Hostname routing pattern
Routing by hostname is a mechanism for isolating API services by giving each API its own
hostname; for example, service-a.api.example.com or
service-a.example.com.
Typical use case
Routing by using hostnames reduces the amount of friction in releases, because nothing is shared between service teams. Teams are responsible for managing everything from DNS entries to service operations in production.
Pros
Hostname routing is by far the most straightforward and scalable method for HTTP API
routing. You can use any relevant AWS service to build an architecture that follows this
method―you can create an architecture with Amazon API Gateway
Teams can use hostname routing to fully own their subdomain. It also makes it easier to
isolate, test, and orchestrate deployments for specific AWS Regions or versions; for
example, region.service-a.api.example.com or
dev.region.service-a.api.example.com.
Cons
When you use hostname routing, your consumers have to remember different hostnames to interact with each API that you expose. You can mitigate this issue by providing a client SDK. However, client SDKs come with their own set of challenges. For example, they have to support rolling updates, multiple languages, versioning, communicating breaking changes caused by security issues or bug fixes, documentation, and so on.
When you use hostname routing, you also need to register the subdomain or domain every time you create a new service.
