Proxy

What is the difference between proxy (forward proxy) and reverse proxy?

Load Balancing vs Reverse Proxy

Reverse Proxy can perform multiple roles including Load Balancing. E.g.

a) SSL Termination

b) Caching

c) Security

https://serverfault.com/questions/127021/what-is-the-difference-between-load-balancer-and-reverse-proxy

API Gateway

It is an abstraction layer or facade over the services. Can handle composition as well.

best practice - Design API contract firm

e.g Zuul by Netflix

Disadvantage

1. Slow

2. Single point of failure (solution is load balance -> API gateway)

3. May need to create multiple gateways (e.g. Web API gateway, Mobile API gateway)