GameTracker API System

Project Overview

This project demonstrates building a robust and scalable API management system for querying real-time sports data. It leverages the power of Amazon's cloud services, including:

• Amazon ECS (Fargate): for containerized, serverless execution of the backend application.
• Amazon API Gateway: for exposing secure and scalable RESTful endpoints for querying sports data.
• Amazon CloudWatch: for monitoring and logging application performance and health. This project showcases best practices in cloud architecture, including:
• API Management: API Gateway provides a central hub for managing and securing API access.
• Container Orchestration: ECS Fargate simplifies container deployment and management.
• Secure AWS Integrations: IAM policies ensure least privilege access for API Gateway and ECS tasks.

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Features

• Exposes a well-documented and easy-to-use REST API for retrieving real-time sports data.
• Runs a containerized backend application using Amazon ECS with Fargate for scalability and serverless operation.
• Employs a scalable and serverless architecture to handle fluctuating workloads efficiently.
• Leverages Amazon API Gateway for API management and routing, simplifying API development and deployment.

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Prerequisites

• Sports API Key: Sign up for a free account and subscription & obtain your API Key at serpapi.com
• AWS Account: Create an AWS Account & have basic understanding of ECS, API Gateway, Docker & Python
• AWS CLI Installed and Configured: Install and configure the AWS CLI to interact with AWS services programmatically. You can find detailed instructions in the AWS documentation.
• Serpapi Library: Install Serpapi library in local environment "pip install google-search-results"
• Docker CLI and Desktop Installed: Install Docker for building and pushing container images.

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Technical Architecture

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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

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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

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Setup Instructions

Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/adesegunasunmo/sports-api-container.git
cd containerized-sports-api

Create ECR Repo

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:
2. Go to the ECS Console → Clusters → Create Cluster
3. Name your Cluster (sports-api-cluster)
4. For Infrastructure, select Fargate, then create Cluster

1. Create a Task Definition:
2. Go to Task Definitions → Create New Task Definition
3. Name your task definition (sports-api-task)
4. For Infrastructure, select Fargate
5. Add the container:
   • Name your container (sports-api-container)
   • Image URI: .dkr.ecr.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sports-api:sports-api-latest
   • Container Port: 8080
   • Protocol: TCP
   • Port Name: Leave Blank
   • App Protocol: HTTP
6. Define Environment Eariables:
   • Key: SPORTS_API_KEY
   • Value:
   • Create task definition

1. Run the Service with an ALB
2. Go to Clusters → Select Cluster → Service → Create.
3. Capacity provider: Fargate
4. Select Deployment configuration family (sports-api-task)
5. Name your service (sports-api-service)
6. Desired tasks: 2
7. Networking: Create new security group
8. Networking Configuration:
   • Type: All TCP
   • Source: Anywhere
9. Load Balancing: Select Application Load Balancer (ALB).
10. ALB Configuration:
    • Create a new ALB:
    • Name: sports-api-alb
    • Target Group health check path: "/sports"
    • Create service

1. Test the ALB:
2. After deploying the ECS service, note the DNS name of the ALB (e.g., sports-api-alb-.us-east-1.elb.amazonaws.com)
3. Confirm the API is accessible by visiting the ALB DNS name in your browser and adding /sports at end (e.g, http://sports-api-alb-.us-east-1.elb.amazonaws.com/sports)

Configure API Gateway

1. Create a New REST API:
2. Go to API Gateway Console → Create API → REST API

3. Name the API (e.g., Sports API Gateway)

4. Set Up Integration:

5. Create a resource /sports

6. Create a GET method

7. Choose HTTP Proxy as the integration type

8. Enter the DNS name of the ALB that includes "/sports" (e.g. http://sports-api-alb-.us-east-1.elb.amazonaws.com/sports

9. Deploy the API:

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

11. 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

Deploying a Scalable, Containerized Application with Amazon ECS and exposing Public APIs via API Gateway.

Future Enhancements

• Add caching for frequent API requests using Amazon ElastiCache
• Add 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 rmation layer with AWS Glue ETL.
• Add advanced analytics and visualizations using AWS QuickSight.

Important Reminder:
Don't forget to delete all the resources you created once you're done. Services like S3, ECS, ECR e.t.c, can incur costs, so make sure to clean up!
Thank you for reading, and I hope you found this guide helpful. Keep learning and building!