5 Ways to Use Node in the Network

1. API Metering Also called API rate limiting, metering is the process of managing access to APIs, and only allowing a given number of API calls per specified time period.

3LineRate.com

X-API-Key:

12345

API METERING

node.js

• Extract API key from HTTP header

• Lookup (service or database) current usage and quota

• Determine whether call allowed or reject with appropriate message

MORE EFFICIENT

IMPROVES PERFORMANCE

LESS DISRUPTION WHEN CHANGED

2. Y-axis scalingY-axis scaling is a sharding-based routing pattern that uses some variable within each request - either in the URI or in the HTTP headers - to determine which service or application instance a request should be forwarded to.

5LineRate.com

Y-AXIS SCALING

Service A

Service B

Service C

/login/

/checkout/

/search/

node.js

• Evaluate URI

• Steer to the appropriate service based on function

• Can be extended to pull service name from database for real-time updates

MORE EFFICIENT

IMPROVES PERFORMANCE

BETTER ABSTRACTION

3. Data scrubbing Data scrubbing is a security technique that ensures sensitive or confidential data is not returned to the user.

7LineRate.com

DATA SCRUBBING

Service A

Service B

Service C

node.js

• Intercept response

• If specified pattern / data is discovered, remove or scrub to obfuscate

• Return clean data to user

{username: “Joe Bob”,

account: “123-45-678”}

{username: “Joe Bob”,

account: “xxx-xx-678”}

COMPLIANCE

SECURITY

LESS DISRUPTION WHEN CHANGED

4. Exception Handling Exception handling allows the app proxy to “retry” requests to app instances that fail. This is particularly useful in cases where 5xx and 4xxx error messages are returned and indicate a problem with the web server or app instance.

9LineRate.com

EXCEPTION HANDLING

node.js

• Intercept response

• If HTTP response matches specified status codes retry the request and mark the original as unavailable

• May perform additional logging or actions as indicated by the script

GET /original-request/

IMPROVE UPTIME

FASTER NOTIFICATION

BETTER USER EXPERIENCE

(RETRY) GET /original-request/

5. Content Sharding Similar to Y-axis scaling, content sharding allows for finer grained distribution of requests based on content type such as images, documents, static text or database-backed content.

11LineRate.com

CONTENT SHARDING

Images

Static text

Scripts

node.js

• Evaluate URI and/or Content-Type HTTP header

• Steer to the appropriate service based on content type

• Can be extended to pull service name from database for real-time updates

IMPROVE SCALABILITY

IMPROVED PERFORMANCE

BETTER USER EXPERIENCE

How do I get node in the network?

13

With a programmable proxy like LineRate

Data PathData path

programmability enables

custom application data

and traffic handling logic

Node.js

• Deployed in the data path between an end user and the application

• Fluent in SSL and HTTP

• Can execute custom logic using node.js (including modules from NPM)

LINE RATE

NODE.JS

Where can I get one? linerate.f5.com

15

https://linerate.f5.com/try