Fast everywhere
Users talk to servers a few milliseconds away instead of across an ocean, and a secure connection opens sooner.
The framework for AI era
The framework for AI era
Level 5 · GlobalArchitecture 12 of 13
HTTP calls and WebSockets answered by the region nearest to each user, behind one address for the whole world.
Start with one address answered directly by one place, then add regions: GeoDNS sends every user to the nearest one, for HTTP calls and WebSockets alike. Reads stay in the region, while writes and events cross the world in the background.
Every request is drawn as it travels. Slow it down, pause, go step by step, or open the full canvas and zoom in.
api-maker/architectures/geo-routingLiveOne address: every request travels to Frankfurt. HTTP calls and WebSockets of every user go straight to the servers in Frankfurt. Simple, and fast for users nearby.
The same steps as the diagram, in more detail.
The simplest setup serves everyone from one place: one address, and the servers behind it answer every request and hold every WebSocket directly. Users near Frankfurt get answers in a few milliseconds, but a user in Singapore waits about 170 ms for every round trip, and a secure connection needs several of them.
A DNS service with geolocation answers api.example.com with the address of the region nearest to the user. Each region runs its own load balancer and API Maker servers with the same .env, so every region serves every API and accepts every WebSocket. The apps keep the same address.
Your MongoDB replica set has a member in every region. With readPreference=nearest, the servers of a region read from the member next to them, while writes go to the primary in Frankfurt, the home region, and replicate to every region within moments. API Maker DB and Redis live in the home region.
Each user keeps a WebSocket to the servers of their own region. When a call raises an event, it is published through Redis, which every API Maker server of every region listens to, and each server pushes it to its own subscribers. A client in Singapore hears about an order placed in Frankfurt within a fraction of a second.
GeoDNS checks every region. When Singapore stops answering, its users get the address of the next region, Frankfurt, and their WebSockets reconnect there. Round trips are longer until Singapore is back, but nothing is lost: the data lives in the replica set and every region serves every API.
Users talk to servers a few milliseconds away instead of across an ocean, and a secure connection opens sooner.
Each client keeps its WebSocket in its own region, and events raised anywhere reach it through Redis.
api.example.com stays the same for every user and every app. DNS does the routing.
With readPreference=nearest, the servers of each region read from the database member next to them.
When a region fails, DNS sends its users to the next one and they keep working.
Every region reads the same API Maker DB: one git pull and every server in the world reloads.
Plain VPS from any provider, or your own servers, with Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. Sizes are a starting point: measure and adjust.
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; Frankfurt, New York, Singapore: the closest one whose port 443 answersapi.example.com. 60 IN LUA A "ifportup(443, {'198.51.100.10', '203.0.113.10', '192.0.2.10'}, {selector='pickclosest'})"pickclosest needs the GeoIP backend of PowerDNS. A DNS provider with geo routing and health checks does the same.
am__serverName="sgp-api-1" # region and server, to find it in the dashboards# One replica set over the three regions, the primary in Frankfurtam__mongo_db_connection="mongodb://api_maker:***@10.20.1.20:27017,10.20.2.20:27017,10.20.3.20:27017/api_maker_db?authSource=admin&replicaSet=rs0"# Redis of the home region, shared by every regionam__redisInternal='{"nodes": [{host: "10.20.1.21", port: 6379, pass: "***"}, {host: "10.20.1.22", port: 6379, pass: "***"}, {host: "10.20.1.23", port: 6379, pass: "***"}]}'am__redisExternal='{"nodes": [{host: "10.20.1.21", port: 6379, pass: "***"}, {host: "10.20.1.22", port: 6379, pass: "***"}, {host: "10.20.1.23", port: 6379, pass: "***"}]}'mongodb://app:***@10.20.1.20:27017,10.20.2.20:27017,10.20.3.20:27017/shop?replicaSet=rs0&readPreference=nearestYes. Every API Maker server answers HTTP on port 38246 and WebSockets on port 38245, directly or behind a load balancer. With one address, one server or one region takes everything; with GeoDNS, each region takes the users nearest to it.
Yes. A WebSocket stays on the server it connected to, in the region DNS gave it, and events raised in any region reach it through Redis. If its region fails, the client reconnects and DNS gives it the next region.
No. PowerDNS with its GeoIP backend runs on two small VPS and picks the closest region that answers. A DNS provider with geo routing works the same way.
API Maker clears cached responses and publishes events in the Redis shared by every server. With a Redis per region, the other regions would keep stale responses and never hear the events.