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In the business world today, data is becoming increasingly more important with each passing year. If your company is not taking the time to learn how to store, analyze and scale data properly now, it could prove detrimental to the business in the long run. However, just as bad data practices can hold your company back, good data practices can propel the company forward. APIs are one tool that any business can use to begin better utilizing their data today. Read on to learn more about APIs, the built-in API system on Amazon Redshift, and what the process of generating a Redshift API looks like. 

What Is Amazon Redshift?

Launched in 2012, Amazon Redshift is a fully managed cloud data warehouse that allows users to store, analyze, and scale data in a fast and secure manner. The Redshift database is designed to connect to SQL-based clients and business intelligence tools. Every Redshift data warehouse also contains a collection of computing resources or nodes that are organized in a cluster. Each individual Redshift cluster runs its own Redshift engine and contains at least one database. One useful feature for companies within the Amazon Redshift platform is the Redshift API. Discover more about what APIs do, and the benefits Redshift API can provide your company below. 

Related Reading: Everything You Need to Know About API Integration

What Is an API? 

In the world of tech, the term API stands for Application Programming Interface. Essentially, APIs allow applications to communicate back and forth. Through this communication, APIs act as a transportation method for numerous web tools and various software applications. An API is responsible for shipping all the interactions that are sent and received between two or more applications. Ultimately, API integrations are used in a number of scenarios to keep data in sync. 

Some common examples of API integrations include:

  • Financial Institutions: Banks and other financial institutions often use APIs to send and receive data from multiple applications and software relating to checking accounts, credit cards, transactions, and more.
  • Travel Booking: Travel booking websites commonly use APIs to collect information on flight and hotel availabilities from third-party providers. Essentially, this information is sent back and forth through APIs, which allows costumes to get the best travel deals without having to use multiples websites or applications. 
  • Online Weather Report: Weather reporting apps and websites also use APIs to receive weather data from third parties around the world. This information can then be sent to your phone app, allowing you access to weather updates from anywhere in the world. 
  • Streaming Services: Popular streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and Spotify use APIs to distribute their vast amount of content to consumers across the globe.
  • Auto Industry: Big auto companies in the auto industry like Tesla often use APIs to send software updates to their vehicles. 

Related Reading: Top 100 API Integrations

What Is a Redshift API?

The Redshift API is a built-in Amazon Redshift feature that simplifies accessing your Amazon Redshift data warehouse. Essentially, the Redshift API negates the need to manage database drivers, connections, network configurations, data buffering, and more when working with one of the data warehouses on Amazon Redshift. The Redshift APIs support the same languages supported with AWS SDK, including:

  • Python 
  • Go
  • Java 
  • Node.js
  • PHP
  • Ruby 
  • C++

Ultimately, the use of a Redshift API can come in handy when working within the Amazon Redshift cloud data warehouse and when connecting to popular software tools like Salesforce, HubSpot, Zuora, and more. Check out the process of generating a Redshift API below.  

Related Reading: How to Build a REST API: Types and Requirements

How to Generate a Redshift API 

Since the launch of Amazon Web Services or AWS’s built-in API in September 2020, accessing data in Amazon Redshift has become an easier and more secure process. The process of generating a Redshift API on the platform is pretty straightforward as well, allowing more time to focus on building applications rather than on managing infrastructure. 

To set up Amazon Redshift Data APIs, take the following steps:

  • Step 1: Authorize access to an Amazon Redshift Data API by registering the user and assigning a relevant policy from the AWS IAM page. 
  • Step 2: Database storage in AWS Secrets Manager will be needed. This will require credentials to be stored on the Secrets Manager. 
  • Step 3: Finally, the configuration of authorized credentials will take place, and then the calling of the Redshift API can be achieved. 

Related Reading: Why You Need a REST API

How Integrate.io Can Help

Amazon Redshift and the Redshift API feature are incredibly useful tools when it comes to data storage, analysis, and scaling. However, users often run into one big issue when trying to use Amazon Redshift. The issue isn’t with using Redshift but rather with getting company data to Redshift. With the Integrate.io data integration platform, company data can be pushed to Redshift quickly and securely through Integrate.io’s ETL pipelines. Integrate.io can definitely prove useful for getting the most out of your experience with Amazon Redshift. 

Are you ready to see what benefits the Integrate.io platform and its ETL pipelines can provide your company? Contact our team today to schedule a 14-day demo or pilot and see how we can help you reach your goals.