Managing API Usage

API Publisher provides several mechanisms to control and monitor subscriber usage and monetize APIs. The following topics describe some of them:

Blocking subscriptions

In previous APIM releases, an API creator can revoke an access token, disabling access to all APIs subscribed to by a user through a given application. The blocking subscriptions feature provides the same functionality.

Here, the API creator can block a particular subscription on an API to disable access to it until s/he decides to unblock it again.  This feature allows API creators to control usage of APIs among API consumers. Once an API creator blocks a selected subscription, neither a consumer nor the application owner can invoke the subscribed API from the application, until it is unblocked again.

The API Publisher provides you the Subscriptions window to view and manage all subscriptions to the APIs you created. The steps below explain how to view subscriptions and revoke access rights. 

1. Log in to the API Publisher ( https://<HostName>:9443/publisher ) as a user who has the creator role assigned. For more information on creating users and assigning roles, refer to section User Management.    
2. Click the Subscriptions menu to open the Subscriptions window.
   
   The window displays the following information:
   
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     • Users: Usernames of users who have subscribed to the API through the API Store. For instructions on subscribing, refer to Subscribing to APIs .
     • Application: An application is a logical collection of one or more APIs, and is required when subscribing to an API. For more information on applications, refer to     Applications .
     • Subscribed APIs : List of all APIs a given user is subscribed to on a given application. Since API keys are generated at the application-level and valid for all APIs that are associated with an application, all APIs subscribed through the same application can be accessed using a single API key.
     • Actions: The supported actions on each subscription. Currently, the API Manager provides Block action to each subscription. It allows the API creator to block a particular subscription on an API. Once a subscription is blocked, neither its users nor the application owners can invoke the subscribed API from the application. To allow APIs invocations back, the API creator has to unblock the subscription. We describe this process below.
       
   
3. To block a subscription, simply click the Block link associated with it in the Actions column. The link immediately turns to Unblock allowing you to click it to unblock the subscription at any point.
     
4. When the API creator wants to unblock the earlier blocked subscription back,he/she can click on the 'Unblock' link shown under the 'Actions' column and allow API consumers to use that particular subscription back.

Monitoring and Billing

For information, see  Monitoring, Statistics and Billing.