API Connect transformation guide

Migrate an on-premises deployment of IBM API Connect V5 or V10 to IBM Cloud Pak for Integration.

Why migrate to Cloud Pak for Integration?

Migrate your API Management solution from an API Connect deployment to a multi-style integration platform that provides a single experience with flexibility to deploy multiple types of integrations, API Management, App Integration, Messaging, Events, and more. Cloud Pak for Integration supports multiple styles of integration with a single unified experience in a containerized deployment. This allows for out-of-the-box availability that leverages the OpenShift environment, as well as the flexibility to deploy API Connect as a capability, with the option to allocate and reallocate purchased VPCs across any of the capabilities in your Cloud Pak for Integration deployment.

The API Connect Migration Utility migrates the artifacts owned by each provider organization; for example, APIs, Products, Catalogs, Consumer organizations, subscriptions, custom policies, and gateway extensions will be migrated by the utility. You can manually migrate your customizations such as Portal Delegated User Registries (PDUR) and custom developer portal themes. Infrastructure configurations are not migrated. For example, server definitions, analytics data, and transient data such as invitations will not be migrated.

API Connect licensing considerations

Migrating from to Cloud Pak for Integration requires changes to your API Connect license entitlement. For existing customers who purchased IBM API Connect Enterprise Edition PVU, there are two options to consider when planning a move to v10. PVU (processor value units) is a capacity measure of compute cores. While you can simply move forward to a newer release of the same program, API Connect, using existing licensed entitlements, there are two options to consider, specific to migrating to IBM Cloud Pak for Integration:

  1. If you are consuming (or plan to consume) multiple styles of integration (API integration, App Integration, Messaging, Eventing) you can upgrade from API Connect Enterprise PVU licenses to Cloud Pak for Integration. This provides a single experience with pricing flexibility to deploy multiple integration capabilities based on Virtual Processor Cores (VPC). Unlike PVU deployments, all cores are counted equally with VPCs. Cloud Pak for Integration can be perpetual or subscription licenses. Cloud Pak for Integration licenses include OpenShift entitlement for deployment of CP4I.
  2. Many customers are seeking an OpEx (operating expense) cost model and licensing based on API consumption instead of compute capacity. You can upgrade from API Connect Enterprise PVU licenses to Cloud Pak for Integration with an add-on subscription based on API Call volumes. This can simplify planning for growth based on business metrics like API consumption instead of a capacity measure of compute cores. This approach may also be more cost effective for some highly available API Management topologies, hybrid and multi-cloud deployments.

Contact your IBM sales representative for more details on pricing.

Migrate from API Connect V5 or V10

You can migrate to Cloud Pak for Integration from an API Connect V5 or API Connect V10 stand-alone deployment. Migrating to Cloud Pak for Integration directly from API Connect V2018 is not supported. If you want to migrate to Cloud Pak for Integration from API Connect V2018, you must first upgrade to V10 stand-alone, and then migrate to Cloud Pak for Integration.

The process for migrating from V5 is different from the V10 migration process, so be sure to refer to the appropriate sections: