Multi-tier application

As explained in Building Web APIs with ASP.NET Core

A layered system organizes communication through intermediary components that hide or mediate the services behind them.

A multi-tier application places components between clients and the services that fulfill their requests. In a RESTful web API, intermediary HTTP services or filters can improve security, performance, and scalability. section 1.1.4

Consider a board-game API that handles incoming HTTP requests and data exchange while a database management system (DBMS) provides the data. The API and DBMS can run on different servers. Adding a reverse proxy and a content delivery network (CDN) places two more layers between clients and the API server. section 3.1.4

Each added layer has a practical job:

• A reverse proxy can cache responses and support load-balancing techniques that improve horizontal scalability. section 3.1.4
• A CDN adds caching, reduces latency across regions, and can lower server bandwidth use. section 3.1.4

This is an architectural plan, not a completed deployment: implementing the reverse proxy and CDN is deferred until production deployment. section 3.1.4

Figure 3.3 Updated MyBGList SOA using CDN and reverse proxy

The architecture diagram places the CDN and reverse proxy between clients and the board-game API within the wider service-oriented system. section 3.1.4

How Building Web APIs with ASP.NET Core covers it

How deep it goes

Explains component roles and expected benefits, but defers implementation until production deployment.

Examples

Illustrates the pattern with a board-game API, its DBMS, and proposed reverse-proxy and CDN layers.

What you can do after

Evaluate/understand it by identifying what each intermediary contributes before planning a production deployment.

How it connects

Connects REST and service-oriented architecture with reverse proxies, CDNs, caching, and load balancing.

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Also explained in

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Related concepts

• stratified designused by · An architectural pattern that organizes software into layers ordered from relatively stable foundations to more frequently changing elements.
• frontend developmenthas part · Frontend development is the practice of building the user-facing, client-side interfaces and behavior through which people interact with software.
• data layerhas part · A data layer is an architectural part of a system that organizes access to, management of, or persistence of data for other components.
• business logichas part · Business logic is the domain-specific rules, computations, and decisions that determine how a software system behaves and processes operations.
• domain layerhas part · A domain layer is an architectural part of an application that contains its domain concepts, rules, and behavior.
• hexagonal architecturecontrasts with · Hexagonal architecture is a software architecture pattern that isolates an application’s core logic from external systems through ports and adapters.

This explainer was generated by Manning's knowledge graph from the text of Building Web APIs with ASP.NET Core. The section links point to the parts of the book it draws on.