (e.g. clip-and-ship) where there is no expectation by the consumer for an immediate result, FME Server is perfect.
- If the requirement is that FME Server reply to e.g. bursts of REST calls to return immediate results to something like a web app, FME Server may not be ideal for all cases. There are some ways around handling bursts, but it can be costly/complicated to scale for high volumes (reserved engines). This may get better with dynamic engines, however, but cost is still going to be a consideration for most cases if demand isn't fairly predictable.
I've had good experience putting up API gateways in front of FME Server to provide a customized REST API, thereby hiding the specifics of FME Server in the background, in particular for outwards-facing servers where, for security reasons, you'll want to hide as much of the actual infrastructure as possible.