☁️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF9_YzOrmTs&t=649s 

Sports API Management System

Features

• Exposes a REST API for querying real-time sports data

• Runs a containerized backend using Amazon ECS with Fargate

• Scalable and serverless architecture

• API management and routing using Amazon API Gateway

Prerequisites

• Sports API Key: Sign up for a free account and obtain your API Key

• AWS Account: Create an AWS account & have basic understanding of ECS, API Gateway, Docker & Python

• AWS CLI Installed and Configured: Install & configure AWS CLI to interact with AWS

• Serpapi Library: Install Serpapi library in your local environment using: 

• pip install google-search-results

• Docker CLI and Desktop Installed: Required to build & push container images

Technologies

• Cloud Provider: AWS

• Core Services: Amazon ECS (Fargate), API Gateway, CloudWatch

• Programming Language: Python 3.x

• Containerization: Docker

• IAM Security: Custom least-privilege policies for ECS task execution and API Gateway

Project Structure

• sports-api-management/  

• ├── app.py  # Flask application for querying sports data  

• ├── Dockerfile  # Dockerfile to containerize the Flask app  

• ├── requirements.txt  # Python dependencies  

• ├── .gitignore  

• └── README.md  # Project documentation  

Setup Instructions

Clone the Repository

• git clone https://github.com/ifeanyiro9/containerized-sports-api.git  

• cd containerized-sports-api  

Create ECR Repository

• aws ecr create-repository --repository-name sports-api --region us-east-1  

Authenticate, Build, and Push the Docker Image

• aws ecr get-login-password --region us-east-1 | docker login --username AWS --password-stdin <AWS_ACCOUNT_ID>.dkr.ecr.us-east-1.amazonaws.com  

• docker build --platform linux/amd64 -t sports-api .  

• docker tag sports-api:latest <AWS_ACCOUNT_ID>.dkr.ecr.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sports-api:sports-api-latest  

• docker push <AWS_ACCOUNT_ID>.dkr.ecr.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sports-api:sports-api-latest  

Set Up ECS Cluster with Fargate

1. Create an ECS Cluster

• Go to the ECS Console → Clusters → Create Cluster

• Name your Cluster: sports-api-cluster

• Select Fargate as the infrastructure and create the cluster

2. Create a Task Definition

• Go to Task Definitions → Create New Task Definition

• Name your task: sports-api-task

• Select Fargate as the infrastructure

• Add the container:

  • Name: sports-api-container

  • Image URI: <AWS_ACCOUNT_ID>.dkr.ecr.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sports-api:sports-api-latest

  • Container Port: 8080

  • Protocol: TCP

• Define Environment Variables:

  • Key: SPORTS_API_KEY

  • Value: <YOUR_SPORTSDATA.IO_API_KEY>

• Create the task definition

3. Run the Service with an Application Load Balancer (ALB)

• Go to Clusters → Select Cluster → Service → Create

• Capacity provider: Fargate

• Deployment configuration family: sports-api-task

• Service name: sports-api-service

• Desired tasks: 2

• Networking Configuration:

  • Type: All TCP

  • Source: Anywhere

• Load Balancing: Select Application Load Balancer (ALB)

• ALB Configuration:

  • Create a new ALB: sports-api-alb

  • Target Group health check path: /sports

• Create the service

4. Test the ALB

• After deploying the ECS service, note the DNS name of the ALB (e.g., sports-api-alb-<AWS_ACCOUNT_ID>.us-east-1.elb.amazonaws.com)

• Confirm the API is accessible by visiting the ALB DNS name in your browser and adding /sports at the end: 

• http://sports-api-alb-<AWS_ACCOUNT_ID>.us-east-1.elb.amazonaws.com/sports

Configure API Gateway

1. Create a New REST API

• Go to API Gateway Console → Create API → REST API

• Name the API: Sports API Gateway

2. Set Up Integration

• Create a resource: /sports

• Create a GET method

• Choose HTTP Proxy as the integration type

• Enter the DNS name of the ALB, including /sports: 

• http://sports-api-alb-<AWS_ACCOUNT_ID>.us-east-1.elb.amazonaws.com/sports

3. Deploy the API

• Deploy the API to a stage (e.g., prod)

• Note the endpoint URL

Test the System

• Use curl or a browser to test:

• curl https://<api-gateway-id>.execute-api.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/prod/sports  

What We Learned

• Setting up a scalable, containerized application with ECS

• Creating public APIs using API Gateway

Future Enhancements

• Add caching for frequent API requests using Amazon ElastiCache

• Integrate DynamoDB to store user-specific queries and preferences

• Secure the API Gateway using an API key or IAM-based authentication

• Implement CI/CD for automating container deployments

AWS ECR & ECS Troubleshooting Guide

1. Navigate to the Amazon ECR Console

• Open the Amazon ECR console at:
  https://console.aws.amazon.com/ecr/  

2. Verify the Existence of the sports-api Repository

• Check if the repository sports-api exists in your ECR

• If it does not exist, create a new repository named sports-api

3. Check the Image Tag in the Repository

• Look for the sports-api-latest tag in the sports-api repository

• If the tag is missing, ensure the correct image is pushed to the repository with the sports-api-latest tag

4. Permission Issues

• If you do not have permissions to perform the above actions, contact your AWS Administrator

5. Verify ECS Task Execution Role Permissions

1. Go to the IAM console at:
   https://console.aws.amazon.com/iam/  

2. Find the task execution role used by your ECS task

3. Ensure it has the necessary permissions to pull images from ECR

• If needed, attach the following policy to the role:
  {

•     "Version": "2012-10-17",

•     "Statement": [

•         {

•             "Effect": "Allow",

•             "Action": [

•                 "ecr:GetAuthorizationToken",

•                 "ecr:BatchCheckLayerAvailability",

•                 "ecr:GetDownloadUrlForLayer",

•                 "ecr:BatchGetImage"

•             ],

•             "Resource": "arn:aws:ecr:us-east-1:137068223119:repository/sports-api"

•         }

•     ]

• }

6. Update the ECS Task Definition

1. Open the ECS console at:
   https://console.aws.amazon.com/ecs/  

2. Navigate to Task Definitions

3. Locate the task definition used by the failing task

4. Click Create new revision

5. Ensure the image URI is set correctly:
   <youraccountid>.dkr.ecr.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sports-api  

6. Click Update to save the new revision

7. Update the ECS Service

1. In the ECS console, go to Clusters

2. Select the cluster sports-api-cluster

3. Click on the service running the failing task

4. Click Update

5. Select the new task definition revision created in Step 6

6. Click Deploy to apply the update

8. Monitor the Service

1. In the ECS console, go to the sports-api-cluster

2. Monitor the Tasks tab to check for new tasks being created

3. Verify that new tasks are able to pull the image and start successfully

4. If tasks continue to fail, check ECS task logs and CloudWatch for error messages

Note:

If issues persist, ensure your AWS credentials are correct and that the ECS service has the appropriate IAM permissions.